Criminal Failure

Walking with Em at lunchtime past the old call centre, heading back to work after paying my council tax and picking up a couple of comics from Dave's Comics. Going to take the alleyway, that right-angle corner of a half hidden passage between the car park and some building that I can't remember anything about except that it forms part of this short cut. I see a man lean against the wall. Stocky and grey, and immediately suspicious as if he is waiting for something and pretends that he isn't. Another man comes out of the alleyway we are about to take, looking similarly suspicious. Hunched shoulders and that overly studied casual walk, all rolling shoulders and shifty eyes. The two men glance furtively at each other, but only succeed in looking nervous. Their body language tries to deflect attention. They might as well have a sign about them saying 'something dodgy is going on here'. The man who has come out of the alleyway walks up to the other man, slips a square of something into his hand. A flash of white and that is all. Nothing is said. The man who has come out of the alleyway stalks up off the street while the other man walks past Em and myself, his face slightly flushed. I watch the alleyway man walk up the street, toward Queens Road. Everything about him is suspicious. Even the way he walks. I curb an urge to laugh and wonder if Em noticed anything. As soon as we get round the corner Em immediately asks me if I noticed anything dodgy there at all.
As an attempt at a low-key drug deal, to try and attract as little attention as possible, this was a complete and utter failure.