The Free Chair

Management put the old office chair by the gate with FREE written on a sheet of paper.

A man stopped, sat down and tried the lever. He wheeled it a little way along the pavement.

“It’s for my son’s desk,” he said.

He opened the back of his car. The chair went halfway in.

He lifted it out again and rested it on its side.

“The arms come off.”

He fetched an Allen key from the car. We held the chair while he undid the first arm.

“How long will he need it?” we asked.

“It’s for him to keep, isn’t it?”

We looked at the arm on the pavement.

“We might need it here.”

He put down the key and stood up.

“Shall I put that back on?”

“We can manage,” we said.

He pocketed his key, gave us the screws and closed his car.

We carried the chair upstairs and laid the arm across the seat.

We hung our coat over the back.