Fire When Ready

I could work out in a gym. I’m sure I’d get a more balanced workout, as far as keeping all my muscle groups in tone. I wouldn’t have to worry about wind or rain, or sunsets, or getting my hands greasy resetting chains and sprockets and derailleurs. But when you get out in the real world you get to see a deer crossing the road in front of you, a windmill buried deep on a forested hillside, an egret poised in a still morning pond—or the Long Beach Fire Department out for the day, breaking the heat with a test of waterfront fire-fighting capacity.