Cole said. 'Hello.' I could tell he was embarrassed, Kelly in her dressing¹ gown and everything with these fat calves²（小牛） on display. He just looked at the floor.

She said, 'Fucking Hell, you're tall.'

Cole laughed

'How tall are you? Six seven?

'Six nine and a half,' said Cole, and he shrugged³ as if he wished that just at this moment it wasn't true. I wondered whether he'd felt that before.

Kelly shook her head and whistled. 'And how old are you?'

'Fourteen.'

Kelly whistled again. 'That's unbelievable. Are the rest of your family like that?'

'No, I'm the only one. My mum's only five seven.'

'Well, you're a very big fellow, Cole.'

'Yep.'

'Do they make you play basketball at school?' asked Kelly, which was the stupidest question ever and kind of racist⁴ and I was worried Cole would be upset. But instead he grinned.

'They try but I'm no good, mate. I'm terrible.'

'Six foot nine and a half. Fucking hell.'

She reached over to touch his elbow and then moved back. It was a weird⁵ thing to do. Her eyes were full of water. 'Fourteen years old. I didn't think they made them like you anymore. You're a very big fellow, Cole,' she said again like a broken record.

Cole looked at the floor, getting more and more awkward and I wished to God I'd never brought her in the room in the first place.

'Yes, I am. I'm big. I don't know how it happened, it just happened.'

Then out of the blue Kelly said, 'You know, I make films.'

I see now that she had to get the conversation back over to her side of the fence, to where she knew what everything looked like, how everything felt and what everything meant. I do it a lot myself these days. But at the time, I hated her for it. She couldn't let him just be.

Cole raised his eyebrows⁶. 'Really?'

'Yeah, really. I'm about to make my first feature film, would you believe.'

Cole said, 'Cool, cool, I believe it.' But he looked like he didn't. Then she said, 'Well, a man your height, I'll have to find a place for you in my next film, won't I?'

Cole shrugged again, like it would be nice if she did, but then again it would be just fine if she didn't. Such a big man, Cole, but fluid as water. To look at him you'd think he couldn't fit anywhere - actually he fitted everywhere. That's how I remember him.

'I can think of a hundred roles,' she said, 'I can think of a hundred things you could be.'

She said that, and then she pulled her dressing gown round her and sort of nodded to herself and left, and in a few minutes I could hear the film starting up again, from the beginning with the opening title music（字幕音乐） .

'She's nice,' said Cole, because he always tried to say the right thing. 'Let's go upstairs,' he said, 'spin some tunes⁷!'

I think Cole did me a great service that day. But every time I try to pin it down, all I have is the image of his long, sleek⁸ calves in front of me as he climbed the stairs, his massive hand on the banister.