July 4, 2019

Thom could see her crossing the street. Her hair, blonde and wavy, was in contrast with her tanned skin. Her face seemed worried, as it kept going up and down from the paper to the street, from the paper to her left and to her right. She was beautiful. But she was beautifully lost.

It was then that a red object flashed caught Thom’s attention from the corner of the eyes. It sped, uncontrollably towards the blonde girl, which was now in the middle of the road crossing. Thom’s heart raced. He concentrated with all his might and empty his mind. He tried holding focus on the red-car, which kept covering distance in an incredibly fast time. 100 meters away from the girl. 80. 60.

Thom realised that it was impossible to focus properly on the car, and moved its attention to the girl. He saw fear in her eyes. The piece of paper now falling from her hand. Drifting away behind her. Thom focused his attention on her and began to think when to make her bounce. He had to time it just write, so that it would have looked natural.

30 meters. 20. 10. At 5 meters short of impact Thom squinted his eyes and made the girl bounce towards his cafe. Her purse slammed against the car’s hood. Providing the diversion Thom needed. A fake impact. The girl flew and landed against the pavement as realistically as Thom could manage without hurting her and without causing suspicion.

He sprinted from the cafe and went out towards her. It was early, and him, the car, and the girl were the only three people on the scene. He knelt beside her.

“My purse,” the girl said, looking at Thom, but not really focusing on his face.

Thom turned around and saw the black purse sagged against the road. He focus on the red car’s driver, which turned to look at him. He was in his 40s, his eyes bloodshot and his tie undone and crumpled. A yellow stain blotched the wrinkly white shirt. His beard, unshaven, prickled out of the collar.

The man looked at Thom and mouthed three words. I am sorry. Before Thom could do anything, the red car sped away. Thom stretched out his arm and focused on the purse, calling it to him. With a bounce, the purse flew into his hand.

He focused on the girl again, checking if she was ok. Her face, now so close to his, was even more beautiful than what he thought. This is not the time, he thought to himself. The girl opened her eyes, deep and blue and looked at Thom.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

Thom couldn’t help but smile. “I’m fine. How do you feel?”

The girl got up and rested on her two arms. “What happened?”

“A car ran you over but I think it just grazed you. You jumped out of the way just in time.”

The girl looked at Thom. She was confused. He could see it in her face. “But, I didn’t jump. I felt like… Something pushed me away,” she said.

“It must have been the shock really. There was nobody else on the scene. I would have seen him. Here, let’s go and sit down inside that cafe over there.”

The girl got up and adjusted her clothes. She pulled the sleeves of her leather jacket and pushed down the legs of her jeans. Thom held out her purse. She grabbed it.

“I’m Thom, by the way,” he said. “Thom Waltz.” He flashed a grin.

“Eve. That’s my name,” the girl replied. “Eve Roussau.”