And then, in an instant: a hop across centuries from + to -. I was reminded—obviously, it was association by contrast—I was suddenly reminded of a picture in the museum depicting their olden day, twentieth-century avenue in deafening multicolor: a jumbled crush of people, wheels, animals, posters, trees, paint, birds . . . And do you know, they say that it was actually like that—that it’s actually possible. I found that so improbable, so ludicrous, that I couldn’t contain myself and laughed out loud.
