We laughed, surprised, when he clicked his camera, shouted our slogans, walked backward in the front. He gestured to the back of the crowd, shot another photo and hurriedly jumped onto the sidewalk, distancing himself. Later, upon looking closer, I saw boot-wearing uniforms standing clandestinely among the blurry trees.

Sima is Canadian, lives in Vancouver, BC, has a PhD in Literary Translation Studies, and is working on her first novel.