And I’d wonder then, as I still wonder now, was it men of that kind she and her friend had gone off with that night? Some of their earlier prototypes, their very first vanguard? Or was there just a superficial resemblance there that fooled my untrained, unknowledgeable eye?
And I’d hope, every time I thought about it, that that was what it was, and nothing more.
But I never could be sure.
It didn’t even have a tail-light on, to follow its recession by. But like a great big inky patch against the paler night it grew smaller and smaller as it dwindled down the street, stealthily, without sound, until it had contracted into extinction and was there no more.
We never saw each other again, in this world, in this lifetime. Or if we did, we didn’t know each other.