New York City, May 25, 2016

★★★★★ By the time the four-year-old, in shorts, got to school, his hand-holding hand was sweating a little. Where was his snowsuit, the teacher asked him conspiratorially. Without a sweatshirt thrown over the just-thrown-on t-shirt, the content of the design had to be considered, as did the unwashed condition of the adult wearing it. One thin cloud stood in the hazy sky like a thumbprint on a grime-filmed windowpane. White light landed heavily on Union Square. More than a dozen pigeons pecked at the lurid squares of spilled Cheez-Its. Women were wearing new-looking summer dresses and men were wearing sleeveless t-shirts that did not look so new. Two people on the same corner separately and independently craned their cameras at the Empire State building. The leaves on the street trees that had come out green were now darkening to the burgundy of shoe leather. The sight of people in sun hats made the unprotected brow feel the force of the sun on it. In the late-day shade the sidewalk temperature was ideal, buoyant, interrupted by unpleasant rivulets of air conditioning from the open doors. The rightmost facet of the Freedom Tower dematerialized into the glassy blue of the sky.