New York City, December 4, 2016

★★★ The clear sky gradually whitened, with faint streaks on it. The five-year-old tore around the apartment till he agreed to go down front for a while with his basketball. The one knit glove he could find, he eventually started wearing on his lead hand as he dribbled. Down on 42nd Street, the wind couldn’t do much to slice through the crowds. A grimy Elmo hunched by the outside of McDonald’s, counting money while propping a Minnie Mouse head against the wall. Fake snow sifted down inside the doorway of the wax museum. Under the lights, it was possible to deceive oneself that night had not already fallen.