The Walk
The man stood with one hand on the jogger. A young father carried a baby across the wooden porch and down the four snow covered steps. He placed the baby carrier in the jogger and fastened the straps. The man held a pacifier. He reached under the hood of the carrier. His hand came away empty. The father looked at his son. The man and his son-in-law talked about timing and distance and the neighborhood. The man put his gloves on and with slow steps backed the jogger out to the sidewalk. The father mentioned calling.
Behind the man there were footsteps back into the porch. The door closed on the house.
The infant looked ahead as the jogger rolled on the bumpy frozen sidewalk. The man slowed and bent around the hood of the carrier. The infant’s eyes looked mostly straight ahead. The man straightened up and pushed the jogger. He passed houses and slowed at uneven parts of the sidewalk.
The man and infant approached a cross-street. They slowed and stopped. Car tires crunched the snow from the left. The man looked down the street. He waited. He pushed the jogger across the street. On the sidewalk he paused. He looked down, listened. Then he turned right.
He passed by a large picture window. People were sitting eating. They looked at the jogger.
The man pulled the fingers of his left hand into the center of the glove. His thumb rubbed his fingers. He looked at the hood of the baby carrier.
Another corner. The man slowed. Waited. Then crossed.
Later, the man pushed the jogger past the bakery. He cut across the parking lot and turned left. He passed old houses.
The man stopped and looked in the carrier. He saw closed eyes below red hair.
The jogger continued to bump along the sidewalk. The infant slept. The man kept going.
At the corner the man turned right around the block. They passed an empty corner lot. They turned right again. A brick porch came up to the sidewalk. A lone brick sat a few inches into the walkway. The man turned the jogger to the left, then to the right.
The man zipped up his coat. He stopped and watched the face of the sleeping baby. The mouth made small, silent movements.
An uneven piece of sidewalk stuck up. They slowed. The man navigated the jogger to a smoother part of the walkway.
The man stopped at the next corner. He turned right and passed the bakery.
Later he turned left and crossed the street. They passed houses. They kept going.
A noise came from the carrier. The man stopped and turned up a walkway. He looked at the wooden porch. He smiled and talked to the infant. A woman came down the steps. She picked up the baby.
The man watched them go inside.