Scoundrel Time

How It Ends: After Trump

Come and see. A red-haired woman dances barefoot on the asphalt on one side of the street. An elderly man with a cane tries to keep up with her and bursts into laughter as he almost loses his balance. Two olive-skinned young men make music with sticks on the light post and the garbage bin, another sings a lively song. Other men, women, and children clap and cheer in a semi-circle around them.

Look on the other side. Angry fists pound the air and red faces shout, grieving their shattered dream of the promised wall.

As the afternoon sets in, the sun shines brighter, and the elongated shadows of the waving arms on one side reach out to the middle of the street, where their fingertips almost touch the tired, clenched fists on the other side.