Chapter 2Cole
After sixty-four years of living in New York City, I was hyper-alert to the hazards of being a pedestrian. After sixty years as a dancer, I was hyper-alert to movement. The boisterous young men ahead of me, jostling each other, were like the human manifestation of chaos. That kind of s**t on a stage is controllable. On a sidewalk beside a street filled with fast-moving cars, not so much. I wasn’t expecting anyone to topple off the curb, but I also wasn’t especially surprised. Since I was within arm’s reach of him, and he was a grabbable size, I grabbed him. Swung him around, hauling him close, so his chaotic energy could travel down my solidly planted frame to the safe, car-free sidewalk. Even if he’d lost the rest of his balance and taken me down with him, the worst outcome
