The cell was damp and crowded, the air full of the scent of decay and humanity too long in the cage, too long without care, too long without hope. It had been days, no weeks ? since his internment. The passing of time was less vital now than the occasional tussle for water , for food or the frequent fights with his fellow sardines.

A ragged individual with curious gait, almost an imitation of the crooked and broken men surrounding him yet somehow too proper, shuffled towards him and let out a hushed introduction.

They sat in far more comfortable surroundings now, unashamedly knocking back a terrible foreign lager before the sun had even reached its height. It was as if they had not been separated by time or distance for so long, as if the events of their lives in that space between parting and reaquantance were nothing but a conversation waiting to happen on this day, the best of it and the worst of it all, it was all the same now.