It was late November, just after Thanksgiving, when I stopped at the Amboy Inn for gas and a cup of coffee that tasted like the pot had been on since morning. The man at the counter—graying, quiet, with a tremor in his hands—handed me a wallet someone had left on the nightstand in Room 7. He said the owner had checked out three days ago, but the wallet was still there, with cash inside, untouched. I asked if he'd called the number on the driver's license. He said he had, but the number was disconnected. Then he said something strange: 'The light in that room... it flickers, even when the switch is off.' I took the wallet, mostly to get out of there, and drove east toward Needles. But the farther I got, the more I thought about that flickering light, and the man who forgot his wallet, and whether he forgot it on purpose. This is a story about leaving things behind, and the places that hold them longer than they should.