New York City, October 15, 2012

★★ A simple, manageable proposition: some rain was on its way. Pack an umbrella, head out into the mild, gray morning, and wait for it to keep getting grayer. A whitening sky at noon created a moment, and only a moment, of doubt, before the dimmer switch resumed its inexorable progress toward the given. The first drops fell at the moment of exiting the office, and a shine began to cover the street. Out came the umbrella, flinging away its silver plastic end cap as it unfurled, at no cost to the underlying mechanism. It worked, and it was enough.