People going past really fast

I thought this morning that I hadn’t seen Sarah or Robert for ages, and they always used to come in to say hello and tell me what they disagreed with at the moment. Things don’t seem the same without this input.

I can hear the little portable fences around the bakery blowing over in the wind. People always walk faster when it’s windy, whether they are walking against it or agreeing with it.

Two teenage boys passed shoulder to shoulder, talking urgently: “She was just staring at me just staring at me like this.” I saw the other boy’s head turn to look, and then they were gone.

‘Fuck this for a stopover.’ Two tradesmen standing next to a dark blue ute just outside my door and discussing I don’t know what but it’s very loud.

‘…and then he pulled the rotary hoe out.’ Two gentlemen paused in my doorway to undo paper bags of hot food, and then moved on again into the wind, still discussing the rotary hoe.

‘I tried to talk to him, but he won’t talk to me.’ This is four girls from the high school. The speaker and a friend, and two more walking close behind and leaning forward to hear it all. One of them shrieked. Then they were gone.