New York City, September 29, 2015

★★ A layer of visible grime clung to the living room window. The soggy air felt like putting on yesterday’s clothes. Sun coexisted with a thick brown darkness upriver, beyond where a white boat gleamed on the flat water. Which interval of sun would be the last? Rain, rain, rain, said the forecast on the elevator screen. Rain, said the work group chat. Maybe this day’s sunscreen would be the last. The sun was hot and unpleasantly dazzling, while it lasted, and then the darkness and the humidity slammed down harder than before. It was too hot to wear the rain jacket in the absence of rain, but the rain couldn’t be far off. Could it? Uptown was still heavier, still darker. The rain jacket went back in the closet. The air conditioners went on. Finally, a hand stuck out the window got hit by big, falling drops.