Doing Time in a Maximum Security Twilight Home

Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like dawn? Yet if you look east, at sunset, you can see night rising, not falling; darkness lifting into the sky, up from the horizon, like a black sun behind cloud cover. like smoke from an unseen fire, a line of fire just below the horizon, brushfire or a burning city. Maybe night falls because it’s heavy, a thick curtain pulled over the eyes. Wool blanket. I wish I could see in the dark, better than I do. — Margaret Atwood • The Handmaid’s Tale