Summer scene - July 21

The scene on Saturday evening as Bismarck people meandered north and south on 3rd street, just up the hill from the town center. The sun was low in the sky, streaking it pink and yellow. Humidity floated in windows and clung to t-shirts, hair, skin. The elm trees cast long shadows across the high school's soccer field, where, in the shaggy summer grass, a group of teenagers were playing soccer. Flashing in and out between them were two white figures: nuns, their ankle-length habits billowing behind. Rope belts swinging with every jogging step, veils streaking out, smiles wide on their faces. Nuns sprinting after a soccer ball, tackling gangly kids and causing sudden joy to stir in every person who had the fortune to look their way.