New York City, August 29, 2016

★★★ Dust and a bird dropping showed in the light on a white Dodge muscle car. The sun landed hard on a dark shirt. The children, on being consulted, agreed it was better to walk two crosstown blocks from Seventh to Fifth than to risk the likely heat of the platform at Times Square. The sunlight was so hot that the four-year-old insisted on a detour back out of the shady side of the street to buy a brand-name sports beverage. The late afternoon heat pushed up Sixth Avenue from behind while the oncoming pedestrians were a riot of hypersharp detail. The four-year-old, pleading spent legs, got lifted up and fell sweatily asleep while clinging to a standing adult on the uptown train.