Air - Water

Chubby Indian biker with stiff neckless torso mounted on his chariot, at his table, or on the rare occasions padding the pavement. Goatee and old-style ventriloquist doll's dropping-jaw in speech. Attempted to sell watches couple of times after seeing the mat salleh without. First touch for two dollars a month ago for food.

         — "Hungry".
         Last night returning from the Net place and stopped again, some instinctive stiffening readying to deny the petition. Fellow surprised with his ask.
         — Fifty cents.
         Not for the public phones around the corner: that was ten cents.
         — ….Water.... Thirsty….Dropping the jaw without extending the tongue or gripping the throat for the common parched choking sign. (Above the waist the jaw seemed the only moveable part.)
         — Water???...
         Water was between twenty and thirty cents if you wanted to occupy a table while slaking the thirst. Ice and hot made for variance again.
         There must have been a quizzical, doubting countenance flashed as the coin bag was being fished out.
         — I have twenty cents.
         Fellow was sourcing bottled somewhere thirty under the regular price, he knew where. (It wasn’t the Cheers shop where we had stopped.)

         Not a faker at all.

NB. Tricky pronunciation and orthography. (Sometimes rendered "ayr".)