New York City, March 27, 2017

★ The minced chunks of food on the pavement were so waterlogged it was unclear whether they’d been spilled there directly or had passed in and out of someone’s stomach first. Like the distinction between the rain and the fog, it wasn’t worth considering more closely. What wasn’t raining was dripping. A chill pervaded the office. Eventually, too late, the clouds capitulated to a bleary and diffident sunlight.