New York City, May 7, 2013

★★★ The humid air and the breeze were in a dispute over how the day should feel — stuffy! No, chilly! — and the body caught in the middle of the argument found itself constantly being jostled. Downtown smelled like a wharf. Eye muscles tightened painfully against the colorless glare. The trees had lost their blooms and were plain green now. The sun went out and in. People with long-handled paint rollers were obliterating graffiti from two sides of a brick building, with dull red and a vivid but watery yellow, the excess dripping on plastic sheets below. A man was out walking in the sunshine, dressed for brightness: pants a bit more glowing than lime green and a shirt somewhere past royal blue toward turquoise, two particular shades that exactly matched the trim on his sneakers.