New York City, August 14, 2013

★★★★★ The umbrella outside the door lay there like an artifact from an improbable other plane of reality. Starbursts of light flashed from the temples of a couple’s sunglasses; the air smelled of ineffable renewal, part freshly cleaned laundry and part new plant growth. The hem of a long dress billowed. Somewhere, no doubt, some humorless fanatic was composing a refutation of global warming. Previously unnoticed signage took on meaning. Print a shirt? Why not print a shirt? Iced milk tea rose through the straw and minor ambitions multiplied: things to do, create, clean, solve. Everything seemed feasible. The hours spent working indoors felt like a tragic error. On the uptown platform, a man in a blue Derek Jeter jersey clutched a brown-bagged bottle as he waited for the stadium-bound train. Orange light got in among the pipes below a water tower as the sun traced its smooth descent, cloudless save a decorative line of little purple ones off to the north.