New York City, December 1, 2015

★ Rain had passed or paused before the children had to head out to school. A sodden half-sandwich lay against the curb. Leaves lay right below the trees they’d been knocked down from. While the rain held off, the warmer temperature made things better than the dampness was making them worse. Once the rain started blowing again, that was not the case. Here was November rawness, arriving a day late. It gathered into a firm drizzle, then into an outright shower again for a while. The walk to the homeward subway was rainless, but on the way up out of the stairs, the returning drizzle appeared in the streetlights, several seconds before it landed hard enough to be felt through hair.