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I follow Mike beyond the cheery, creative chaos of the front room towards
the rear end of the house. We walk through a hidden hallway to the far back
where our journey ends in a tiny spare bathroom. It must be the smallest
and the quietest room in the entire neighborhood. I sigh a big sigh of
relief.
There is a quiet secluded spot in heaven even for misfits
like me!
He chivalrously lets me pick my weapon of choice – I decide
on the roller, and he gets the brushes – before we attack the walls.
There is really only one surface in such minuscule space that can accommodate
my tool, so most of the time I just stand there and watch Mike work.
It turns out there is much more to Mike than his
mild-mannered exterior lets on. He is both a master wizard with the brush
AND a great story teller. His stories are engaging, unpretentious and funny.
To somebody they may even sound kind of shallow. I might agree but would
argue that they are more of the ocean kind of shallow... the way it appears to
a child standing ankle-deep on a sand dune, the waves splashing all the way to
her knees...
Personally, I find his stories a bit unnerving because I am never
quite sure if he is just rambling about their family pet hamster, or
revealing something important I need to know about my next-door neighbor or perhaps even me.
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