And the water's the worst-tasting I've ever had

I have done my civic duty! With the help of paranoia, since before leaving I stashed a utilities bill in my coat in memory of our last experience voting in this ward and precinct and indeed, this time I was discovered to have been deactivated as a voter since last November, reasons especially unclear in light of all the rigmarole we went through at that time in order to convince the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of our current location. I produced the bill and my driver's license, signed a suitable affidavit as to my legal and residential realities, cast my vote, and immediately re-registered on returning home. Thanks to the time change, it gave me a night walk through rustling October-orange leaves, Bradbury weather reluctant to close the door. I have spent so little of this year normally out of doors, glimpsing most of my sunlight through windows or brief excursions through my neighborhood before my stamina rolls down like a steel shutter on the day. The leaf-smell, even the still too sharply white streetlight through their crisp, fragmented sugar-red shade felt like a treat.