New York City, February 28, 2013

★ Which part was supposed to count? The glorious late morning, when the sunlight found translucence even in the muddy water being splashed by an excavator in the flooded end of the construction pit? The earlier morning, cool gray and promising comfort? Those pleasing prospects were lost in the cold indecision of afternoon, as tiny sharp raindrops feinted at the possibility — never fulfilled — that things would turn seriously for the even worse.