The spouse was driving us to Gramma Mora’s for carnitas and margaritas because sometimes life is just right. Ok, almost just right, because we were aiming for Suzy Q’s BBQ Shack but she decided not to open on Tuesday. Anyway, we hit a red light. I guess even on good days that can happen.

The walking man on the traffic light post at Hertel and North Park tick, tick, ticked away the seconds of waiting. The spouse reached over and turned on the radio and music came on that had the same beat as the walking man. (Go on out to youtube in another browser window and start Basement Jaxx, Raindrops and it’ll be like you were there too, maybe in the back seat thinking your own thoughts…)

I tapped my foot on the floor mat and watched an out of shape new mom dressed in yoga wear jiggle her way across the crosswalk – the smiling baby’s head visible in the carriage bobbed to the beat along with her mom’s footsteps. Weird, I thought, three or four things following the same rhythm.

To the left, on the cross street, two fit youngish men walked a long-haired dachshund who was smiling as much as the baby. His tiny feet pattered in double time to the main beat and his owners swung their arms in synch. The dachshund stopped to sniff a lamp post and I looked to my right.

A teen aged girl with a bouncy walk and bouncy blond pony tail strode past an old woman who was tapping one long, arthritis gnarled finger against the glass of the Stock Exchange vintage stuff shop. The tap, the bounce, they were in time with the rest of us at the intersection. The girl disappeared into a beauty shop. The old woman turned away and walked on.

The light changed to green, the walking man flash, flash, flashed in the other direction, and the Spouse accelerated away from the moment.