A MAN SPOKE TO ME

A man spoke to me in the laundry this morning. ‘That’s not unusual,’ you might think but the last time this particular man spoke to me was in the front lift after I’d mentioned him pushing the liftcall button repeatedly wouldn’t make it come any faster and he said,
‘...well I’ve been here for nine years...’
going up in the lift a friend of his stood in one corner by the door a woman in the other,
‘...oh, think you’re funny do you? look at the way you’re dressed...you look like a tramp...’
smell of alcohol,
‘...how old are you? you think you’re better than me don’t you?...and your breath, yuk...’
I breathed in his face, he turned to his friend,
‘what floor we at? shit we’ve missed it...’
‘Shame,’ I said.
‘press the next one, go on quick.’
The lift stopped and the man and his friend got out.
‘Bye then,’ I said and watched them walk towards the stairwell.
The woman said after the lift door closed, ‘well, what about that...’
I said, ‘bye,’ when she got out, floor below mine.