All the Way Around

Smith Cove Park

It started with a Hello and a How are you. There’s been a lot of that going around.

It looks like you got here faster than I did, he told me.

Maybe I did. Had we run into each other earlier?

It doesn’t seem right – going all the way around, when you could just use the bridge.

I agreed with him completely, in principle. Using the bridge did seem better than going all the way around.

He pointed his finger at the ground and asked me, Do you live here?

I looked at where he was pointing – at the park path – and answered, In Seattle? Yes.

Is there a way to get up to that bridge? Up to Aurora?

I don’t know. I don’t know whether the bridge has a sidewalk.

Is there another way to go?

I hesitated, You could walk along the bike path. There’s one really narrow part, but it should be pretty safe.

You mean the path that goes by all those buses?

That’s right.

Okay, thanks. He started to walk away, but turned back quickly. The path goes all the way to Discover Park?

I had felt that I was one step behind throughout our conversation. Now I was several steps behind. No. That goes in the opposite direction. I realized that I was giving directions and I didn’t even know where he was trying to go. I’m giving you bad advice, I confessed.

He reacted with little more than a blink, Okay, thanks. He walked away. He headed up a dead end street, and I didn’t even think to stop him.