seven he 'd made the cab driver stop on the way in for a six-pack , already jubilant to be in the warm summer air , and now as they made the turn off the freeway and came down into the familiar and unforgettable squalor of lower st charles avenue , michael felt like weeping at the sight of the black-barked oak trees with their dark foliage , and the long narrow st charles streetcar , exactly as he had remembered it , roaring and clattering along its track .