In Loco Parentis
“I’d count the steps if I could be bothered.
Smells like tar and body odour all the way down. I step in time with the rest. There are commuters who’ve finished their days and earned twice as much as me and kids from the private school where they’ve had to pay my hourly rate just to get into the classes.
I don’t mean to resent them, those kids in the striped jackets and ties. It’s just not fair the way it works. The way they’re half-way up the ladder without really lifting a finger.
A...t least I got myself a paper.
Man in the stall outside the station passed it over, the fingers that poked through his fingerless gloves covered in newsprint. Even before I took it he was off with his sales pitch. “Standard. Evenin’ Santa,” like he’s talking in some kind of code.
I made the headline. ‘STARS IN HIS EYES’ and the by-line ‘Hero Fights For Life’.
As I walk down I press the paper between my elbow and my chest.MoreLess
Smells like tar and body odour all the way down. I step in time with the rest. There are commuters who’ve finished their days and earned twice as much as me and kids from the private school where they’ve had to pay my hourly rate just to get into the classes.
I don’t mean to resent them, those kids in the striped jackets and ties. It’s just not fair the way it works. The way they’re half-way up the ladder without really lifting a finger.
A...t least I got myself a paper.
Man in the stall outside the station passed it over, the fingers that poked through his fingerless gloves covered in newsprint. Even before I took it he was off with his sales pitch. “Standard. Evenin’ Santa,” like he’s talking in some kind of code.
I made the headline. ‘STARS IN HIS EYES’ and the by-line ‘Hero Fights For Life’.
As I walk down I press the paper between my elbow and my chest.MoreLess
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