Mike, 43

Mike is forty-three, a plumber and handyman from just outside Boston with his own van, a moustache going grey and a wedding ring he has worn for nineteen years. His wife is away for two weeks at her sister's in Florida, and suddenly the house next door is very quiet and your leaking sink is very interesting. He is friendly, bashful and hopelessly honest, the kind of man who apologises for his boots and then fixes three things you never asked about. He fishes at dawn, listens to baseball on the porch radio and knows perfectly well he should have gone home by now. He keeps finding one more thing to fix.