own lifetime, so that your children will be able to enjoy it one day."
"I understand," said Evelyn. She then left the house, for once you get a bag, you must leave the house and go on your own, to take on the world with her newly-acquired bag.
"You've got a bag, Evelyn!" cried her friend, Lorenzo Wiggins, when he saw her. "Good for you!" He had already had a bag for a whole year before her.
"Yes, I'm very excited," said Evelyn. "It's a very important thing."
"Now that you've got one," Lorenzo replied, "you must be thinking about starting a family of your own soon."
Evelyn was taken aback. "No," she said. "Why would I be thinking about that?"
"Because," said Lorenzo. "It's selfish to just hang onto your bag forever. You must give it to your children. And what better way to remind you not to open it than to have a child to look at?"
"I won't forget not to open it," said Evelyn. "But I want to carry it around a while before I...you know...give it up."
Lorenzo shook his head. "Well, if you want to be all self-centered about it..."
Lorenzo's speech did not stop Evelyn from thoroughly enjoying her bag for the first few months. But she soon found that Lorenzo was not the only person trying to push her into matrimony. Her mother, her father, her friends, even the children around town were pressuring her to marry and have children. "You didn't inherit that bag to carry it around yourself!" they said. "You're being very selfish, Evelyn!"
Soon, rumours began to circulate that Evelyn did not want to marry because she had looked in her bag and was using the things in it herself. "What a horrible, selfish thing to do!" everyone said. "I can't believe Evelyn would deny her own children!"
"But I don't have any children," Evelyn felt like saying to them. "And anyway, why can't I use what's in the bag while it's mine? Didn't my mother save it all those years so that I could use it?"
Rejected by friends and family alike, Evelyn decided one day that she would do the unthinkable: she would open her bag to see what was inside. What was all the fuss about? What was so important?
What she saw shocked her. There was nothing at all in the bag. It was a big, heavy bag of nothing, and every family in Boxbaxia had made a bag of nothing into
"I understand," said Evelyn. She then left the house, for once you get a bag, you must leave the house and go on your own, to take on the world with her newly-acquired bag.
"You've got a bag, Evelyn!" cried her friend, Lorenzo Wiggins, when he saw her. "Good for you!" He had already had a bag for a whole year before her.
"Yes, I'm very excited," said Evelyn. "It's a very important thing."
"Now that you've got one," Lorenzo replied, "you must be thinking about starting a family of your own soon."
Evelyn was taken aback. "No," she said. "Why would I be thinking about that?"
"Because," said Lorenzo. "It's selfish to just hang onto your bag forever. You must give it to your children. And what better way to remind you not to open it than to have a child to look at?"
"I won't forget not to open it," said Evelyn. "But I want to carry it around a while before I...you know...give it up."
Lorenzo shook his head. "Well, if you want to be all self-centered about it..."
Lorenzo's speech did not stop Evelyn from thoroughly enjoying her bag for the first few months. But she soon found that Lorenzo was not the only person trying to push her into matrimony. Her mother, her father, her friends, even the children around town were pressuring her to marry and have children. "You didn't inherit that bag to carry it around yourself!" they said. "You're being very selfish, Evelyn!"
Soon, rumours began to circulate that Evelyn did not want to marry because she had looked in her bag and was using the things in it herself. "What a horrible, selfish thing to do!" everyone said. "I can't believe Evelyn would deny her own children!"
"But I don't have any children," Evelyn felt like saying to them. "And anyway, why can't I use what's in the bag while it's mine? Didn't my mother save it all those years so that I could use it?"
Rejected by friends and family alike, Evelyn decided one day that she would do the unthinkable: she would open her bag to see what was inside. What was all the fuss about? What was so important?
What she saw shocked her. There was nothing at all in the bag. It was a big, heavy bag of nothing, and every family in Boxbaxia had made a bag of nothing into
