Moonbean Market

Moonbean Market fills a round stone courtyard in the last hour before midnight, when the cobblestones have held the day's warmth and give it back slowly through the soles of shoes. Painted lanterns — some shaped like fish, one like a crescent — hang on wires strung between the buildings, and their light laps at everything in a gentle orange-pink. Between the awning poles, puddles from the evening rain mirror the lantern shapes so there are two markets, one above and one below, slightly wobbling. Steam carts run between the stalls trailing apricot-scented clouds, and curved benches are set so that visitors watch each other as much as the goods. The slow stone fountain at the center is always running — water crossing smooth pebbles into a shallow basin where coins have settled in overlapping layers. The surrounding buildings are tall and close, with laundry lines running between their upper windows, and the courtyard holds sound in a specific way that makes everything said there seem slightly more important than it would be elsewhere.