the stall

in the morning she set off to the south bank with a carboard box, a piece of canvas, a tin of paint, a brush and a length of string. she chose a spot, set out the canvas flat on the sidewalk, took out the paint and wrote in big red letters on the canvas. then she took the string and cut it in four bits. she threaded each piece of string through each corner of the canvas and tied the resulting banner to the railing on one side and to a tree on the other. then she placed the cardboard box in front of the canvas and painted it red as well. finally she sat behind the box and set out to wait.

in the afternoon a man walked past and the writing made him stop. he read the words twice just to make sure and then he sat beside the girl. she looked at him, smiled and make a snaking motion with her hand. twice.