some asshole bumped into my dad while walking past us. i got all up in his grill, even though i wasnt sure i could take him. i was gambling on the capoeira flow to take care of things. life was a crowded, businesslike affair. then ... ... nuclear war - open-mouthed cavelike shelter - watched the tremendous, impossbly huge mushroom cloud take shape, tornado-yellow, blossoming, calm shock of its-finally-happened - after-effect rainbow in the dusky smog - showing megan: thats pretty! - then when more smoke and debris was kicked up, and more missiles were launched, from our side presumably (someone kind of cheered): oh, but thats probably not - holding her, turning her head away - we survived it working on computers - techie said, oh yes, photoshop uses control points. what about the layers, and the ? - oh, well, it used to just be flat screen raster - he showed me layering with large films on an angled light table. it was cool cuz i was getting out of work for this - i watched. finally he said, you do it, and all us students went to a light table - mine didnt light up right. then he said lets go to caterpillar hill - on the way there, he walked on ahead. someone said he said wed never be able to get there in the winter - serpentine road up the green dome of the hill - halfway up, a little cozy block and a half off to our left - two rows of houses, different colours but understated, dark not pastel or glib - offices and classes on the bottom floors of some, residences and flats in the rest. the street angled gently up hill. at the entrance to the block, a great outcropping of granite, with a built-in windmill so huge the blades almost touched the ground. wouldnt it be cool to go to school and live there, someone said. yeah, i said, or live in that old old old brick building behind there. did you see that? with the different colored bricks? yeah.