Sophie (part I)

Sophie stood on the corner of Lincoln and 3rd waiting for the white stick figure—the herald of the crosswalk—to appear signaling safe passage from one sidewalk corner to the next. She held her arms tightly to her chest in a feeble attempt to block out the winter chills, blowing into her fists in hopes of restoring circulation to her blue fingertips. The warm, moist air provided momentary relief but probably did more harm than good. Winter left her uncomfortable, though she kept trying to convince herself that she would grow accustomed to the scathing, subzero temperatures. Sophie kept repeating how much she treasured her small town existence as she writhed in place. Secretly she yearned for a city large enough to provide a sea of faceless commuters blocking or at the very least easing the wind-chill. As circumstances stood, she was all but alone on the corner of Lincoln and 3rd tugging her blue hat down over her brow every few seconds.1

The red hand disappeared and Sophie trudged forward across the icy, snow blanketed street toward the tiny shop where she frittered away her existence as a minimum wage employee. The wind, which already surpassed reasonable discomfort by a rather large integer, kicked up quite suddenly, launching a barrage of stinging snow flurries towards Sophie’s unprotected face and reducing visibility to almost nil. As she shifted her hand from her hat brim to shield her eyes a rather disturbing series of events was set into motion.2


-The blue hat abandoned Sophie’s skull and flew back towards the recently vacated corner from which she had departed moments earlier.
-The red hand flashed across the crosswalk signal
-Sophie turned, grasping at the prodigal hat
-The red hand flashed across the crosswalk signal
-The blue hat scrambled through the air for a few moments and came to rest in a pile of snow fast forming at the curb edge
-The red hand flashed
-Sophie scuttled sideways, attempting to reclaim her cold weather garb before the wind lifted it from its temporary resting place.
-The red hand flashed
-and flashed
-and flashed
-Sophie, now in possession of the aforementioned lost article of clothing, fought to reattach it to her painfully frozen head.
-The red hand did not flash
-Sophie turned
-The white sedan rolled forward3


The next few moments sounded thusly
-A scream
-The squeal of old breaks and tires on ice
-A scream
-A horn
-A dull thud4

Silence reigned on the corner of Lincoln and 3rd for a fraction of eternity.5

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