10H. K. O'HARA“That’s because you left South Korea before the age of logical livingswooped down and grabbed ahold of every available inch of space,”said Binnie.Temma leaned over the seat. “Logical living? Endless rows of fogcolored buildings are logical?”“Well, the city planners seem to think so. In their eyes, a tiny bit ofspace plus ten million people equals a lot of quickly constructed fogcolored buildings.”K took a deep breath. Binnie looked at her. “Are you okay?”“The air feels heavy,” she said quietly. “Do people here start toworry as soon as they get out of bed in the morning?”“They start to worry before they get out of bed in the morning. Areyou feeling the energy starting to slip through the cracks of the littlegray boxes?”“Yes . . . the energy of anxiety. But I’ll be fine. I’ll just focus onsomething else.”A few minutes later they were in front of Binnie’s office. He jumpedout of the car with a quick, “I’ll be right back.”The sidewalks were empty, so K and Temma got out of the car tostretch their legs while they waited for him. Spotting a fountain in thesmall park on the other side of the street, K pointed to it. “Temma,” shesaid, “there’s a fountain over there and I would give just about anythingto put my hands in the water. What do you think?”Temma squinted her eyes . . . Except for one man running in ahooded sweatshirt, there weren’t any people in the park. “I guess it willbe okay,” she said, reaching into the car for her bag.Overjoyed at the thought of dipping her hands into moving water, Kstepped into the street . . . Almost to the other side, she was suddenlyovercome by a rush of chaotic energy. She turned around to go back,but hundreds of people were coming toward her. Unable to breathe, sheput her hand to her throat, gasping for air.Stunned by how quickly the street, the sidewalks and the park hadfilled up with people, Temma grabbed her phone and called Binnie. Allshe could manage to say was, “K—the park. Oh God.”
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