While we played dominoes, the parrot sat in his cage on the side of the house near the kitchen.

Standing at the pool’s edge, my feet burning a bit against the concrete, I looked down into the water, clear and chlorinated—a perfect chemical light blue—and watched it gently ripple while I waited for my mother, who was sitting with my aunt under a pavilion close by.

When I was much younger I worked at the Arby’s in my hometown and I can remember closing at night when everything was shutting down, the highway empty, the whole main stretch deserted and quiet—peaceful.