★★★ Contrails were all around, spreading out or meandering or being laid down sharp and fresh in the direction of Newark. By now some of the snowbanks had flattened into sheets or comforters, their undercut edges floating a quarter inch above the sidewalk. A row of overlapping concentric ripples collided in the long puddle at the edge of a scaffold, under a constant barrage of dripwater. A skunk smell floated up Lafayette in the vicinity of the lined-up skate-wear shoppers. Misery was in full retreat. On the way back in the evening, the water was still splatting from the same scaffold, undiminished.