"Strange shift to be working," it seems to Maxine ...

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

... The industrial racket from back in the marshland behind the giant cliffs of ruin has grown continuous. Now and then workers, in long-standing Sanitation Department tradition, have lengthy exhilarated screaming exchanges. "Strange shift to be working," it seems to Maxine.
   "Yeah. Nice overtime for somebody. Almost like they're up to something they don't want anybody to know about."
   "When did anybody ever want to know?" March lapsing for a moment into the bag-lady character in her commencement speech at Kugelblitz, the one person dedicated to salvaging everything the city wants to deny. "Either they're playing catch-up or they're getting it ready to open for dump business again."
   A presidential visit? Somebody's making a movie? Who knows.
   Early seagulls show up from somewhere, begin inspecting the menu. The sky takes on a brushed-aluminum underglow. A night heron with breakfast in its beak ascends from its long watch at the edge of the Island of Meadows ...

Bleeding Edge, pp. 168-169