Stephen Smith has written for many publications, including the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Toronto Life, Canadian Geographic, New York Times Magazine and Geist. He lives in Toronto.
We have men on the slope and men on the ridge. In the gully, more men. Men on the main road wait for the men on the esker to move up onto the ridge so that they (the men on the road) can take their (the esker-men’s) place. Men hesitate and grumble. The valley is all men. Men, men, men.
We put out a big fire and surprised ourselves at the same time. We weren’t professional firefighters, none of us was, just strangers happening by who saw the fire and took care of it. None of us even liked fires. It was the courthouse burning.
