New York City, September 17, 2017

★★ The dull gray in the sky extended down to make a dull gray nothingness where New Jersey would be. A few ripples of blue, with unclear edges, emerged. On stepping outside into the soggy air, there was a brief moment of chill in the dimness, and then the clouds thinned and parted, so that hot sun could fall on the expected offerings of the street fair. By the afternoon walk to the playground, the light had grown clearer and the heat had become radiant and directed. Everything was going on at once: a tiny child in a bathing suit ran a scooter into someone’s soccer ball and pushed it along for a ways; a baseball sailed out of the handball court and landed on the basketball half-court; a boy in a numbered t-shirt and baseball pants and socks hit a tennis ball with the bat and was thrown out at first base. The five-year-old was wild-eyed and sweaty.