remote cards

There is a homeless couple in one of the side streets, down the side of the shopping centre. He rests his crutches against the shoe shop window. Shuffling towards her, he tells her how to stand, how to hold herself. Its raining, heavily, they are both wearing suitable jackets, he reaches out and adjusts her hood, making sure she is ok. For a moment it seems like he is teaching her to stand, so that can take a turn to use the crutches for when she is begging for money. But as I pass I am less sure. Content with his lesson, he picks the sticks back up again, positions them in his armpits, but then notices something on the ground. He bends, awkwardly, propped up as he is, picks a hair tie from a puddle. That’s my best one, she tells him. Oh you can wash it clean in the toilets, he tells her, the public toilets being the next street along.