Dee, our across-the-parking-lot neighbour, is lavishly watering the pots of zinnias that decorate her stoop. Although it’s only seven-thirty in the morning, it’s already hot, in the mid-eighties and climbing, and I am all the ages I have been. Once a long time ago I locked eyes with celebrated author Philip Roth on a street in Woodstock, New York. He was waiting for someone or something outside a store that sold newspapers and sundries. I occasionally wonder if I made a mistake by just walking past him. The sun has moved up the sky. Dee notices me and waves. She is wearing a man’s oversized T-shirt that says “Protect Gun Rights” in red, white, and blue. It isn’t clear that she intends the shirt ironically, but I can hope. All her flowers are alight.
Howie Good is a writer living on Cape Cod. His newest book, The Dark, is available from Sacred Parasite, a Berlin-based publisher.