Travels: Washington, DC
I have a new goal: to write up little experiences from each trip I go on, both to mark my journeys and to improve my descriptions of settings. Here’s an excerpt from a recent trip.
A looming cloud rolled in after dinner. From the pedestrian walkway along the wharf, we guessed whether it held rain for us or would blow on by, but as a fat airliner landed at Reagan National across the river, it was clear. Beyond the bridge, the sun punched through the clouds to illuminate a cascade of water, like a cotton backdrop to the busy traffic under the fluffed, green-gray sky.
The first mist met us after an ice cream diversion, as we waited dutifully on the sidewalk for the light’s permission to cross. Cool drops resolved the hugging humidity like the home stretch of yearning chords, and we carried on for blocks, teasing, wheedling, making deeper acquaintance and analyzing how to do so. Only engineers, we think, as if we’re unique in over-analyzing human connection.
