Alone, a female body begs for correction.

I saw him halted on his tiny BMX bike in the middle of the sidewalk one beautiful Sunday morning while I was walking my dog. The man was in his twenties and seemed sober. Still, he waited there on the corner and watched a young woman cross Nostrand and continue down the street past him. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I saw his mouth moving as his eyes glued themselves to her tense frame as she walked quickly past his bike. I stared at him and approached with my dog until I was a few feet away. He looked over his shoulder and saw the two of us. I was two-against-one, I thought; a predator could become my prey.

I can’t know what the man thought on this day, but I hoped that he felt some self-awareness of the ironic…