Frank lightly tapped the grubby side of his head, just below his tattered bandanna. Dont worry, chum, your secrets safe with me. Well say no more about it. Whats important is that you came.
Just make sure it doesnt happen again, Dave muttered. He looked the unkempt interloper up and down and came to a rapid but eerily perceptive conclusion. Just like Upton Park, this bloke was only two stops short of Barking. He was perhaps the most wizened man Dave had ever seen. His face had that lived in look. Dave got the distinct impression hed been round the block so many times hed lapped people twice his age. Old before his time, perhaps, but he was hale and hearty like a seasoned tiger. His taut skin was like tea-stained leather, his wiry beard could have comfortably housed a family of voles. He was as thin as a rake, but well corded with sinuous muscle from head to toe. Very slowly, as if speaking to the inmate of an asylum for the terminally inane, Dave spelled out every word for the crazed stranger. How did you recognize my face?