New York City, January 11, 2016

★★★★ Sharp, low sunbeams pierced the usual dimness of the hallway, coming under the doors of east-facing apartments. The doorman declared that it was getting colder, not warmer, as the day came on. By early afternoon, the wind on the avenue growled past the ears and sent a tear trickling backwards along the zygomatic. The sun was bright and attractive; it made a blurry glitter in lowered eyebrows; but it was no help against the cold. It was time to hide in the warmth of the apartment lobby for the five minutes of slack in the schedule between the walk back from preschool and the third-grade dismissal. All the gloves made hand-holding cumbersome, till it proved easier to impel and protect the children by pinching a fold in the puffy upper arms of their coats. There was nothing in the cloudless sky for the sunset to get purchase on, but grids of scarlet light flared from building to building below.