Then she scooted the table up close to him, and leaned his cane against the table where he could reach it.

Illness is the favoured excuse with four out of ten absentees faking symptoms or using props such as crutches and make-up in preparation for a day off.

They reached her stop. Maneuvering toward the door, she got a look at their "guide": an older gentleman with a beard, wearing dark glasses and carrying a thin, white cane.

Her father used often to hunt them in out of the field with his blackthorn stick ;

I saw an old man on crutches, middle-aged office workers and bands of teenagers.