prawn cutlets ..
Some days a man needs prawn cutlets, several. So he adjourns to the local fish and chippery, waits for the counter man to notice him then orders four of the above plus a small tub of aioli.
‘$12 please,’ sez he.
You pay.
‘Your name please.’
Game on.
‘Hey you,’ I respond, noting an uptick in his interest, after all he’s about eighteen and next year I turn twenty for the fourth time.
He notes my name and takes the docket into the kitchen. Me, I’m waiting by the shop window wondering why so many of the older women passing by are tattooed. Legs, arms, shoulders, backs, necks, wrists. A man wonders what’s permanently inscribed under their clobber, and where.
The youth returns from the kitchen holding a brown paper bag, calls out, ‘Hey, you!’
I take a couple of seconds, I’m the only customer in the shop, then I slowly turn around and say ….
‘Who?’
‘Me?’
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