wrapped in foil, oozing hot fat

The difference between a city and a large city:  A city is a concentration of order, maximal at its center, that holds back the frontier, as a sodium vapor street lamp holds back darkness.  The large city is a cavernous order of frontiers within.  At night, on the trail and in the metropolis, the smell of charcoal, the occasional orange spark curves skyward, the chow wagon and ladle, the food cart at 4am.  Skewered meats, desires, ambitions.