"They are different," he agrees, lowering himself into the bench along the window. "What I mean is, they notice. They might not take kindly to it." In a park or behind a cafe window, you could be anonymous, tracking the shapes of people, learning how they take up space, how clothes fit them. "It isn't personal to you or me, but it can be to them."

When he tries to think about it the other way, Jude doesn't like the idea of being drawn either. Being noticed at all is unsettling.

"I'm from Pennsylvania, in the mountains. Went to school in Pittsburgh before this. My friends dragged me to New York for a weekend, and yeah, it was pretty loud. This place is more like where I grew up, if--missing some things. Like electricity."