New York City, October 27, 2016

★ By the time the drowsy children could be gotten out the door, a light cold rain was just beginning to fall. The bare places in the trees were apparent. A woman stopped with a stroller just outside the revolving doors, blocking them, as she fussed with the child’s cold-weather gear. The whole day was raw and dark. Sometimes there was a wrinkle in the clouds; sometimes the clouds were smooth. Sometimes the rain fell hard enough to streak the windows. At the first school pickup time, it had paused, but by the end of the afterschool program it was steady and soaking again, as the older boy trudged along uncomplainingly under his umbrella to help fetch the younger. In the dark, on the detour to and from the nearest possible grocery store, rain fell in long drips from building canopies, caught in the underlighting as it stretched, so that it looked slow and viscous.