Tuesday, October 14, 2014

More Than Meets the Eye




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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