New York City, November 29, 2017

★★★★ The six-year-old put on his longest shorts and his highest socks, making the most he could of the promise in the forecast. A child wept in the slow, crowded elevator because her layers were too hot. People took to their balconies. Yellow leaves and a beverage lid flipped and flashed high up against the blue; pigeons joined the kaleidoscope aloft. The warmth might have been sinister in principle but it felt kind and wholesome, and by nighttime the air had recovered its natural bite.