diary excerpt from 31 august 2025

I am walking towards a man who is bent down on the pavement, scratching something into the floor. At first I’m thinking he’s scraping up dog shit (but where is the dog?), then trying to get at something in a grate. As I get closer I see that he’s drawing something with a piece of chalk. He scampers away before I get to him. A terrible stench fills the air. The drawing is the face of a person with long hair. The man has disappeared around a corner, down an alleyway. I see him looking at me as I pass by.