I have known him for more than thirty years. We are of the same age. A long time ago, we used to have an active friendship. Back then, we were children. He was always different, smaller, and thinner. He wore glasses, always with muddled lenses, and was all messy and untidy. When he spoke, he lisped and twisted his lip in a strange way, so his saliva was on his lips and in the corners of his mouth all the time. I found that disgusting. To be honest, I used to avoid him. He was not a fast runner, he was clumsy with a ball and had no bike. I simply had no idea what to do with him.
When we did play together, he slowed down the whole team. We would lose games, ruin our reputation in the eyes of the neighbourhood boys, we were teased because of him. That is why he spent most of his time alone, playing with needles. We called him a tailor for that. Sometimes he cried, and that would made us even louder:
Tailor, tailor, dirty as a sailor!
Tailor, tailor, ugly as a jailor! (more…)