July 19

Years ago - fewer than 15, but surely more than 10 - I saw a vignette: from the Interstate, I saw a man and a woman walking through the headstones displayed at the monument company. At the precise instant that I happened to look toward them, the man reached out and took the woman's hand. As they continued to walk slowly along the displayed markers, I drove on and they were lost to me.

But that fraction of a second has stayed with me, and I do not pass that place without thinking of the poignant gesture.

This is that building, abandoned now, except for vague dents in the ground from the weight of the markers and tall sliding doors on the end, big enough for a forklift and a headstone.

Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock, Texas