2.7.01

The city is constructing a roundabout in the intersection just west of my apartment building. As the only intersection without one for several blocks, it bears more speeders and, consequently, accidents. Neighbors have apparently been trying to get something installed there for quite some time. Not too long ago, the city painted a white circle in the intersection where the concrete will be poured. My desk faces a west window. From the third floor vantage point, I have a view of downtown, Jupiter, the intersection and all the buildings flanking it. I've witnessed two collisions at the intersection since I moved here. Today, clear cold day, Jupiter wearing two-day old precipitation and the heat of downtown bleeding from the skyscrapers, three firetrucks pulled up to the intersection, parked, and dispersed personnel. Cones were erected along the spray-painted circle. The personnel, all men, stood in groups discussing the roundabout presumably, every once in a while gesturing toward the cones. Then one by one, the fire engines crossed the intersection, avoiding the cones. The stubby truck, the mid-size, and the double-jointed one with the ladder on top and a box in the back for steering, all cleared the roundabout without so much as scuffing a curb.

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