The winds had died down, leaving behind a heavy veil of smog over the San Fernando Valley.Between the lunar glow and the lights of both upper and lower cities, the night sky looked a gauzy ecru-yellow, the city itself filled with the smoky ghosts of palm trees and buildings.Normally I don't pay too much attention to the weather--not that we have frequent or catastrophic climate changes above and beyond the normal earthquakes--but tonight I seemed to see the town in stark reality ...