Recently, a curious pedestrian, visiting D.C., spent a few hours observing the hole as others blithely passed or carefully maneuvered around its maw. The hole was in its purest state: no signage, no cones. Just a chasm. The near-perfect circularity of the hole suggested that it had once held a pole or a post. Its contents that day: a dozen or so deteriorating leaves (some kind of oak, mixed with Japanese zelkova); two butts (Marlboro, Dunhill); four nutshells (probably pistachio); and light-bluish bits of a bird’s eggshell (species unknown but guessing robin).journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter