reported it to Senora Blinder, and
that two or three policemen had come up to the attic and
conducted an inch-by-inch search until they discovered
him. No sooner had they done so than they clamped
him in handcuffs and dragged him downstairs.
On the landing on the first floor Senor Blinder, there
waiting for him, immediately blocked his way and
started punching him, without any of the policemen
attempting to prevent him. He passed Senora Blinder
on the ground floor, who backed off while staring him
in the eyes. Rosa huddled in the doorway giving onto
the street, silently shaking her head, her face wet with
tears. Senor Blinder stopped them suddenly:
"Not that way," he said. "Take him out through this
door," and he pointed at the tradesmen's entrance.
Rosa was obliged to go with them. She went ahead
and throughout her ordeal kept turning back at every
step, as if she couldn't believe what she saw.
"Why?" she asked him.
"How do I know?" he answered. "I could give you so
many reasons... Are you well?"
"Why?" repeated Rosa.
He shrugged his shoulders. She opened the tradesmen's gate and let them through. In the second before
they put him in the police patrol car, Rosa succeeded in
asking him, tender as a mother:
"What have you been eating?"
He emerged from his daydream when the water in his
jug ran out.
The mate tea was his best acquisition in recent weeks.
The truth was it was the same as a morning cup of coffee; he had found a number of mate gourds in a kitchen
drawer, and he was sure that nobody would notice if one
were missing. Rosa drank mate daily, so there was always
an open packet of the tea lying around. For now, Maria
had to drink his mate cold, although soon he would
begin to heat up the water... He emerged from his
dream at this point, and realized that this whole time
he'd not heard a single sound emerge from the vacuum
cleaner. He awoke properly and looked out at his room.
The door was shut tight.
Was Rosa still in there? It seemed highly unlikely
that Rosa would shut herself in there in order to clean.
Surely she must have finished the job and left. Just
in case, he decided to hang on a little longer before
returning to his room. He occupied himself by going
through some of the boxes stacked up in the loft, which
seemed to be filled with anything from straw hats to old
crockery. Quite a lot of the stuff up there could prove
useful to him, should occasion arise. He had already
sniffed around inside a few of the cases, coming across
various old shawls and blankets, and a mother-of-pearl
card box with a deck of playing cards inside it (with
which he'd played solitaire), but it was only now that
he noticed the walkman. Manufactured by Sony, it had
probably once belonged to one of the Blinder children,
or possibly grandchildren. It didn't have any batteries,
and although he searched high and low, he couldn't
find the headphones. He decided to take it with him
in any case. He put it in his bag and, for a brief instant,
felt as if he were in the midst of a shipwreck, a Robinson
Crusoe rescuing from what was left of his sea voyage
whatever might prove useful to him. It was time to leave
the loft behind him. He zipped up his bag and set off to
return to his island.
The air inside his room now seemed fresh and new.
The book still lay on the bed. While Maria had been
in the loft, he had waited every moment for Rosa to
discover the chicken bone and, beside herself, go and
show it to Senora Blinder. Presumably the truth was that
she had not found it at all. Otherwise - as it was a "bone
of recent provenance" that no one could believe was
some old thing brought there and forgotten who knows
when and by whom - his dream would have become
reality. So the first thing he did on getting back into his
room was to search for the bone, going back and forth
on his knees, criss-crossing the room. But he was just as
unable to find it as she was.
He decided to open
that two or three policemen had come up to the attic and
conducted an inch-by-inch search until they discovered
him. No sooner had they done so than they clamped
him in handcuffs and dragged him downstairs.
On the landing on the first floor Senor Blinder, there
waiting for him, immediately blocked his way and
started punching him, without any of the policemen
attempting to prevent him. He passed Senora Blinder
on the ground floor, who backed off while staring him
in the eyes. Rosa huddled in the doorway giving onto
the street, silently shaking her head, her face wet with
tears. Senor Blinder stopped them suddenly:
"Not that way," he said. "Take him out through this
door," and he pointed at the tradesmen's entrance.
Rosa was obliged to go with them. She went ahead
and throughout her ordeal kept turning back at every
step, as if she couldn't believe what she saw.
"Why?" she asked him.
"How do I know?" he answered. "I could give you so
many reasons... Are you well?"
"Why?" repeated Rosa.
He shrugged his shoulders. She opened the tradesmen's gate and let them through. In the second before
they put him in the police patrol car, Rosa succeeded in
asking him, tender as a mother:
"What have you been eating?"
He emerged from his daydream when the water in his
jug ran out.
The mate tea was his best acquisition in recent weeks.
The truth was it was the same as a morning cup of coffee; he had found a number of mate gourds in a kitchen
drawer, and he was sure that nobody would notice if one
were missing. Rosa drank mate daily, so there was always
an open packet of the tea lying around. For now, Maria
had to drink his mate cold, although soon he would
begin to heat up the water... He emerged from his
dream at this point, and realized that this whole time
he'd not heard a single sound emerge from the vacuum
cleaner. He awoke properly and looked out at his room.
The door was shut tight.
Was Rosa still in there? It seemed highly unlikely
that Rosa would shut herself in there in order to clean.
Surely she must have finished the job and left. Just
in case, he decided to hang on a little longer before
returning to his room. He occupied himself by going
through some of the boxes stacked up in the loft, which
seemed to be filled with anything from straw hats to old
crockery. Quite a lot of the stuff up there could prove
useful to him, should occasion arise. He had already
sniffed around inside a few of the cases, coming across
various old shawls and blankets, and a mother-of-pearl
card box with a deck of playing cards inside it (with
which he'd played solitaire), but it was only now that
he noticed the walkman. Manufactured by Sony, it had
probably once belonged to one of the Blinder children,
or possibly grandchildren. It didn't have any batteries,
and although he searched high and low, he couldn't
find the headphones. He decided to take it with him
in any case. He put it in his bag and, for a brief instant,
felt as if he were in the midst of a shipwreck, a Robinson
Crusoe rescuing from what was left of his sea voyage
whatever might prove useful to him. It was time to leave
the loft behind him. He zipped up his bag and set off to
return to his island.
The air inside his room now seemed fresh and new.
The book still lay on the bed. While Maria had been
in the loft, he had waited every moment for Rosa to
discover the chicken bone and, beside herself, go and
show it to Senora Blinder. Presumably the truth was that
she had not found it at all. Otherwise - as it was a "bone
of recent provenance" that no one could believe was
some old thing brought there and forgotten who knows
when and by whom - his dream would have become
reality. So the first thing he did on getting back into his
room was to search for the bone, going back and forth
on his knees, criss-crossing the room. But he was just as
unable to find it as she was.
He decided to open
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