Everyone went south for winter.

The streets were packed with happy tourists. Hats and dangling shopping bags, bits of burrito and relish and ice cream dripping on the hot sidewalks. Fragments of conversation like wind-blown leaves. "…and I said I wasn’t gonna go if she’s just asking me ‘cause…" "tired of falafel, did you try the Korean place yet?" "…because of the freaking snowstorm in DC…"

Engrossed in hot air and summer words, they never looked at the people sitting still. Then at night the sidewalks cooled. The happy people vanished one by one. The still people rustled and woke. They had to stay alert. The cold wouldn’t touch them here, but the world still could.

Everyone went south for winter.