A traveler returned to the country from which he had started many 
years before. When he stepped from the boat, he noticed how dif-
ferent everything was. There were once many buildings, but now 
there were few and each of them needed repair. In the park where 
he played as a child, dust-filled shafts of sunlight struck the tawny 
leaves of trees and withered hedges. Empty trash bags littered 
the grass. The air was heavy. He sat on one of the benches and 
explained to the woman next to him that he’d been away a long 
time, then asked her what season had he come back to. She replied 
that it was the only one left, the one they all had agreed on.