There I was, a person standing alone in public, watching the people tease and talk. The greetings across the room, the leaning in, the small touches to arm and shoulder and back. There is no alone quite so like the alone of surrounded by a crowd of people calling each other friend.

I believed that, being unknown, I was also invisible. Lovely invisible. To be able to watch and listen without concern for any expectation of output or engagement. I was simply present and attending.

Then a person stepped up beside me. I could feel him there, a dark blur just off my periphery. And I knew it was him. It was a miracle of manifestation. The words made flesh. And suddenly I felt as if I had only just arrived. And suddenly I wasn't just a spot at the back of the room, I was a radar sweep of anticipation.

I wasn't alone anymore, I was with someone I knew.

But he wasn't. He was a person standing alone in public, watching the people recognize and turn their faces toward his sun.