The sky is doing its best impression of a city on fire and the harbor is letting it. Everything burns orange, the clouds stacked black on top like rooftops, the horizon glowing like a strip of neon under a dark awning, the water carrying the whole blaze upside down in long red smears. Two sailboats sit silhouetted in the middle of it, masts thin as antennae, rigging a few scratched lines against the glare. Past them on the right, a low island of palms is already in shadow, the last dark shape before the open sea. This is the neon hour, when the sun signs off and the whole sky flashes its colors one time before the power cuts. The boats rock in place, patient as parked cars. Somebody's below deck on the nearer one, maybe, cooking something, a small light probably burning in the cabin window. Sailors see this every evening and still come up on deck for it. That tells you something. The orange deepens to red, the red goes ember, the ember goes out. Best free show in town, every night, no marquee. #sunset #sailboat #fierysky
