New York City, January 3, 2017

★ The failure of daybreak was so total it seemed as if something must have gone wrong with the clocks in the change of years. The usually wakeful child was drowsy in the dark and the usually sleepy child was unreachable. By dropoff a sort of daylight had established itself, with cold mist blowing. The mist became rain; the wind groaned at the door. The gray stayed gray all day till it briefly acquired a pink tinge, then went dark.