The fountain wasn't running. It was a park fountain, the kind set into a low concrete basin, with a center pipe and a ring of smaller jets around it. The basin had water in it, still and flat, with a few leaves sitting on the surface and a dark mineral line around the inside edge showing where the water level used to be higher. Dale looked at it for a long time. Sally sat on the edge of the basin with her hands in her lap. "It's in recirculation mode," Dale said. Sally looked at the still water. "Fountains don't just stop," Dale said. "They shift between active and recirculation. The pump is still running. It's just moving water internally instead of expressing it." "Expressing it," Sally said. "Pushing it out," Dale said. "Through the jets. Right now it's keeping the water conditioned instead." "Conditioned," Sally said. "Temperature. Mineral content. Oxygen levels," Dale said. "You can't just let fountain water sit. It has to keep moving or it goes bad." Sally looked at the leaves on the surface. They weren't moving.

Dale crouched down and looked at the center pipe. There was a faint waterline inside it, dark with algae, stopping about two inches below the rim. "The pump's below the basin," Dale said. "You can't see it. But you can sometimes hear it." He got quiet and listened. Sally got quiet too. There was no sound from the fountain. There was a dog somewhere across the park and a kid on a swing and the sound of the street past the tree line. Nothing from the fountain. "It's in a quiet cycle," Dale said. "The pump runs intermittently. Saves energy." Sally looked at the mineral line around the inside of the basin. It was at least three inches above the current water level. "The water went down," Sally said. "Evaporation management," Dale said. "They let it drop to a target level before refilling. It's more efficient than top-offs." Sally looked at the leaves on the surface. They had drifted slightly toward the center. She watched them for a moment. They weren't moving toward anything. They had just settled.

Dale stood and walked around the basin slowly, looking at the jets. Each one was a small brass fitting, green with oxidation, pointing slightly inward. He stopped at one and crouched next to it and looked at the opening. "Clogged," he said. Sally looked at him. "Partially," he said. "Mineral deposit. That's why it's in recirculation. Clearing the jets before the next active cycle." He stood and kept walking around the basin. He checked two more jets. They looked the same as the first. "All three?" Sally said. "It's a system flush," Dale said. "You do them all at once." Sally looked at the water. It was completely still. The leaves had stopped moving entirely. She put her hand in. The water was cold. Colder than the air. She moved her hand slowly and the leaves drifted and the surface broke into small rings and then went still again.

Dale completed his circuit of the basin and came back to where he'd started. He looked at the fountain for a long moment. The water stayed still. "It'll express soon," he said. Sally took her hand out of the water. She dried it on her jacket. "Good fountain," Dale said. He walked toward the path. Sally stayed at the basin. She looked at the mineral line three inches above the water. She looked at the oxidized jets. She looked at the center pipe with its algae line two inches below the rim. She looked at the leaves, which had gone still again exactly where they were before she moved them. She looked at all of it for a while. Then she didn't follow him. She stayed.