The beggar; dirty, unshaven, hair long, unkempt and matted in places; sat against a wall on a small side street. His clothes were a tattered and torn robe loosely wrapped around a thin hunched over body. A bandage wrapped around his head covering one eye. Coins clinked in a small metal cup attached to a stick attached to a leather wrist cuff. Where a hand should extend out of the cuff there was nothing.
With a practiced bounce of his arm the coins clinked in the cup.
clink clink … clink clink … clink clink
A deft flick threw them into the air, clearing the edge. He listened to the coins hit the bottom of the cup.
clink clink Clunk clink clink
A second flick threw them higher out of the cup.
clink Clunk clink clink clink
He glanced up and down the street. No one in sight. He bounced the coins a couple more times and then flicked them straight up higher than a standing man.
clink clink clink … clink
The beggar looked around for the missing coin. On his blind side, a man stood examining the coin he had plucked from the air. The silver piece that a kind woman had dropped into his cup earlier today. He had meant to squirrel it away in his hidden coin purse but he had liked the weight it added to his cup.