2.

I GOT IN MY CAR TO DRIVE HOME. IT WAS A STIFLING HOT DAY, THE first really hot day of the year. I was parked at a meter on Charles Street and there was a great deal of activity going on around me. The merchants and restaurateurs were getting ready for the big Fourth of July fireworks celebration at the Hatch Shell on the mall next to the river, just a few blocks away. Tens of thousands of people would be coming. They would line the riverbank waiting to hear the Boston Pops and whatever celebrity singer was going to join them this year. They would sit wherever they could, on lawn chairs and blankets, arrive early in the morning to get the best possible spots and then wait all day for the music and the colorful explosions. They would be there with family and friends, and the only people by themselves would be losers and perverts and weirdos, wandering around staring at everyone else having a good time.

I didn’t love Marion and I never had. I just felt so foolish.