Shedding old skin

Maiyuu is selling a large pile of his clothes and shoes to a woman in this condo who makes a living on-selling them.

A hand-written sign appeared on a noticeboard outside the lift asking if anyone in the condo has items of clothing, shoes, or jewellery to sell. She left a phone number and name.

Maiyuu says the woman lives in this condo, and has offered to buy per item, rather than buy by the kilogramme as such merchants often do.

Maiyuu's clothes - he has an enormous collection - are in good condition. I would not be happy to see this woman set a price per bag or kilogramme, as they are too good.

Two or three large rubbish bags full of his clothes have sat in my room for months...since our last big argument, in fact, when I decided to toss him out, and put his clothes in bags to help him get the message that he was no longer welcome.

He has never bothered unpacking the bags and putting his clothes back in the wardrobe, perhaps because he realised he did not need half of them.

Gone are the days when Maiyuu went socialising constantly. He rarely goes out any more, so does not need so much fancy gear.

He told me the other day about his plan to sell clothes to this woman, but it wasn't until 1.30 this morning, as I contemplated going to bed, that he decided to start sorting.

He dragged the bags into his room and started arranging the clothes into piles of 'to sell' and 'to keep'. He further sorted the pile of 'to sell' clothes into trousers, shorts, shirts, and jackets. Later he added shoes, and bags.

In some phases of my life, I have sold personal items in garage sales which I later regretted losing ...including LPs (vinyl records, for younger readers) which are probably valuable now. I would like to have kept them, if only for old times' sake.

It was time to dispense some caring advice to my hermit-like boyfriend. I don't want him selling perfectly good clothes which he will later miss.

'I know you don't go out much any more...' I said hesitantly.

'It's boring,' he said.

'Still, there may come a day when you want to re-enter the real world...to leave the condo and interact with people again,' I said.

'Don't sell all your clothes, or you will have to go out in your underwear,' I said.

Maiyu laughed.

I don't know why he feels the need to sell his clothes. It is like shedding an old skin. What will the new Maiyuu be like? I don't know how he really thinks of himself these days.