New York City, April 14, 2016

★★★★ Shouts from recess filled the neighborhood, coming through closed windows. Yelling children swarmed a soccer ball on a hardtop basketball court two blocks away and 250-some feet down. The river was polished tin, just short of being a mirror. Window cleaning rigs were out on glass towers. Out on the sidewalk by the Apple store, where the children set up with their instruments, the shade was deep and a little chilly. The four-year-old got an ice cream cone from the truck and ate the whole thing with the least possible mess. A few hours later, after reflecting on it, he would announce that it was best to eat ice cream in the cold, because it stayed together. The sound of the strings didn’t travel far, but the recorder carried nicely. The violist begged out of one final trio because his hands were cold. Up by the 72nd Street subway, the bagpiper was playing with no audible trouble or inhibition.