i recognize a few faces vaguely-a woman who works in the local dry cleaners and spends her afternoons leaning in the doorway , chewing gum and occasionally spitting out into the street ; the traffic officer who works downtown near franklin arterial , one of the few areas of portland that has enough car traffic to justify one ; one of the guys who collects our garbage-and there , in the back , dev howard , who owns the quikmart down the street from my house .