Recently, a flock of plastic bags has caught in the spindly sycamore in front of their apartment, empty bags that inflate and deflate with the wind like marooned sailing ships.

NEWYORKER: M&M World

Most stations still have plastic bags wrapped around their nozzles, now the universal symbol for empty in this city.

NPR: Gas Shortages Stalled Houston Evacuation

He had driven to the Indo-Pakistani food store one city over, brought home a dozen bags of spices, and rooted around in the cupboards for empty jars to store them in.

CNN: Husband quietly captures the kitchen

It was loneliness that had led him to seek a conversation on a restaurant patio long past the lunch hour, as it was loneliness that had made her empty the refrigerator in the cottage and pack her belongings into five mega-sized black plastic garbage bags and drop them outside a Goodwill early one morning.

NEWYORKER: Alone