Monday, June 4, 2018 11:36 AM

Halfway through the morning, a quartet of starlings screeches and battles in the middle of the street. Sometimes together, sometimes in ever-changing duels, only once in a trio with the other looking on, they peck and tumble, not caring about their surroundings. Curious cats circle at a distance but don't interfere. The birds only scatter when a bicyclist bursts in to their space from around the bend. He slows once past there to slap hands with a man wearing a baby harness. The baby looks around, sagely approving of what he sees. Just past them, a garbage truck backs into the street. A trashman, walking behind it and to one side, directs north and southbound cars, more bicyclists, and me. When he waves in my direction, I step between the truck and a group of now-empty cans and continue on to work.