Ghosts In The Night

Photo: © Stan Banos

Evening comes early these days, as I took this photo on my way home from work with the last remaining vestiges of light. A depressing but hardly uncommon sight here in San Francisco. He would slowly crawl, stop and repeat in ritual manner- yet another, homeless, mentally ill, drug addled denizen living off our city's streets. 

And yet, what really shook me that evening was the person I'd meet but two blocks later. A young White female, neatly attired for work and talking endlessly, as many a person her age does on their phone to friends, family, business associates- but as we drew closer about to walk past each other, it became obvious there was no phone, no earphones... no nothin'. She wasn't babbling, in fact, her "conversation" seemed quite incisive and level headed, as she continued to expound her position on the matter at hand- if only someone had been on the receiving end. Standing stationary before me, I considered asking, "Excuse me?" To what end, I wasn't sure. But as I briefly contemplated that interaction, it became evident she was looking right through me, and well beyond me. Walking around her on a narrow neighborhood sidewalk, curiosity eventually prevailed, as I turned to watch her eventually talk her way down the descending street...