Summary

The city is full of sound. The sound makes “a wordless song” (1). It consists of “air-conditioners,” “traffic,” “jack-hammers,” and “sirens” (1-2). The sound is constant except “in some rare and sacred dead time” when everything stops (3). Few notice such quiet moments. When they do arrive, the pause is “worth savoring” (5). The city’s song always restarts. On “the last day of summer” the city resumes its sound after a pause. A man watches “a young couple dance” outside “his restaurant” (6).

When the accident happened, “the boy from number eighteen” was the first to react (7). The narrator was surprised by his quick response. He rushed towards the boy on the tricycle “as if he knew what he had to do” (7).

Although her memory of the day is intact, she could not remember many helpful details. She remembered Sarah sitting with her. She remembered the neighborhood...