When I was little, I'd pretend that the birds were spying on me. I'd see them perching on the power lines like notes on a scale...so still, they might've been robotic. My best friend, Suzanne, would look for spray-painted codes in the sidewalks---surveyor-speak (I know now). We would make up stories about trolls tunneling under the pavement.
Back then, it felt like the entire world was keeping secrets from us.