We left the building and went by the pier and walked near the shoreline. Only a small part of the island’s circumference was accessible by foot. The rest was closed off with sagging chain link fences and no trespassing signs. As a result we travelled back and forth over the same crescent of grass and concrete. The wind was sometimes at our back and sometimes against us. It tasted faintly of salt. Clara’s raincoat didn’t stop flapping. My grandparents’ immigration story wasn’t the only thing I’d lost interest in. The landscape too made no impression on me. For all I cared we could have been walking in empty space. Clara was all I wanted to take in. My focus was like that of a boy looking through a keyhole at something enchanting and f*******n.
Though regardless of my hyper-attentiveness, t
