Balconies and Bicycles

Midnight balconies and their anonymity allow for time to study details in architecture and the way people walk. Wrought iron railings with twisted, elegant lines like flower petals or bird wings restrain patio furniture and potted plants from plummeting to the sidewalk. Lonely return strolls to hotels, heads slung low as if looking for loose change, couples with their hips bumping slowly going home, tall steel gates locking storefronts away and the occasional wanderer swaying drunkenly.

Bicycles circle the block with boys and their mysterious rattles they shake, probably a local signal I’ve yet to understand. Teenagers on the corners awaiting their friends yell to those zipping up to each other on precise motorbikes, everyone is meeting up in this sweltering evening but nobody seems to notice the heat. Even the geckos on the 3rd story wall are sweating and breathing heavy.