SNATCHES

‘You got a light, darlin’?’ said the woman standing on the corner of Portland, one of the two squares near here women work from the street.
‘Yes,’ I said and pulled over.
I took a lighter from my pocket, gave it to her.
‘How’s business?’ I said.
‘Slow,’ she said. ‘Mind you, when it comes it comes quick.’
As I looked at her lighting her cigarette I smiled and said, ‘That’s handy,’ and she laughed.
‘Just the job,’ she said giving me back the lighter.
‘Keep it. I’ve got another.’
‘Thanks,’ she said and I rode off.

I held the door for a man I’d not seen before was carrying two bags in one hand and in the other what looked like a cake in a box held flat.
‘Cake?’ I said as we waited for the lift.
‘Yes, cake,’ he said.
I got in first going higher with a bike.
‘How much?’ he said nodding at the bike.
‘How much?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thirty pounds,’ I said. ‘About a year ago.’
‘Thirty pounds?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘A bargain if you ask me.’
‘Yes, yes,’ He said, ‘a bargain.’