The old lady in the Sunday hat was telling her grandson the day was too hot for sale or rent. And just as she said this and wiped the backs of her hands with a Wet Wipe, a dog came padding down the opposite sidewalk before slowing to a halt outside the green house at 83 Beals Street, the house where John Kennedy was born. The windows on the ground floor had curtains of Irish lace. 'That dog has no right to be walking over there,' said the lady.

The young man smiled and snapped his fingers. 'Dog got no sense of history,' he said, then he laughed.

'And you got none neither,' she said, pressing the tissue into her sleeve.

LRB 19 August 2004 | PDF Download