HERE WAS THE extra-long day, in which to confront the ever-lessening daylight. Already the bedroom blinds and some early clouds had reduced the effect of the earlier-risen sun. The midmorning sky, which would have been the late-morning sky, was clear but for a few individual shreds of cloud. There were just enough leaves on the sidewalk to crunch underfoot for a few steps. People’s skin was getting sensitive and itchy with the heat on; it was time for the plants to start coming inside. Translucent sheets of cloud spread over the afternoon sky, with subtle layers and thickenings, so high that little jet planes showed up well beneath them, precisely shadowed and detailed. The basketball court lay in chilly shade at 3 p.m., though not so cold as to make fingers numb shooting the basketball. By 4 p.m. under a sidewalk shed, twilight had started taking hold. The blue-and-pink-striped colors of sunset showed up low down in the west, long before the clock said the sun was officially due to go down.
