"My mother loved the arts," Dan says, smiling with a sad falter. He doesn't know what happened to his mother, whether she's still serving a sentence in some federal prison, if she died, if she was released and looked for him in vain. But he carries her with him in his talents for music and dance, just like he carries his father in his skills at the trades and drawing.

He watches for the drone to come back through fog that's only getting thicker.

"Well, if they're like animals, it's their nature to attack when scared or hungry, which are sympathetic and solvable. If they're like humans, it gets more complicated, but it might could still be sympathetic and solvable." He hopes Miguel isn't about to propose a violent solution, but Miguel seems to have a good head on his shoulders and a kind heart under the brusqueness.