Terri grabbed the keys from the counter and swung her bag over her shoulder. She pulled the door closed and rushed down the hall steps. She burst through the front door out onto the sidewalk. People rushed about. The sun cast long shadows through the street. Her heels clicked along the pavement, as she stepped around loiterers and smokers. She listened to the sounds of honking horns, strained conversations, and a bullhorn on the corner.

She could see him, the man with the bullhorn, towering over the crowd of people stopped by the traffic light. His hair was short, brown, and neat. Terri couldn't make out anything he was saying -- just a mumble and hiss and squeal. As she got closer, she had to pass people sideways and touch shoulders while saying "excuse me." Business people and tourists pushed past her, struggling to get away. She kept her eyes fixed on this man above men, literally, not because he was up there, but because he looked peculiar. He gestured wildly with his free hand, the other holding the megaphone to his mouth.

The traffic light changed and the crowd swarmed away, crossing the street. She looked down to see blacked diposits of gum. Tied to the man's feet were two empty milk crates, one for each foot. He used them as stilts. Another swarm of people engulfed her, as the group made it across the street. She felt as if she was in a wave pool of people. The man was obscured again, except for his head. She pushed her way towards his voice.

She was almost to him. People were laying on the ground, lounging on the sidewalk as if sofas and chairs. Some clapped and laughed. Mostly they spoke to each other, holding together they clicks with tight sitting circles.

She paused. And wondered, "What am I doing?"

A cloud passed in front of the sun, and the heat broke for a second. The man covered his eyes when the heat and light returned. Terri watched him begin to stomp his feet, his milk crates. "Come on people, clap!" The loungers joined him in time.

Terri pulled the ring from her pocket and looked at the diamond. It sparkled in the light, faintly blue. Not a single blemish scarred the white gold band. She had only worn it about two hours, immediately removing it after she got home. "Why did I say I would?" she thought.

She rubbed the smoothness and left part of a fingerprint. The man had stopped, she noticed. When she looked up, he was staring at her, watching her. She smiled out of embarrassment, though she didn't feel embarrassed. "I ..." she started.

He smiled at her. Everyone sitting and laying turned to look at her. Terri felt naked, alone. "This is it," she told herself. She rushed to him and held out her hand. He cupped his hand below hers and she dropped the ring. For a moment, it shot a tiny beam of light, unnoticed, at his heart. She rushed away before he could say anything. She didn't want to know what he would say.

Two nights later she woke up just after 3 AM. She wasn't afraid or cold or hot. She felt nothing except an urge to go to the window. As she got up she pulled the blanket around her body. At the window, she looked down upon the street. There was the man, leaning against the tree shading her front lawn. He waved with one quick tilt of his hand.