In Lisboa, the streets were empty, yes. I would turn around with the habit of addressing a companion. The expectation always involved a query that I couldn't answer. The question might be: Why are those tiles green, not blue? I am always asked such questions, and do my best to give an answer on the spot. How many tiles are on the side of that house? And the house beside it? And what about that one? When I realized that the questions were spoken by no one, because no one was beside me, I had finished counting: 2,666.