All day, people poured
into Asano Park.
This private estate was far enough away from the explosion so that its
bamboos, pines, laurel, and maples were still alive, and the green
place invited refugees -- partly because they believed that if the
Americans came back, they would bomb only buildings; partly because
the foliage seemed a center of coolness and life, and the estate's
exquisitely precise rock gardens, with their quiet pools and arching
bridges, were very Japanese, normal, secure; and also partly
(according to some who were there) because of an irresistible,
atavistic urge
to hide under leaves.
"Hiroshima"
John Hersey
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