Crossing the Street

Maybe you've noticed this about urbanites: Whenever they're crossing a one-way street, they always look in the right direction first to see if any car is approaching. They seem to do this automatically, as if by instinct, and "it's a good thing," as a certain domestic diva now under criminal indictment would say. Yet they also cast a quick, furtive glance in the other direction--almost always. I find myself doing this, too. It's a sign, I believe, that we can never quite trust that the universe will act the way it's supposed to; we suspect that someday all will go haywire, and some big, terrifying machine will go tearing through town the wrong way on a one-way street, mowing down everyone in its path. Look both ways, Mom always said. She programmed us well.