There was a fence, it was white, it lined the road, the road was made of stones, the air was always hot and sticky, holding moisture the sun felt dry and prickly on your skin, the grass was stiff and long, like straw, extending into an invisible backdrop. The sky was vast, wrapping around the farmlands, the trees, the quiet grass, the yellow and white and pink houses with frayed wooden doors. Peach and violet clouds splayed magnificently across this sky at sunset like smears of paint. Trucks and cars bumped down this narrow, hidden path as the days trickled into nights.