Jean-Pierre

13/05

I am shaken up by an encounter on the way home. I would have liked to speak to him more. Even now - something in me is fluttering around trying to find a way. He's not on Facebook. (Something the butterfly keeps knocking its wings against]. I don't know anything about him. I don't even know if I'd recognise him if I saw him again.

I notice a man with blood on his hands and face. With mild interest. Is that blood? He's just standing. I think 'wait, maybe there's been an accident, he probably needs someone to help him'.
- Are you alright?
I can't even remember what he said, I hardly registered it...he's alright now, he was a little disorientated, how bizarre, what happened? I'm thinking. He sounds like he's just fallen from the sky, and he's talking easily to me like he knows me, walking next to me, he's my height, he has an accent like mine....how about you how are you?
It takes a second for me to realise he's turned the conversation to me, suddenly but also strangely predictably, I'm used to this by now.
- I -I'm alright, you just looked a bit...I say, to sort of push him away and discourage this sort of thing.
- What's your name?
- Anjali. It's an Indian name (a subject I'm familiar with.)
- (He mutters it to himself.) How do you spell it? I love the way he asks this, so easily, so naturally. I love that he asks it.
- ay en jay, ay el ai.
(He works this out, looking puzzled.)
- Can anyone spare any change? Asks the homeless guy. My companion is going to just walk on, but I pull back from the flow and say
- I probably can. Swing round my bag, get out my wallet, take out some coins, kneel and drop them on his blanket. I chat to the homeless guy - it's cold, isn't it? He agrees, and I laugh, and say have a nice night.
I turn back and he is watching me.
- Thankyou, he says, as if on behalf of the homeless guy.
- You're welcome, I mutter uncomfortably.
It is as if I have done something profound for him, and I have done nothing. And it's as if he thinks giving money to the beggar was to get rid of him, and he took the hint. But it wasn't. Except every relationship has to end some time.

Perhaps he'll put an I Saw You in the List, I think as I walk away. Is he the type of person who would do that? I've no idea. I've no idea if he's from Edinburgh. I've no idea whether he's Scottish or English. I love people like that. Who just seem to fall from the sky.

I think comparisons to the Little Mermaid. I'm the girl who's rescued him!

As I reach our door I think 'I'm only an angel' and then laugh inwardly at how this sounds. What I meant was something like 'I'm only a messenger'.



What's your name? Where are you from? What do you do? How old are you? What happened?

Guys my height who randomly appear and walk beside me. Total so far: III

I don't want a boyfriend, I want to be able to give everyone my complete attention.

In the surreal strange light of Edinburgh at 9pm.
'Come and eat with us' is, of course, my future catchphrase. Look, my housemates, more for supper. But who's cooking?

Cut to interview with housemates (2, female, English)
- Anjali was always bringing in waifs and strays, says one, as the other nods.