Collage of Realities

On my way to the museum mile.

Walking to meet friends at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum on Manhattan’s upper east side (92nd Street?) on a gray day that smelled of rain, I spied this accidental collage of realities in a shop window.

The window was sparsely populated with star-shaped holiday lights and empty shelves, as if waiting for new, seasonally-appropriate decorations. A plain fabric backdrop hung haphazardly from the exposed rafters above. But the window’s contents were only partially visible, because the apartment building across the street — a hulking silhouette with rectangles of glass and concrete — was reflected in it, blending realities inside, outside, and behind me.