(no subject)

There's no ice left on the sidewalks, and my sneakers are just worn enough that the feel of the tread on concrete and brick is reassuringly solid. The sky is busy changing from powder blue to lavender, and soon, I know, it will be indigo, and then that lovely midnight deep. As yet, there weren't any stars peeking through as I came down the street... I know that, too, will change. It almost seems a pity to miss that moment, but it really is too windy outside to linger long; I was walking quickly, it's that sort of evening.

This isn't a residential area, really. This is downtown, street by street of banks and office buildings. The top floors are darkened in those buildings, as are the lower ones... ceo's and clerks have gone home for the night, I suppose. But the middle floors... they're almost solid blocks of lighted windows, and it doesn't take much thought to imagine middle-level managers still at their desks. Proof, I suppose, that not everyone's day ends at five, even in this place of conventional businesses and stolid facades.

I don't know what caused me to look up at just that second... maybe a movement caught my eye. But I turned, and there he was, in the middle of a casual motion... perhaps he was reaching for his keys, as he stood in front of his desk. I didn't slow down, but still there was that rapid-fire string of impressions. Tall, medium build, blond hair in a conservative cut... and blue eyes. I know that because he also looked up, and though his office was lit, I was passing under a streetlight. I have no doubt that he saw me. We both looked away almost immediately, and, as I said, I didn't slow down. But I wondered, all the rest of the way. What stories could he tell me? Is he gruff, brusque, or friendly, and if I could look at his life, what would I learn? Who is he, inside his skin and behind his eyes?

Tonight, I'll just have to wonder. I had just that tiny instant to make a choice... and I chose to walk on. Tonight, the book of his days is closed to me; I took the turn that meant our paths wouldn't intersect... tonight. But chance is a funny thing, and life is stranger still, and maybe some day, on some other street, there'll be another choice to make. I wonder which path I'll choose.