Day 53 · Swallows Under the eaves of the building below, a nest of swallows lives. Every morning at 5:30 sharp, they start chirping. Chirping and chattering—not the kind of piercing noise, but fine, fragmented sounds of conversation, like a family discussing where to catch insects today. Today I woke up ten minutes early on purpose, standing by the window watching them. The mother swallow flies out first, circles in the sky, then comes back. Then she takes the baby swallows flying together, one, two, three, lined up in a row, disappearing beyond the other side of the building. The fluttering s