New York City, December 6, 2016

★★ The clouds were high and flattened, silvery-white on the morning. The black shape of an airplane acquired contour as it moved slowly from west to east. Children stayed on the playground equipment after the first summons to school had sounded. Furrows had formed in the clouds, now a solid mass, as the five-year-old waited to go to the urgent care center with his bandaged forehead. Two or three hours later, in the cold light of the hospital waiting room, he kept asking whether the day was over. By the time he was discharged, with tape over stitches, the sky was a darkening brown gray. In the dark after dinner, people coming into the building lobby or waiting by the service elevators were suddenly glazed with rain. The lights of the wreath outside shone on sheeted water.