The world is currently a shifty place.
Too many powerful people want humans to be paranoid. They want them to be suspicious. Sometimes, they even want them to wish and do each other harm.
So I'd like to blame the whole world for this curious story of disturbingly managed e-commerce. Well, with Amazon at the world's controls.
It's A Gift. Or Is It?
It was just another day. The sun was shining. The pretty blue birds were chirping. All seemed normal, at first.
Then I looked toward my doorstep, where lurked a package.
Ah, an Amazon[1] delivery, I thought. And then I paused. I hadn't been expecting an Amazon delivery, but perhaps my wife had. So I stepped to the door to investigate.
It was a brown paper bag, but without any Amazon markings. It was a brown paper bag without any markings at all.
On it was a small sticker that carried perhaps five random letters and numbers, and a QR code. On the sticker was no recipient's name. There was no sender's name, either.
This was, quite simply, a mysterious package with nothing to tell me what it might be or whom it might be for. Or, I now decided, where it had come from.
Was it some twisted prank? Was it something more dangerous than that? Had a commenter finally lost it? Should I touch this package? Should I pick it up? Should I call the police? Yes, even that last one really did cross my mind.
I've been known to take irresponsibility a little too far once or twice. Well, too far for other people's taste. So, after a short period of staring, I thought I'd at least touch it.
I tried