Once, during a storm, the river burst its banks and the city’s lights went out. Folks gathered, shivering, and someone started calling out the word. Not for luck this time—just to keep fear from spreading. The chant was half-laugh, half-ritual. People formed human chains, saved an old dog from a porch, and handed blankets to strangers. Whether the flood would have been worse without the word is unknowable. What is true: people did more because they felt seen, steadied by a tiny, shared belief.
