Encounter - Part 2

The girl looked out the window again, hiding her smile. But the man couldn't leave it there. He leant forward again, putting himself in danger of falling off the platform, and tapped her on the shoulder. The girl turned around, alarmed. Then she saw it was only the young man, and looked up at him questioningly. The man cleared his throat and pulled his straggly beard nervously.
"And you are 16 or 15, or 14, 17, 18, 19, or maybe 20?"

The girl choked back a laugh. The guy could have just asked her age... and he also didn't seem to have the concept of counting up, rather than down.
"No, I'm thirteen."
The man didn't catch it. He dug his hands into his pockets, and pulled out the contents, a rubberband, his wallet, a comb, a paper clip and a card. Holding all this in one hand and searching his shirt pocket with the other, he eventually pulled out a pen. The pen looked like it had under gone a lot of previous use, the clip on the side was broken, and the words on it were nearly all rubbed away. He put the rest of the stuff in his pocket and then wrote on the card: "Age?"
The girl repeated herself.
"I'm thirteen."
A remarkable change swept over the man's face. He looked almost green. He took a step back.
"You're lying!"
The girl tried to defend herself.
"No, no, I..."
"Yes, you must be lying."
"No, I am thirteen."
The man must have been convinced, he blinked several times and looked away.

Ode to the Section 59 Petition

The sky is blue, the sun is hot,
Two redheads wait in a shady spot,
In front of them a table stands,
Of a trusty, stable Bunning's brand.

To a pole and a fence signs are taped,
The content of which make people gape,
'What's this about?' a person asks,
'A stupid law has just been passed.'

'Under this law, if you smack your child,
(They don't care if his behavior's wild),
Into your house civil servants will come,
Beating upon their proverbial drum. '

'“So you smack your child,” is what they'll say,
“We're sorry, we must take the child away,
Because, (and we're certain you'll agree)
State care for your child's a necessity.” '

'And that's exactly what they'll do,
Your child will enter a State run zoo,
If you dare to use your parental right,
Your child will be in a miserable plight.'

'So help us today, and sign the petition,
Make an end to Sue Bradford's ambition,
If you don't do it now it could be too late
To save our kids from a horrible fate.'