I’m walking
I’m walking
Everything’s normal
I keep on walking the familiar route

I see a man on a bike
I scan, I think
Everything’s normal
I keep watch on the unfamiliar man

I brush away breath-quickening thoughts
He is just a man on a bike
He speaks, his out-of-the-blue words slurred
Can everything still be normal?

I begin to answer
“Well . . . ”
Delayed, my instincts kick in  
Everything isn’t normal. Again.

My heart flip-flops
And I speed walk
If everything was normal
This would be weird

He rides behind me
It’s already a strange crosswalk
I hear the bike bell cross the street
I think everything’s back to normal

A dilemma:
He’s going the way I’m going
And I can’t be late to work
How would I explain that things weren’t normal?

Soon my breath returns
I think I’ve lost him
And then that hell-sent-alarming-bicycle-bell-warning-panic!
Normal schmormal

I turn, walk around the block (out of the way)
Who knows where he is now?
I feel silly
For feeling upset over normalcy

I write this in my head, still scanning for bells
So this won’t have to be normal.