This morning started like any other. While cleaning my son’s room, I moved a few boxes and reached under the bed with the vacuum. That’s when I noticed several strange pale pieces resting on a napkin. They didn’t look like toys, candy, or anything I recognized, and for a moment I wondered whether I had discovered something I really didn’t want to identify.

Curious and slightly concerned, I picked one up and examined it more closely. The pieces were smooth, off-white, and surprisingly firm. They appeared handmade rather than manufactured, which only made the mystery more confusing. The more I looked at them, the less certain I became about what they were.