Mute Money Line

For dignities sake I presume a standard of intelligence of my audience.

Money lines are a whole sub-criteria of street performance. I choose to ignore them.

Those who don't recognise I might be entitled to their gratitude are not my audience.

Almost by definition. I get there's a no true scotsman nestled in there somewhere and I also get ingratitude because it happens to be one of the foundations of my personality.

However

The way it works best is that after a period of working some audience member will bravely but somewhat hesitantly approach me. Often with money in their hand. They sometimes wave it as if preliminarily searching for somewhere to drop it, sometimes exaggerating casting their eyes about as another signal and part of our non verbal conversation.

I watch them approach, I try to convey sly waryness, subtly I shift my weight in a pattern from leg to leg that increases as they approach.

All's still and there's this interlude where my distrust melts, the malcontent may still be capable of love.

Then follows three minutes of accepting the money, getting the audience to robotically clap at this brave soul and subtextually the concept of giving me money.

Then pondering the concept of gifted worth I am struck by an enormous revelation. My eyes move from my money slowly out and I pan across and begin almost quivering with anticipation. I raise my index finger and begin quickly tallying their number and when finished glance again at my money in hand.

I raise both hands , palms forward in a classic "wait!" signal. and then run away from my audience as fast as I can.

I run, technically on stilts its perambulates-just a bit of clownsplaining.

I get to where I can change direction and run out of sight of my audience.

The time I'm out of sight is mine to control. You would let them percolate in discohesive doubt. Why were they standing in a group in public with zero focus?

Around the corner I would have stashed one, sometimes two, plastic childrens paddling pools.

I would come crashing back round the corner carrying these and slam them down in front of my crowd. Two was the best number of pools because it let you play with competitively dividing your audience.

I would then wordlessly convey my expectations that each childrens pool would be filled each with about a foot [12 inches] of currency such that I might swim in it luxuriously and also drink heavily and dance.

So from the first person to offer me money to this my extrapolation from it was my most enjoyable 'money line'