The train arrived. Alfonzo made his way to the ferry. Above was a cold, humid tarp of pearl-colored clouds and black sky. Sea and sky shone against each other in reflection. There were stars where there weren’t clouds.

The boat moved over the spangled sea through soft air. Was he inside or outside the bubble? Was this outer space? The delicacy overwhelmed him. The dense air was so fresh, Alfonzo needed a cigarette to breathe more normally. He bummed a smoke from an older sheep and puffed it into the dark.

They floated past a series of wooden posts sticking up above the water. A group of birds gathered, one perched on each post. The birds wore hats and were also smoking. Their little orange ember tips glowed. This was how shore birds relaxed together, he thought. All the animals of the world are so close, and yet we can be so ignorant. He thought of all the birds he’d crossed paths with. How little he knew of their aerial views, their feathers, and struggles. We are one another’s aliens, he thought.

25.

Vivi was at the Red Clover Tavern as promised, sitting beside an elephant named Krithi Devi. Krithi was from Kerala, India, but she was living in exile because her activism for other females had brought her death threats. Afraid for her elderly parents, she’d succumbed to pressure and gone abroad. She’d ended up stuck in Long Island, at the End of the World, because the boat she’d been traveling on had sprung a leak. She and her traveling companions were hanging around this off-season beach town, waiting for some parts to arrive by mail so the ship could be repaired. She and Vivi hit it off because they could sit with each other, talking sometimes but also letting silences exist. The elephant was accompanied everywhere by a yellow-and-red-beaked bird named Edith. Edith never drank or chatted; all she did was glare intently at anyone who came near Krithi. No one felt comfortable asking about the bird’s behavior.

That night the bar was full, perhaps because of the band. Vivi was anxious and ended up explaining her history with Alfonzo to her friend, who only wobbled her head sympathetically. All the while Edith pecked delicately at Krithi’s ear.