secret motel

A few days ago I walked from my office down Embarcadero after work. I saw a young Asian woman trying to photograph something with a digital camera. She looked at me as I neared her on the sidewalk. I was both hoping and fearing she might ask me to take her picture. I looked away for a moment. She was still trying to make eye contact and took a few tentative steps toward me. She wanted me to take her picture with the Ferry Building clock tower and the Bay Bridge in the background. She handed me the camera and showed me how to work it. We got the picture, and she seemed satisfied with it (it would have looked better if I had taken a closer shot of her). I handed her the camera, and she thanked me for my time. She was so pretty, I would've followed her all over the city, photographing her anywhere she wanted if she had asked me.

I continued on my way. But I kept thinking about her as I rode the train through the subway. And I kept thinking about her as I walked up the hill to secret motel, thinking about all the things I could've said to prolong our brief moment together.