Shorties

Traffic light on red. 160 seconds. Motorbikes jumping lights with full might. Bang & thud - a black & yellow dives into one - no one moves, casual stares, no horror in the eyes, luckily no loss of life. Chap on bike, only one with deer eyes tries to pick his bike while cop comes in & tells him to move on the side quickly - 'Side lo!'. The biker limps ahead, no one moves. 160 seconds over, I drive around the cab & the bike to cross the road - guilt in my kajaled eyes, but anger at the lack of discipline & lack of enforcing it. 

He left. Without a word. ‘X’ no longer served a purpose in his life. The cycle was complete. Met as strangers, the first look exchanged, the first nervous conversation, the peak of knowing each other, the ride down the hill of knowing too much, the last nervous conversation & the last look exchanged.