Jay thought he recognised one word, though he could have imagined it. Tiger. Jay hesitated for a while, and then made his way to a nearby meat stall. He used the last of his money to haggle a slab of raw meat from the vendor, a sexless looking creature with scaly, sickly yellow skin and rapidly blinking eyes. He also bought a cooked burger from the same stall, both purchases wrapped in separate foil. He considered later the wisdom of buying raw and cooked meat from the same stall, in this heat, but there had been no flies or unpleasant smells, and the truth was he hadn’t truly cared.
