我们大约午夜离开，默默地走下山。夜晚很闷热，在我周围，我感到同样的压力，在似乎站着的时候匆匆忙忙。每当我想到波多黎各的时间时，我都会想起那些挂在高中教室墙上的旧磁性时钟。时不时地，一只手不会在几分钟内移动 - 如果我看了足够长的时间，想知道它是否终于崩溃了，那只手突然跳到三个档次四个档次时会让我震惊。
(we left about midnight and walked down the hill in silence. the night was muggy, and all around me i felt the same pressure, a sense of time rushing by while it seemed to be standing still. whenever i thought of time in puerto rico, i was reminded of those old magnetic clocks that hung on the walls of my classrooms in high school. every now and then a hand would not move for several minutes -- and if i watched it long enough, wondering if it had finally broken down, the sudden click of the hand jumping three for four notches would startle me when it came.)