As the light changed to red Streetgirl turned back to start at the beginning again, coming face to face with a young black guy carrying a back-pack and wearing a bright coloured Simpson’s tee-shirt featuring Bart! She figured he was just cutting past towards the mall, as the few ‘deviant’ pedestrians will do, including her kind who habitually dart across traffic as is the game, narrowly avoiding calamity on a regular basis. Over the years standing, walking, and observing many a different traffic behavior she’ll attest that less than ten percent of the general population in her neighborhood jaywalks, regardless of age, gender, or race, and at least thirty percent will dart across the intersection on the final countdown. However, this is far less than the estimated percentage of drivers who roll through yellow and reds on a daily basis and the number of individuals who do this cell-phone in hand!

The man stopped short, eye to eye, whilst placing his right hand upon his heart, a gesture that was her pal Alex’s characteristic mark, a symbol of sincere blessing that touches her soul so deeply.  He kept his distance and wasn’t wearing a mask as they were both outside and she did pull hers down for a moment to smile when he said, “I have no money. But I wanted to wish you all the best in every way. Bless you. I felt your shine from across the street! You are an angel.”