
Last Friday it was hot outside. Everyone was slowing down, and children were walking with their eyes screwed up.. The glass along the front of the shop was hot. The purple tinsel waiting to be put up was warm, and when I went home, the ducks sat on the side of the road with their beaks down and eyes shut.
People still came in to look for books. The man who came past the window was moving fast. This is why everyone inside looked up. He was striding along, talking on the phone without looking left or right, and he had his phone on speaker.
‘He said that what he really respects about me is that…..’
The other person said something.
Then the man that we could still see stopped dead, and leaned back and laughed hugely, and banged one knee with his hand and said,
‘Oh mate, thank YOU.’ Then he walked on, was gone.
Painting by Elizabeth Jose