The middle-aged man with a stutter at the foot of the slope draws the same kind of painting every day on the long bench in the laundry room or the long table outside the kitchen. He enjoys watching current affairs news. I concluded this because I moved in two years ago. Besides painting, the other thing he does is listen to current affairs news on short video platforms. Occasionally, I would bump into him downstairs as he passed by carrying a canvas bag with the name of a certain training institution printed on it. I guess he is a painter.
The apartment corridor is not narrow. Two adults passing by themselves will not brush shoulders. If you meet him in the corridor, he will nod slightly and keep his head down, stop, step aside, and let you pass.
In contrast, the corridor of the laundry room is very narrow. There are long benches on the side of the corridor. The benches are not high, and on the other side is the outdoors where sunlight often shines in. When drawing here, you can only lie down, and your legs need to be close to a split angle to stretch towards the other side of the corridor to avoid sitting with legs crossed for too long. When someone passes by, without waiting for you to walk in front of him, he will not lift his head, but will continue to draw back his feet without stopping the pen.
Most of our communication takes place in the kitchen. His stutter, combined with the regional accent I don't understand, often makes it difficult for me to understand what he is saying. I only roast beans in the kitchen, and the conversation is mainly initiated by him, revolving around the economic situation and strategies of coffee and coffee shops, like Starbucks. The actual situation may be biased, but in that case, there is no need to be too serious.
His simple life also has its variables. During the time when he was infected with COVID-19, I saw a woman in his room for the first time, taking care of him for a few days and then never appearing again.
Two sentences that I can clearly and firmly understand him saying:
- Swearing "f*ck your mother" at the other end of the phone
- Saying loudly to the sunshine, "The sunshine is really nice."