Late August

We go to Venice tomorrow, to find the most hidden of all the cafes. A rat with ribs splayed open alighted on the steps of a canal at low tide teeming with insects. An enormous squid has made its way into the flooded Piazza San Marco overnight and has sprayed its ink over the columns of one side of the piazza as it suffocated in the shallow water. Its late August and not one tourist was here to take note.