Salter's End
Day 3: The Bench
DAY 3: The Bench
Sunday 26th July
The old man was on the bench when Cara walked the harbour front on Sunday morning, and she had the distinct impression this would be the place that he would always be found. He was part of the landscape, like the bench he sat on.
He was looking at the water intently, like he knew something Cara didn’t.
“Morning,” Cara said, not usually what people in the city did, but here she could be anyone she wanted to be.
“Aye,” the old man said.
She stopped, because something about him made her feel like he had something important to say.
“Beautiful day,” she tried.
“They mostly are,” he said. “Are you here for long?”
“I’m staying for two weeks,” she said.
He looked at her then, for the first time. His eyes were the colour of the water on a cloudy day.
“Two weeks,” he said. He seemed to be calculating something. “You’ll want to be gone by the end of August.”
“I leave on the eighth of August,” she said. “So.”
He looked back at the water. “Good,” he said quietly. “That’s good.”
She waited for more. Nothing came. She walked on and had the uncomfortable feeling that he watched her all the way to the end of the harbour wall, but when she looked back, he was still staring into the sea.
See you tomorrow for Day 4
Emma-Louise
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