Spread on benches, between groups of people, were checked cloths, piled with things that people of all races took from their packs or baskets -- silver bags full of yellow-orange chips, plastic wine glasses, cans with colored labels, sea-salt encrusted bread sticks, hard boiled eggs whose white shells were decorated with blue and gold or silver and red stripes.

Two bands, one on either side of the stadium, begin to play. Men and women emerged from doors on either side.

Outside, the mechanical predators howled in unison.