What would it be like? the man wonders as he walks by a buzzing streetlight at a time of night that would make his parents worry. Maybe his friends, too.
He is wondering what it would be like if he were a woman. He would surely not be so comfortable walking alone at this hour. He would walk a lot less.
Or maybe he’d be the brave kind of woman. Unlikely, he thinks, as he is not the brave kind of man. He’s rarely worried, and nearly always calm, but he is not brave. His existence lacks the necessary fear. What would he be with that fear?
And what is he now, without it, besides safe after midnight?