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242 Unclaimed Baggage Center. In Alabama, a warehouse full of items left behind by travelers. The baggage has stayed unclaimed, and no one knows why. Employees sort through suitcases and duffel bags, tasked with determining what to keep, what to throw away, and how to price the salvageable. When they find a life neatly folded inside an overnight case, they sigh a deep collective sigh, the beginning of a wonder that will never end: What were the lives in which these possessions had a part? Brand-new clothes for a seaside holiday, the delicate white things of a honeymoon, a threadbare sweater, a baby’s tiny socks. The employees draw a portrait of the owner, then mourn the portrait and sort the baggage, sending some items to the trash heap, some to the Unclaimed Baggage Center, where a stranger can pick up a fine gold watch for a song. See Questions. ...

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