Cricket

King's Day is the one date on the calendar when the whole city dresses in orange and sells its old belongings on the pavement. Cricket speaks Dutch and English, so she is the one a puzzled guest can ask about the flea markets and why nobody minds the noise. Her bookings that day begin in the evening, once the streets have been swept and the trams are running again. Soapy and nuru sessions suit a guest who has spent twelve hours outside, and she decides at the start how the time will be used. She is twenty-two and relaxed about the date without being casual about the hour.

Cricket decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.