New York City, October 5, 2017

★★ Ever-brightening blue showed through the gaps in the purple clouds till the purple itself had turned silver. The breeze was not cool enough to bring the hoodie out of the six-year-old’s backpack. A late arrival to the schoolyard, wearing a sweatshirt, asked the other gathered boys in their t-shirts if they were cold, and when they said no, ditched it. The chill aded to an intermittent clamminess, under a cloud-glazed sun. The thick and humid air was hard to draw in through the remains of fall’s first head cold. The sky got bleaker and bleaker. Children emerged from the afterschool sports program with their hair clumpy and damp with sweat. Something less than rain fell for a moment.