Dawn Line

Sunrise came up directly behind the row at Ahu Tongariki, and for about four minutes the shadows ran the full length of the field. Fifteen of them, every one pointing the same way, longer than the stones that cast them. Then the sun lifted a hand's width and the shadows folded up, and it was a morning like any other on the island. I have never been so aware of standing inside a narrow window of time, nor so aware that the window had been cut for me eight centuries before I got there.