Sunday, August 26, 2018 5:21 AM

I haven't been on this cobblestone street by daylight. More vehicles may drive on it then. Now, late at night, cars are parked in the crevices of buildings. As I sit here, only two have come by. Each creeps down the middle of the roadway, one headed to my left, one to my right, patiently waiting for the people walking in front of them. Scooters and bicycles, pedaled and electric, roll by. The smaller they are, the more wildly they drive. The animals also follow this law. The largest dogs lumber grandly across the stones, while the roundest cats rarely move at all. The smaller ones run by, spar with one another, and dart into shadows. A cockroach or something like it, several centimeters long, walks toward me evenly, regally, along the ridges of the bench. Smaller than the smallest of the cats, it seems comfortable knowing that it's still the biggest bug around.