TRANSACTION

‘Do you only print three of each issue?’ he said when I gave him this month’s.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘They take so long to print, the photographs, you know?’
He gave me the money for last month.
‘I can imagine,’ and I wondered if he said that because he really could imagine or if he was doing me a favour helping me stay on solid ground.
‘Do you only leave them here?’
‘Yes,’ I said, thinking I’d thought about it.
‘They’re a collector’s item then?’ he said, my anxiety increasing.
‘They’re very rare,’ I said holding the door handle.
He smiled, looked down at the folder on the desk in front of him, and recorded our transaction.