Car 1

21
Mr Justin Holmes

Outward appearance

Homeless person -- ill fitting, flimsy clothes. His coat is orange with black fur trim, and is too small for him. The shirt is thin summer cotton and is missing a button, showing his pale tummy. His hair is curious -- it is disordered but layered.

Inside information

Freelance journalist posing as a homeless person. He has spent the last week in the concourse under Waterloo Bridge roundabout. Slept two nights in a cardboard box with an older longhair who made a pass at him but was easily deflected. Moved to a doorway in the Strand. Last night spent some of the money hidden in his shoe to shower in Waterloo Station. Went home. His flat was dark and locked. The porter came with spare keys. The locks had been changed.

Justin is now homeless for real. He will wash again at Waterloo and go to Lambeth North police station.

What he is doing or thinking

He remembers his girlfriend's face. "You can borrow my old coat, but don't expect me here when you get back," she told him. He has no i.d., no keys, no plastic and only five pounds left. When has he ever been fingerprinted? How can you prove who you are?

The woman next to him is talking. He looks around. "Are you all right?" she asks, about to give him money. A terrible sense of fraudulence comes over him, and he pleads with her to put away the money, the sympathy.

He remembers his girl friend's face, and understands. He wants to go home.

He thinks of his article.

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