Two blinks and a wink

So sorry for this Halloween-related story.

October 31, Saipan time, was my second straight Friday of walking from my friend's place on Quartermaster Road to the Saipan Tribune office at JP Center in Garapan.

The distance is around three kilometers more or less and some 20 minutes of brisk walking. It was a cloudy afternoon, and except for a handful of tourists wandering and taking pictures of the lagoon, the Beach Road pathway had less foot traffic that day.

As I get near Triple J Motors, and the building where Mega Byte and Hardt Eye Clinic was located, I saw an old Asian-looking man slowly walking beside his bicycle, which has a basket in front of the handlebars.

He was wearing an orange-hued undershirt and an unbuttoned checkered polo, and black pants.

I knew that in a few minutes I would come across the man since we were on the pathway. But in just one snap, as he passed by some trees, he vanished. I was amazed, stunned, and surprised by what had just happened.

So I decided to went around the tree just to check if he stopped and rested for a while. No bike and not a single sight of the man.

I told myself, that maybe he crossed the street, but cars traveling along the northbound and southbound lanes of Beach Road did not stop. And if the cars did stop, I would have seen it because CNMI drivers are courteous to pedestrians and switch on the hazard lights of their cars if someone was about to cross the street.

I'm not forcing you to believe me, I just wanted to share my story of another encounter with a different kind.