◉ 024 | Stop Lying to Yourself

Brunswick East.

Corner of

Lygon and Glenlyon.

I see yellow and red

lines converging.

I take a photo.

A few steps forward,

I frame the Shell sign—

glowing, high.

At the bottom

of the frame,

I see a man

walking straight

towards me.

I read him.

Forty, maybe.

Looking fifty.

Arms unstill.

He stops in front of me.

“Mate, do you have seven dollars?”

“Seven dollars? That’s steep.”

“What for?”

“I need to buy nappies.”

“For who?”

“For my son.”

I feel it inside.

But I also feel the script.

“I don’t carry cash.

Let’s cross the street—

I’ll buy them for you.”

“But I need to get them at Barkly Square.”

Sure.

I lift the camera.

He keeps walking.

Yellow into red.