A MOVE

‘Is that Four’s girlfriend?’ I said.
‘It’s his beard,’ she said.
‘Beard?’ I said. ‘You sure? Last time I saw him he was sitting on the window sill, said he was waiting for his girlfriend.’
We were in her kitchen. I could see Four, fussing around a car like he does, like I do.
‘Biffo reckoned he was gay but not out,’ she said. ‘That’s why he’s got the beard.’
‘I can’t see it,’ I said.
‘He’s not very soft,’ she said. ‘Cuddly, I mean.’
‘He always seems desperately sad to me,’ I said. ‘Lonely…he always says “young man” to me if we stop for a chat, which we do when he calls me over, takes me to one side, once I came out the lift on the ground floor and he wanted me to watch him chase some people out the flats.’
‘“Young man”, though,’ she said. ‘Sounds like a move.’