d.

To the center of the city, where the tall buildings stretched to the
lighting sky, came the horde, like thousands of ants toward a comb of
honey. Wheels sang and whined. Horns blasted. Whistles blew.

And waiting, strung above the wide streets between the cold marquees and
the dead neon tubes, were the banners and the flags and the bunting.

The air warmed and the sun brightened. Voices chattered. Elbows nudged.
Mouths smiled, teeth shone, and there was the sound of laughter, rising
over the pushing throngs. The city was happy.

The bunting dipped and the banners fluttered and the flags whipped. At
the edge of the city, the airport tightened itself. Waiting, waiting for
the silver and blue rocket. The rocket of the Celebrity.

A large hotel, towering above the pulsing streets, began the quiver of
activity. As though a great electric current had been run through its
cubes and shafts and hollows, the hotel crackled. Desk clerks clicked
bells and bell boys hopped. Elevators rose and fell. In the cellar, wine
bottles were dusted by quick, nervous hands. In the kitchen, a towering
cake was frosted and decorated. Orders cracked. Hands flew and feet
chattered against tile. In one rich expansive suite a giant hoop of
multi-colored flowers was placed in the center of a room.

It was in the air. Laughter, awe, worship, _excitement_!

Ropes went up and stretched between lamp posts. Blue-coated men on
horses began blocking streets. Old women with wooden boxes, children
with flashing eyes, men in rich suits and tattered suits began filling
the sidewalks.

Curbs became lined with people. Bars threw open doors and fresh air met
stale air. Men with fat faces, thin faces, white faces, red faces,
twitching with the anticipation of holiday freedom, gulped jiggers of
raw whiskey and shuddered happily.

Children giggled and yelled and sprinted in crazy zig-zags. Men in white
caps hustled in front of the lined curbs, shouting, carrying their boxes
of ice-cream. Men with buttons, men with pennants, men with balloons
joined the shouting, and the sound rose in the air and the city smiled
and shifted and its heart pounded.

The hotel whirred inside itself. The airport tensed and searched the
sky.

* * * * *

Time moved and the swelling throngs jammed the sidewalks, raising their
strengthening sound between the tall buildings. Windows popped open and
faces beamed. Tentative showers of confetti drif