In the broiling heat, oily rainbow mirages dance toward the distance across spongy blacktop. Money changes hands. Smells of cooking fat, cotton candy, and sweat overlay the grinding and clattering of weary machinery. Distorted music competes from post to post. The raucous voices of young men play counterpoint to the high, crazy bleating of wild-hearted children. Youth moves in packs that form and break like mercury in the palm. Parents, like drovers, loop and herd. Tanned strangers jostle and posture along the sticky avenues of constructed desire. Eyes squint in the blinding light. As the senses cascade toward exhaustion, some things blur while others snap into sharp relief.