It was a day that could have happened only in a town like ours: the sun was bright, warm even, but there was a chemical haze in the air, a blurred, dusty quality to the light that we knew from having lived so long in the shadow of the works.
Soaking in the energy of various neighborhoods, I noted the dusty majesty of the trees, the drip of external air conditioners, the sound of children shouting at the end of the school day.