Hearing a roaring engine, seeing her wobbling with each step as she moved over the pedestrian crossing, I stuck my arm in to the road. The engine didn’t slow. I waved my hand. The huge blue tractor continued pelting towards us. I stepped off the security of the pavement, waved my crutch. The young daredevil driver’s face stiffened as his monstrous machine stopped breaking the speed limit and slewed to a halt half a pace from the old woman’s feeble frame. She hadn’t noticed. I

She was young, lithe, naturally cheerful, her life lay ahead of her and she was ready to flee the nest. We talked for a good half hour as she clipped my hair, but pleasant and bright as she was, she had little depth and so we ended up entangled in a series of platitudes, even as I asked about her own life. Because of the awkwardness of trimming around a mask, I spoke of Covid. Of this she knew nothing. “I’m young, healthy, strong.” I noticed her body was trim, fit, she obviou