Maria is a creature of habit. Each day, while she waits for her café con leche at the local coffee shop, she stares idly out the window. And each morning, a bicycle messenger zooms by, a hat with a delicately curled brim smashed over a cacophony of curls that no mother could ever tame, a pair of mirrored goggles snapped over his nose, and a grimy pack on his back. He never had her attention for very long, just in that split second that he flashed past, but she always had his. After she’d pulled a child out of his path many mornings prior and he’d had to slow down to mutter a quick apology, he’d been struck by her radiance and seemingly effortless, fluid grace. Now, every day, he stole a lingering glance through the smeared windows, daring to avert his eyes from the sidewalk for that second, even if it meant taunting death.