zg_shadows | Street Smart

I love this city, I really do, it’s like nowhere else on earth. Not that I’m all that well travelled but I think I’m doing pretty well for a girl from the back end of beyond. What really makes this place for me is the people: I mean look around you – the guy buying bagels and talking furiously into his mobile, the couple flirting over coffee, the little emo kid in the big boots browsing in Waterstones, they’ve all got their stories.

So I may not have my brother’s knack of finding stuff out, but I keep my ear to the streets. Sometimes I think I know people better than he does because I go to the trouble of actually talking to them to get my information, mostly - I’ll admit to a bit of cheating here and there. That’s the thing about me you see, I’m not quite what people expect: it’s a hobby of mine in fact. Who would have thought a girl who owns that much eyeliner could be found with oil smudged on her nose under the bonnet of a car; or that the rebel-without-a-clue would spend happy evenings neatening up the archives at a well-known middle class newspaper. For that matter who’d have expected a well brought up girl like me to have escaped from carjacking with a warning and ended up running a chop-shop for a neo-nazi politician – certainly not me that’s for sure.

That’s me all over though – start talking about the city and end up telling you about me – it’s possible I may be a little vain. But anyway, like I was saying, I’m pretty good at knowing what’s going down around here. Not as good as I was at home mind but my network’s building slowly. That guy buying bagels, he isn’t up to anything dodgy at all, it’s just that his wife’s about to have a baby and she’s got a real thing for smoked salmon right now. It’s quite sweet the way he’s constantly checking up on her. The couple are easy to spot for what they really are – she’s far too well dressed to be anything but paid for and I happen to know that that particular café rents rooms by the hour for her; nice girl though and very professional about the whole thing. As for the emo kid in the boots, well that can only be me really; I couldn’t have a picture of the city without me in it now could I. I better get going though if I want to get through that book by Monday – my lit teacher is great but she’s a real stickler for prep work and I’ll really catch it if I fall behind again.