15
THE DARK FIGURE PICKED up speed, and Luella clung to the overpass rail. The cars below moved at dizzying speeds, fast enough to mesmerize a desperate onlooker. She closed her eyes and focused on her fantasy of being picked up and dropped into that sea of speeding vehicles.
As the giant approached, she felt his footfalls through the sidewalk. She heard his thick breath, and then another sound. A mechanical buzz. And then a beep.
Luella turned to find that she was blocking the path of a young woman in a motorized wheelchair. The woman, who had dark brown freckles across light brown skin and tight auburn curls, said, “Scusi! This sidewalk is way too narrow. It’s ridiculous.”
“Oh,” Luella said. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
She gazed at the dark figure who stood behind the woman’s w
