A Long Conversation

Sat around the metal brazier , glowing red on this cold night the two men were wondering how they came to be sitting here. They were trying to keep warm under the railway arch and the brazier was just a a punctured tin drum fuelled by any wood or burnable rubbish they could find,

There was plastic in there and that caused black smoke making them cough,

They had eaten at the soup kitchen so their stomachs had been filled and satisfied , but out here in the cold there was no television or radio for entertainment , not even a book or newspaper , although a newspaper would have ended on the fire because they both agreed that were just put out to keep the population under control and make them think that the government had a handle on things and foreigners were to bland for absolutely any issue that came about.

These two knew who were to blame for their problems.

So how did you come to be here?

What the hell has it got to do with you?

We both stood in line at the soup kitchen, we sat and ate together , we gathered wood , found this barrel and now we are sitting keeping warm under a railway arch hoping not too much of the snow will blow under here.

Well it could have been anyone you ended up next to

That is very true , but it was you , and we are here now and trying not to freeze to death tonight

Well I am a private person , and you are a stranger , so I don’t need to say anything

Yeah but if we talk , time goes faster and we can find out things about each other , we may even have something in common

I Doubt It

Why do you doubt it? We are both warming ourselves on a barrel brazier under a railway arch. That is something we already have in common don’t you think?

Yeah , but that’s all we have.

Well whatever you tell me , I can’t do anything with it, we;re both out, I am assuming homeless and I don’t even have a pencil to record any useful information.

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A Pause

The Questioner Continues

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So come on tell me how you ended up here

You tell me

I asked you first but if you tell me your story then I will tell you mine.

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Another Pause

The Questioned Man Tells His Story

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I was a mercenary in Africa , can’t even remember what country it was, got almost hit by a shell and after that I was absolutely use to anyone. They shipped me back here and came home to find my wife had disappeared. The flat now had new tenants , and I had no money (deductions in lieu of not finishing my contract) and then absolutely nowhere to go. You cannot get anywhere without a bank account, and all my work was very large wads of cash in hand , but now I had none. Since then I have been living hand to mouth and don’t think I am able to go on much longer.

Have you tried hostels

Yeah but they are twelve pounds a night , and the only way to get that money is to beg, and most of the time I get less than a fiver. It looks like this is me going forward , I have no way of getting out of this situation, no address , no bank account , no job . no nothing.

So would you work , physical work if you had the opportunity?

Yeah but that’s never going to happen is it?

You never know

So what’s your story?

Well I’m a very well off philanthropist and own the factory down the street. I also own the hotel over the way. Here’s £200 , tell them John Smith sent you and report to the factory tomorrow morning and we’ll soon have you up and running under your own steam …………………………..