Untouchable (update Dec22)

Another Sweep refusing a drink. Thrice asked, the man could not accept. At first he sat rather shocked, dumbfounded, pulling back his red baseball cap and alternating smiles and quizzical looks. Following a pause in pleasantries/hostilities/mysteries, he called out something two minutes later. Possibly there was a drink in his kit that stood against the pavement tree; that may have been it. A prata at Wadi was a dollar something. Quick bite. Couldn’t accept; there was no time possibly. Farewells, season’s greetings and thanks—Xie xie. Twenty minutes before the man had been watched sweeping the near gutter along toward Changi Road. It was a surprise when he swung back and took a seat at the table. Rare indeed to sit so close to one of the Mainlanders toiling on the roads, certainly during work hours. At the intersection behind where the street sign could be captured he must have taken a photo of his gutter to send back to the Super in the office. Following the renewed offering after the man had again politely declined a second time, a touch on his shoulder immediately established he was wet through. Swimmers up from a pool could not have been more saturated.