Nicholson Baker

If I could stop time I would not undress you or anyone else for that matter. I would not look at people in the shower or making love. I might perhaps pause to lie beside you on the bed and rest my chin in that soft place between your neck and shoulder. I might hold your hand, but probably not. Mostly I would just sit by the river with the sweat still drying on the red faces of the frozen joggers and I would take the time to read and to write and to finish something before moving on. I would walk through the world without feeling looked at and judged. And if it was within my power I might not re-start the clock. I might just let it all stay on hold indefinitely, until I became lonely and let the world back in for the duration of a conversation, or to make love.