New York City, July 10, 2013

★★ The sky looked decisively dark, but was it yet another feint? The first drops — or maybe just drops with no narrative implications — were falling. A burst of thunder, one burst, was audible inside. The shower that came with it was over after it had barely wet down the fire escape and ripened the smell of garbage in the back. It steamed off into yet more low-grade high summer: nothing to suffer through, beyond a little eyestrain in the glare, and nothing much to enjoy.