Fast Fiction: On The Posters
'You were the chap,' I said, ignoring those remarks, 'whose face, when it had a beard, was on those posters for the down and outs...'
And was the advertising campaign a success?
Richard Mallinson tells of an unexpected deflation.
To read more of Richard's fast fiction please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/fast_fiction/
There was a man sitting on my usual bench. I went and sat down by him, hoping he'd go away but he didn't.
I turned to look at him.
'Wait a minute,' I said, 'I know you, don't I?'
'I doubt it,' he said, 'I'm a visitor here, just spending a day by the sea, if you don't mind.'
'You were the chap,' I said, ignoring those remarks, 'whose face, when it had a beard, was on those posters for the down and outs in the campaign run by that charity a few years ago, weren't you?'
'If you say so,' he said - smugly, I thought.
'So he was a fake, then,' I said, 'not a genuine down and out as we were led to believe? You were a model, or an actor, I assume, just doing a job ... How much did they pay you out of their supposedly meagre funds?'
'Oh, the ad agency paid me.'
'And who d'you think paid the ad agency?'
'Ah,' he said, 'here's my little darling' - and he stood and kissed the young woman who'd just come up to us. With his arm round her, he walked off, calling 'cheerio' over his shoulder.
But he didn't go far. He stopped and turned, swinging the girl with him.
'So how much did you give to the campaign, then?' he asked, moving close.
'Well, actually, I didn't give anything,' I mumbled.
There you are, then,' he smirked, showing his teeth. 'Now ask me what I did with my fee from the ad agency ... Go on, ask me ..."
'Go on,' said the girl, 'ask him.'
