Right. But the owner lives in Sudan.
— In Sudan.
— In Sudan, yes. He’s lived there for…
— I’m sorry, Señor Godínez.
— There must be some way to…
— You can bring a notarized letter from the owner saying that in fact you live there, certified by a Sudanese notary, authenticated at the embassy, and translated by a certified translator into…
— There’s no Sudanese embassy here.
— Are you sure?
— I checked, yes…You see, I make a deposit to his account every month and…
— I’m sorry, Señor Godínez.
— But it’s…
— Is there something else I can help you with?
— Something else?
— You’re a customer, and this is our customer service center. Do you need service?
— Well, no…I think that…no.
— Thank you very much for your query and remember: we’re here to serve you better.
— Right.
(415) 938–7716
11:30 PM
— Yes?
— Hello?
— Yes?
— Are you Reginaldo?
— Maybe.
— Hello, my name is Don. Um…
— Yes?
— Do you need my last name?
— No.
— A friend gave me your number for a…matter that needs to be settled.
— Right.
— …
— And so?
— And so what, Reginaldo?
— Exactly. And so what, Don?
— Will you make an appointment with me?
— No.
— Are we going to arrange things by phone?
— What do you want us to do? Have a party?
— No, but…I don’t know, it doesn’t seem the kind of thing you can do by phone.
— What thing?
— That’s exactly what I can’t say on the phone.
— All right, for starters tell me who we’re talking about.
— Her name’s Mary…she’s…a friend.
— A friend.
— Well, not such a friend, of course, or I wouldn’t be…well.
— Well.
— She’s very nice, I don’t want you to think that…
— It doesn’t matter what I think.
— No of course not, but in any event…
— It doesn’t matter.
— Right.
— I’ll need more information about her.
— She’s young. Yeah. She’s young and has curly blond hair that comes down to her breasts, and thick, pink nipples, like two pacifiers…
— I was referring to her address or something like that.
— Palomares 5, Sixth floor, A.
— P-A-L…
— Palomares, yeah.
— O-M-A…
— With S at the end.
— I heard you.
— When? When will you do it?
— That depends. Do you just want to shake her up or do we blow her away?
— What?
— Because I can just give her a scare, you know, you put a weapon in her mouth and say ‘Listen, bitch, if I see you cheating on him again…’ What’s your name?
— Don.
— ‘If you cheat on Don again, I’ll put a bullet in your brain, blah, blah, blah.’ Generally it works.
— Blah, blah, blah.
— That’s it.
— I don’t think it’ll work in this case, you see, she isn’t cheating on me.
— And how do you know that?
— Well, I don’t know, but…
— You trust her.
— No, it’s just that…
— You don’t trust her? Then we’ll give her a scare.
— I’d prefer the other thing…
— We blow her away.
— I wouldn’t call it that, it’s just that, basically I love her…
— Right. And she has an insurance policy you love too. Right?
— No…she isn’t my wife.
— Then maybe the money won’t go to you. Have you thought about that?
— It isn’t for money.
— Right.
— In fact, she doesn’t have a cent.
— I understand.
— I picked her up at a bar where she sang at night. She lived…she lived in a trailer and like that…
— And you took her in.
— Yeah, you could say that.
— You’re generous, you know?
— Thanks.
— Normally I don’t shoot on orders from people so…
— I’d be grateful if you avoided words like that. It’s just that by phone…
— It’s better.
— Yeah?
— This way you don’t see my face, and I don’t see yours. It’s practical.
— Sure.
— So, you took her in.
— Yeah.
— And then?
— And then we became closer and closer, you know? She…understood me…I mean she understands me…she isn’t…well, not yet…I mean…
— She understands you more than your wife.
— A lot more. My wife and I…it’s like we speak different languages, you know?
— Yeah.
— I mean, it’s not that things are going badly but…
— It’s not like it was before.
— Exactly, it’s not like it was before.
— And why don’t…why don’t you…
— Get a divorce?
— It’s cheaper.
— No, I assure you it isn’t, in my case. Besides, sure, Mary…she’s fine but…
—