‘A skinny wind blew upside of the flats and the clouds mobbed the sun out of the sky and it was cold. I said we should climb into the pump house for shelter, but Teresa said that only junkies went there, though she and me had had a cubby house there last summer. A pissy slash of sunlight splashed against the back of the flats. Halley stood by the pillars there beside Teresa. I went over too.’ (Author’s introduction)