November 21, 2023:
You swing your old blue and white VW bus backward around the poles supporting your covered driveway, facing it forward for morning. The maneuver is fraught, though, as the brakes are not solid in reverse. To bring to a full stop you dangle your foot out the driver's door and push against the oil-stained concrete, like preventing a bicycle from rolling downhill. Across the yard your neighbor works on his own bus: he has the engine hatch propped, waving hello with a wrench as his children watch.