Dear Stranger

I hope you don't mind my writing to you, but I must ask you a question. You don't know me, nor I you, but I saw you last week. You probably don't remember me. I was standing, waiting for the crosswalk signal to change so I could safely traverse a busy intersection when you pulled to a stop at the closest stoplight. We were both waiting. But then your light changed to green and that's where my question comes in. Where did you go? In that one minute space of time where your light was green and you did not budge, despite staring directly in front of you, towards the greenness of your traffic light, unblinking and neutral-faced, where on earth did you go? Had you been there in your car, you would have noticed the changing colors and proceeded as usual through the light, but you weren't there. And no car was behind you to impatiently beep you away from your journey. I'd like to know because the possibilities are endless and I've been dreaming up new ones ever since. Were you visiting some long lost childhood friend? Clasping hands and climbing limbs and dangling upside down, knees crooked over the highest branch they could find. Or were you watching the first soccer match you ever won...ponytail askew and legs green up to the knees with the dust and dew of morning grass. Or were you rehearsing your big monologue...pausing for the laughter of your audience and trying not to look directly into the spotlight. Or were you walking through hospital doors, pushing against their weight and inhaling the medicinal draft, on your way to a room that I do not want to imagine. This is why I'm asking. This is why I want to know. So many possibilities, and too often we leave our surroundings only to go to the painful places in our lives. But your face looked so calm, so neutral, staring into the bleak green signal, that I have hope for you. Hope that you're one of the few who are capable of using such journeys to be happy. I know it's a strange question, but I hope you can see why I want to know so badly. The depths of the mind never cease to mystify. So, please, where did you go?