Glen Forney had an exorcism last week. His wife explained that his behavior had simply become too much, even for him. I wasn't completely surprised. I'd witnessed Glen's compulsions. He would clean his gutters each week, cut his grass every other day, and sweep his porch come sunrise. He had other rituals, too: he waxed his lawnmower after a full moon, and he once cut crenellations into his hedges following a thunderstorm. To be honest, I had long imagined Glen a deviant - or a foreign spy poorly trained in American customs. But a local priest proclaimed a dark presence lurked inside Glen and worked rites to cleanse his spirit. After the priest had finished with his business, the smell of sulfur was so strong in Glen's house that his wife had to leave town for a week. During this lonely interval, Glen painted his fence hot pink.
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