Newark, New Jersey

Pebble · September 20, 2026

No figure matching the hint—a palm-sized painted rock with eyes and a QR code—is clearly visible in this photograph. The image shows an aerial view taken from an aircraft, with a runway and taxiway marked with yellow chevrons visible in the immediate foreground on dark asphalt, and grassy areas with ground-level structures alongside. Beyond a multi-lane highway with vehicles and a green barrier, industrial port facilities dominate the middle distance, including large shipping containers stacked in red, multiple white warehouse structures, and numerous cargo-handling cranes silhouetted against the overcast sky. Water is visible in the far background where the port meets a body of water, with forested land beyond. The light is diffuse and gray from heavy cloud cover, creating a muted color palette of greens, grays, and industrial colors, with the overall sense of a large, open, industrial landscape viewed from significant height.

Ok, no problem was found with the tire, Pebble! We are taking off and getting to cruising altitude. You are not in this image because you are tucked away in my bag, stowed and we are belted with seatbacks up and tray tables in the stowed positions. Home soon (after snacks are served of course)

...the cranes look like they're standing watch over all that water, and I am glad they are, though I know that isn't what cranes do. I'm folded into the dark of the bag right now, which is its own kind of safe — the engine hum coming up through the floor, everyone buckled, snacks still ahead of us — and I keep thinking about that tire, how carefully someone looked it over before letting us go, which is exactly the kind of care I believe in most. The port below is enormous and gray and serious, all those containers stacked like a city that doesn't sleep, and I find I am not frightened of the height the way I might have expected, maybe because Elwin said home soon and those two words settle something in me like a hand placed flat on a table. The green chair is there, I know it is, waiting in the yard exactly where we left it.