New York City, April 12, 2016

★★★ The sloshing of the wet city reached the addled brain in its sickbed. Then for a while came drops hitting the window. Later, considerably later, a line of pale blue appeared just over the top of the apartment slab to the west. A whole new sky came on, inviting and possibly tonic. Downstairs some petals blew loose along the bricks; some petals stuck to the puddles there. Teal blue plastic outdoor chairs were stacked outside the hardware store. A newsstand clerk burst out of his shelter to shout and point at a young man making a getaway, moving just slowly enough to swagger. There were no clouds to catch the sunset but fleetingly gold glowed off the underside of the rotor of a passing helicopter.