A City Walk

Matthew's view is from about twenty paces behind her, blocked intermittently by other pedestrians. The glimpses he gets of her are more like snapshots, reflections in windows as she glides down the street. She has an A-line skirt on, pink, brown, and creme plaid or gingham with a flare at the bottom, he can't get close enough to see all the details. The texture looks like wool, but he just can't catch up to her to see for sure. Her blouse is brown, fitted, short sleeves, and her hair is down giving a little sway and bounce as she walks in her heels down the street.

He sees her as if she is walking towards him in a window angled for a doorway and her sunglasses are shading her catlike eyes with all the elegance of Jackie O's. Purse thrown over her shoulder, she walks down the street as if she were the only one there, and the crowd senses it and parts ways for her.

At the crosswalk just before the entrance to the subway she dances on her toes across the street to make the light. He is standing behind a crowd and is able to see her stretch out her hand, grab the handrail and turn to go down the stairs. As she turns, her hair gets caught in the breeze, floats back and he gets a glimpse of the curve of her neck.

Matthew races across the street to dive down the stairs, hoping to have one more image of her to lock away in his memory. He pushes through the turnstiles and squeezes through what feels like an impossible crowd of workers just waiting to get home. The train arrives and frantically he scans the crowd, just one more is all he asks. He hears the sound of the doors starting to close and he sees a ruffle of pink slide through the door. The train is crowded and no one offers a seat, so she reaches up and grabs the bar over her head. He follows the curve of her fingers down the angles of her arm and his gaze is caught. She slides the sunglasses onto her head, taming her hair and framing her face. As the train starts to roll the right corner of her mouth moves up and he gets a knowing grin that says, "I'm glad you enjoyed the walk, I'll see you tomorrow."

Matthew leans against the tiled column locking her image into his brain and watches as the train becomes a blur and disappears. The crowd crams together to start the play all over again.