Every Tuesday at 4:15pm sharp, Maro spins.
Just once, and only clockwise. Enough to ruffle the lace on the chair-back, and send the goose-shaped sugar bowl into a ceramic dance. It's how he keeps time.
Maro insists he once swallowed a second hand from a retired wall clock. “It ticks under my gloss,” he says. No one believes him, of course – except the baby stool in the hallway, who’s heard him tick-tick-tick when he’s asleep.
He likes brass door knockers, parsnip cake, and factual books about clouds. He’s punctual as debt, leisurely as smoke.
Ask him in Danish – He swears Danish is the best language for spinning lessons. He’ll teach you to spin once, clean as a comet, without disturbing the dust.