Sensory snapshot: Steadily falling rain easily impeding eyesight, so, even with jacket’s hood on, head mostly bowed from time to time
Sensory snapshot: Sneakered feet transitioning from street to sidewalk
Sensory snapshot: A shout
Mental snapshot: To my right, a little boy, maybe 4 years old, maybe of Spanish descent, peeking out at something in the direction I’m headed while closely shadowing a residential fire door sandwiched between the storefronts of two local businesses
Passing thought: He looks so young. Who’s watching after him?
Mental snapshot: Up ahead, to my right, the Chinese and Thai restaurant I’ve patronized in the past
Mental snapshot: Up ahead, an NYC Bus Operator Supervisor walking towards the bus stop located on my left side, to the left of the sidewalk
Mental snapshot: A basketball lying on a grassy patch directly to the left of the sidewalk
Sensory and Mental snapshots sliding into place:
The Bus Operator Supervisor was not headed to the bus stop.
His was the shout I heard when I first stepped onto the sidewalk.
That basketball, prevented from rolling into traffic by that patch of grass, was, prior to this, under the care of the little boy.
Noticing it had gotten away from the child, but not knowing if it would continue into traffic, the Supervisor had called out to prevent any chance of the child chasing after it.
Mental snapshot: Passing the Supervisor as he’s inches away from the basketball
Passing thought: He’ll get the ball back to the child.
Passing thought: Dear Bus Operator Supervisor, good looking out. Thank you and good work.