New York City, November 30, 2017

★★ Morning was ordinary, dark and grim. Wind nudged the leaves around without really sending them anywhere. The light and dark blotches on the gray gradually developed into blue and white, if only for a while. The night air was too humid for wearing a warm coat but humid enough to put a raw chill on the skin. The six-year-old insisted on eating his ramen with his coat on rather than moving to a seat sheltered from the draft of the restaurant door. An airplane passed through the low clouds, its lights splaying out into a solid, glowing alien cone.