Notebook 23.7

His smile could be mistaken for a grimace of pain. He wears it even as he thinks, in which case he looks sideways, the expression on his face being that of somebody who is watching an accident in motion. He has a small mound for a chin, his face redecing into his neck. He wears glasses that sit low on his nose so that the top of his lenses are level with his eyes, forcing him to have the appearance of always looking upwards, made worse by his small stature. The collar of his work shirt pokes out of a brown woollen jumper.

He is allowed 45 minutes for lunch but he is away from his desk for only as long as it takes him to eat his pair of sandwiches or bowl of soup, usually prepared the night before, just before he goes to sleep.

When asked a question, he scratches his left temple in the area above the arm of his glasses. This action is enough to retrieve the answer, which he delivers methodically and in detail. He looks at their face as his words sink in and smiles, as though in pain.

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