The tone of the excerpt below can best be described as _____.
"Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning."
a)cynical and gloomy
b)lost and lonely
c)childlike and nostalgic
d)confused and meandering