Where a young boy pretending to be Merlin walks up behind an even younger boy who he's never met and says, "Do you know magic? I do!" and the littler boy says "You do not!" and they shout at one another "Do!" "Do NOT!" as loudly as they can for the length of two blocks as their parents smile sheepishly at one another and pull them away from each another, trying to separate their barking, feral darlings.

Where at the El Salvadorian restaurant, Tu Casa, a man with a copy of The Gospel According to Matthew on his table can barely conceal his delight in talking to the family of "out of towners" at the next table, but when he explains to the four year old boy (whose middle name happens to be "Darwin") that "It is a Christian idea that we don't come from monkeys" and the boy responds in a loud incredulous voice, "How did you even learn ENGLISH?!" the man's eagerness flickers and seems to give way to confusion.

Where the power goes out and they have no choice but to eat all their half-frozen sorbet by the light of a battery-powered lantern.

Where on the morning of the last day of camp the four year old boy offers to make a map in Arts and Crafts in order to help his family prepare for hurricane Irene.

Where Amatos ("It's real Italian"), at the intersection of route 1/9 and 207, seems to have overcome their Francophobia.

Where three boys discuss the state of the badger in the rear dash of a parked car, arguing, oldest to youngest, that it's "dead" or "stuffed" or "'stinct."

Where a woman sits by the window watching the rain and thinks about her children a mile away sitting in a loud, stuffy room with other children, the time passing slowly, slowly until pick up and the woman sits and watches the rain.

Where for a few golden moments the early morning, late August sun foreshadows the green trees a dappled orange.

Where the 12 year old boy sits on his mother's bed and says, "I'm just going to sit here until Dad finishes brushing his teeth and comes in here and gives me a lecture about Oedipus or something."

Where during walking meditation the Belfast sangha crisscross the street and backyard like Parkinsonian somnambulists.

Where during a particularly exciting hand of Wizard, the 10 year old boy says, "Oh my God, I'm gonna have a mental heart attack!"

Where at Greener Postures Yoga the instructor reads an inspirational passage from The Idiot's Guide to Enhancing Self-Esteem.

Where the little boy calls his mother, "Come! Come!" and the mother who has been sitting on his bed, her cool hand on his feverish forehead, says again and again, "I'm here, I'm here."

Where outside the Forest street Starbucks a woman holds up her brand new diploma of "Master of Fine Arts of Creatitive Writing" [sic] from University of Southern Maine for her friends to photograph--"that's going on Facebook!" she cackles, "FACEBOOK!"

Where on a rainy morning a woman reads her son a picture book about the golem, and the son, finding the idea of conflict between Christians and Jews even harder to accept than a living giant made out of clay animated with mystical prayers by an old rabbi, says, "Wait, the Christians? But I thought the Christians were just regular people who have something else to believe in!"

Where the mini-van pulls in front of "VISITOR PARKING and DROP OFF" so the four year old who is unable to make it home can drop off.

Where the numbers yelled out on the loudspeaker--"749! 750! 750! 750!"--and the high likelihood of regret after purchase give Clambake restaurant an auction house ambiance.

Where HoldMeTooTight, Town Bullet and Fulla Fire were the winners in the third race at Scarborough Downs.

Where two brothers and their mother are distracted by a pair of muscular, bare-chested young men wrestling in their front yard but probably for different reasons.

Where outside Scarborough Grounds coffee shop on route 1 two students discuss what each of them will be taking in the fall, and the girl in light blue pants and a light yellow shirt says, "I mean you can go for help but they won't help you like for my actual major I needed to take four OTHER labs and I was like so ugh and I took gen chem II because I heard that if you like regular chemistry you can you know blah blah blah but I liked organic but not regular, so… right?!" and the boy laughs hard and listens with rapt attention.

Where on the first morning of camp the 12 year old boy struggles to choose between the potential social suicide of bringing the book he is reading for pleasure--King Lear--and the potential boredom and loneliness of going to camp without a book.