New York City, September 3, 2012

★★ Clouds under clouds. Small insects clung to the outside of the windows. A tap on the glass, to make sure which side they were on, barely stirred them. A chilly wind blew along Amsterdam Avenue. The five-year-old declared victory in his campaign against the technicalities of the equinox: here was autumn already, right at the start of September. To argue back about the length of daylight would have required, first of all, that there be some daylight.