This morning, I woke up to discover two things: one, the sky was full of rain and the streets were washed black as the day they were born. Two, there was a medium-sized brown spider on the window frame, right next to my face. In a panic (there are few things I loathe more than spiders in proximity to my body), I swept it into a small ceramic cup and flung open the window to my fire escape. I leaned out to deposit the spider as far away from myself as possible.

I keep a large and beautiful branch on my fire escape, in willful defiance of fire code. Just yesterday it had been grey and dry. Today, the rain had moistened the branch, and the lichen and mosses that freckle its surface had revivified. They were green, supple, vibrant.