New York City, October 4, 2015

★★★★ The light through the blinds gave cause for hope, even as the clouds were still there. People were out on the roof deck of the new building, bundled up in dark clothes, hurrying past the now-bare frames of the lounge furniture where sunbathers had lingered a month ago. The clouds broke apart to show a sky the blue of nice stationery and drifted southward. Straight-line light traced the straight lines of roofs. Blooms of reflected glow not seen in days returned. The iron planting-bed grate that had tipped up by a fallen tree had been put back in place, with an empty circle where the tree had grown. The children were zipped into their hoodies. In the night, slow ripples on the pool at Lincoln Center gently jumbled the reflections of the colored theater signs.