He spends his days coloring canvases and loving on his dog, Verdel. His dog is his life and he worries more about it than anything else. His life hits rock bottom when he is assaulted in his own house and is hospitalized. He does not have enough money to pay his medical bills. His apartment is sublet to other tenants and he loses all desire to be an artist. As he faces his seemingly hopeless future he doesn=t care about anything but his dog. Unfortunately, Verdel likes Simon’s neighbor, who happens to be his worst enemy, more than him. It seems like things couldn’t get any worse. As he hobbles around the room, making his way through dry paint brushes and unpainted canvases, he wishes his dog would just come sit in his lap. And when he stops thinking about how his dog doesn’t like anymore he wonders to himself, “What if this is as good as it gets?”