He was sitting next to a transvestite with a long black wig and mascara running down her cheeks.

And for one day, he wears the clothing of his sister and he becomes a transvestite, a waylaka. And for that day, he leads all able bodied men on a run, but it's not your ordinary run.

I watched the man open a pack of cigarettes with trembling hands and offer one to her, and that is the image of the night of the earthquake in my mind today a conservative grocer and a crying transvestite smoking together on the sidewalk.