"On your left" - tersely, from behind. A warning out of place on the sunny sidewalk.

Knees flex, feet position, shift just a bit to the right - to shake any aim, and to gain a beat.

Elbow rises, forearm - there may be a parry required. Any course of study recommends making reflex of one generally applicable defensive act, and having it be what one does before there is any way to judge what one should do. All these rearrangements of joints show this wisdom, as it would look freshly dragged from beneath a cover of rust.

The elbow reaches shoulder level at the correct point in the pivot, simultaneous with the arrival of the whirring of spokes. The pivot itself was slow, which gives time enough for the elbow to pull away, and for sleeve to stir in the breeze of the other's passage. One can imagine the other's sleeve brushing the brick of the wall on the other side - it was that close.

It is difficult to wish ill upon cyclists making their own rules - but so understandable to hear of it. There are a few who react for their own safety in situations that might hold a threat, at that first warning.

I wonder how that might have gone, without the rust.