lingerer

As he left the neighborhood, his van packed with the living, other lingerers came out into the streets, asking him when he would return so they could finally leave this ghost town behind.

A tow truck prowled back and forth on the bridge, siren blaring, as officers barked orders at wedding parties and other lingerers to move on.

The Lowry lingerer’s bagman/attack dog/former assistant has finally got his first management job.

Small parties share tables with strangers, and a dirty tablecloth may be half rolled up and a clean one half rolled out — yin and yang — to accommodate lingerers and new arrivals.

For the rest of us lingerers, it says something about where we all are that, once through those gates, you’ll still find yourself in the richest, most powerful country around, the planet’s “sole superpower.”