New York City, February 1, 2015

★★ Between the deep freeze just gone and the storm due to come, the day assumed the guise of uneventfulness. It was warm enough for people to amble stupidly three abreast or to stand vacantly in a still-snow-pinched curb cut because the signal was still the orange hand in one of the two available directions. The parka had been a bit more coat than was necessary, heading out, but on the way home from the pool, the wind went through the carelessly unzipped front and the t-shirt beneath, working its way between the buttons of the shirt under that. Pale faults stretched across the cloud cover. Well before 4, a rosy glow filled the sky away off behind the distinct but distant Newark Airport tower. By sundown proper, that part of the sky was colorless.