The Steiner Papers
Thanks to the ultra-precise grid set by the surveyor John Randel, New York was a Euclidian construct, though not at the edges where Backman Steiner walked north along the East River between X and Y Street. He cut in towards the meat of the city on a street working out from the river at an oblique angle; obtuse or acute based on which direction he faced. Amazingly, he found himself about fourteen blocks out of his way, like an electron blasted from metal by a photon. The hot cement slow-roasted his feet like chestnuts as his soles had worn thin months ago.…