New York City, October 30, 2016

★★★An enchanted or murky haze caught the sunlight and held it. It was too warm out for even the lightest jacket; people were stripping down. Pigeons crowded around a filthy pothole puddle to bathe in the opaque water, fluffing and stretching. The afternoon turned browner. One tipped-out window in the darkening glass of the tower across the avenue still caught the light. Very grim and very low clouds dragged across the sky from the north, and the five-year-old demanded the window be closed. Oncoming rain blurred the river. The figures who’d been out in the warmth on the roofdeck huddled and then dispersed. People stood at their windows to watch the first wave blow through. Within the hour it had gone away and tentative light patches were appearing, but along with the night came audible thunder.