DC By the Book

Excerpt: Jonathan Allard walks toward the fountain at the center of Dupont Circle and, Jon has always thought, of the capital itself. Jon’s theory that Dupont Circle is a paradise in the heart of the city and the nation goes this way: In Dupont Circle poor meets rich, old meets young, gay meets straight, native meets new arrival, and the peoples, styles, and languages all squish together to form America.

Excerpt: Jonathan Allard walks toward the fountain at the center of Dupont Circle and, Jon has always thought, of the capital itself. Jon’s theory that Dupont Circle is a paradise in the heart of the city and the nation goes this way: In Dupont Circle poor meets rich, old meets young, gay meets straight, native meets new arrival, and the peoples, styles, and languages all squish together to form America.

Excerpt: The fountain at Dupont throws a crown of water upward into the breeze. White sheets of water pour from the upper basin to the collecting pool. As Bailey strides beneath the sycamores in the long evening sunlight, a fine mist reaches him.

Excerpt: They ride on, passing between the buffalo on the Q Street Bridge and continuing into Georgetown.

Excerpt: In Montrose Park, a tall man is doing tai chi. Nita bumps along the grass past him. A couple in matching knee braces play a slow tennis match on one of the courts alongside Dumbarton. Big crows stand nearby while Jon gets out his tools and removes Nita’s training wheels. His heart pounds.

Excerpt: They pass the art deco facade of the Uptown theater, the Broadmoor apartments.

Excerpt: Jon maneuvers the weighted cart down the cereal aisle in pursuit of Nita’s Sugar Pops. He returns faithfully to the Safeway on Corcoran the way another person might bring flowers to a cemetery. David Matthieson, dead six years now, cannot know that Jon shops here to honor his memory.

Excerpt: He lives right near Politics & Prose and has invited her twice to join him after work, to get dinner and browse. The bookstore and Tom’s eyes are an appealing combination.

Excerpt: Nita sleeps in a pretty maple bed, which catches the light. A stack of books from the West End Library reaches almost to mattress height. The Wind in the Willows, which she was reading with Jon last night, is on top.

Excerpt: Louisa passes the lions, crosses the Taft Bridge. Tree tops float just beyond the railings. Louise can’t understand Washington’s bridges, which are built over trees and creeks, rather than rivers.

Excerpt: Bailey and Louisa wend their way to Logan Circle and ride south on 11st Street past two-story bungalows fronted by matchbook lawns.

Excerpt: But they stop in “just for a minute” at Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe. No sooner do they enter the bookstore than Peter finds himself face to face with a small but prominent display of the newest novel by his cherished rival. Jon makes his way to the history section, so he doesn’t see Peter stop in his tracks. Peter buys the book and heads to the cafe to read.

Excerpt: The water of the fountain is blue. Not the bright aqua of a spotlit fountain, but a cool jazzy blue, at nearly eleven. The October sky is reflected upside-down in the water, the clouds pouring off the lip of the saucer above the inscription, Samuel Francis Du Pont, Rear-Admiral. Jon and Peter have settled onto one of Dupont’s benches. Across from them, a young woman with a guitar sings about love. Pot perfumes the air.