The city had a different rhythm on Sunday afternoons. The noise of traffic mingled with a strange silence, as if everyone were breathing more slowly. I went out for a walk without an escort, without my architect's helmet, without folders under my arm. Just a coffee in my hand and my cell phone turned off. I needed to forget for a couple of hours that my life had become a chess game against opponents who didn't know the rules.

The street was almost empty. The trees cast long shadows on the sidew