(11)IN HER HEAD A STAR
It’s not for the money. There’s a guy on the corner with a dog and an empty cup and Christy gifts it all to him. No, not for the money but for something else: closing her eyes at the end of a song and taking the scattered applause – that’s it.
(12)SMALL PENNIES
‘Enough with your racket.’ That’s what he said. ‘Get the fuck out of here. I’ve had it.’ She’d had it, too, and so she left. Living on the hard streets now, with a guitar and a broken voice, and it’s enough she gets small pennies for tea and a bite.
(13)LIFTED
It makes a difference. Charles wants to tell her. About a father taking time dying. And his wife no longer his wife. And the numbing mindlessness of his job. And it makes a difference: hearing her each morning as he waits for the bus. Takes a later bus some days.
(14)BRAVE
I laughed the first time. You ain’t heard nothing so cracked or broken as his singing. And his guitar could scarce hold a tune. And looked like he’d a bob or two more than most, I thought, but I put a quid in his cup anyway: the brave deserve something.
(15)CURSED
Jude didn't ask her to sing. There on the street. Just under his window. Same four songs every day, over and over. And she spits curses at his back if he doesn't drop something in her hat as he passes, and spits some more if what he drops isn't silver.
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