The Big Issue has just published ‘Colour by numbers’, a story about an itinerant, resourceful man.

Here’s an excerpt:

Fifteen years ago a blond teenage boy knocked on my door, holding a bucket, some sponges and detergent. “Would you like me to wash your car?” he asked loudly. His voice seemed to echo down the hallway, bounce off the kitchen wall and then return up the hallway.

I looked past the boy out to the dirty car and gave him the gig. He gave me a huge grin and his eyes almost lit up with excitement. I thought, It’s only a car… But I also sensed there was something missing in this boy’s life and he was keen to fill the gap.

The full story is in The Big Issue (Australia) edition 432 (10 – 23 May 2013),  available from vendors.

The story, which I’ll publish in full on this little blog when edition 433 of The Big Issue rolls around in a fortnight, is effectively a sequel to’ The long green hose’  from my little book Jacaranda Avenue.