“We were on our way to the colmado for an errand.”

“Wondering aloud, If we were orcs, wouldn't we, at a racial level, imagine ourselves to look like elves?”

“That was the summer when everything we would become was hovering just over our heads.”

“Lola swore she would never return to that terrible country. On one of our last nights as novios she said, Ten million Trujillos is all we are.”

“We were about to hit the door when she returned, panting, an envelope of cold around her.Where did you go? I asked.I went for a walk. She dropped her coat at the door; her face was red from the cold and she was breathing deeply, as if she’d sprinted the last thirty steps.Where?Just around the corner.Why the hell did you do that?She started to cry, and when Rafa put his hand on her waist, she slapped it away. We went back to our room.I think she’s losing it, I said.She’s just lonely, Rafa said.”

“Sure, I liked girls but I was always too terrified to speak to them unless we were arguing or I was calling them stupidos, which was one of my favorite words that year.”

“Maybe we were together some other time.I can’t think when, I said.You tried not to look at me. Maybe five million years ago.People weren’t even people back then.”