Sparklers crackle like gunfire in the night, draping the warmly-lit street in a light, gray haze. Though the smoke fills Victor and Christina’s lungs and spreads its talons over their pristine white clothes, they seem to not notice, instead waving at the friends and family friends and family friends’ friends lined on either side of the street. Their clothes have been pressed and cleaned by Christina’s parents in preparation. The clothes had hung like a phantom bride and groom in her...

On free evenings my cousins and I would go to the swings beside the Barn, eager to spend all of our downtime talking, swinging, and philosophizing. As we swung higher and higher we heard the stuttered screeching of the surely-rusting chains on the metal skeleton as they pierced the half-stillness. We faced the Main House, where the dining hall, counselor living room, mail room, and, on Sundays, a doughnut bar, were found. Despite decades of weather and children, the House remained perfectly...