"A THOUSAND FOOLS" "Part one" "1.1." "Mr. Beneset" "Morning." "Good morning." "They've asphalted the road." "Yes, the day before yesterday." "Come to see your dad?" "Yeah." "I told you to knock before you come in." "I did knock, Dad, but you didn't hear." "I've always told you to knock, ever since you were little." "But you didn't listen." "You never listen when people tell you things." "Dad..." "Are you drinking?" "In comics, drunks always have red noses." "And yours is red." "Don't drink." "Take my advice." "Look at your Uncle Toni, he ended up an alcoholic." "But he had a reason." "His daughter died and then his wife left him." "Poor guy." "It looks good short, right?" "At my age." "I don't have worry about combing it." "And it dries quickly, so I won't catch pneumonia." "I never used to need anyone's help." "I don't want to finish up like this lot." "It's terrible getting old." "That's why you should look after yourself now." "And don't drink." "I know you like drinking." "I'll never forget the time your friends brought you home because you were so drunk you'd passed out." "Enough talking now, I'm tired." "Good morning, Mr. Beneset." "Good morning, dear." "She's Cuban and really nice." "It's a beautiful country, Cuba." "They have lots of sugar cane, don't they, Margarita?" "Bye, Mr. Beneset." "Bye, Margarita." "She's a very pretty girl." "There are very pretty girls here." "Poorthings." "It's not much of a job, is it?" "Looking after old folks." "But they come from poor countries, and they make money here." "Margarita is Cuban." "From Cuba." "But she doesn't eat meat." "She's vegetarian." "There's another one, who's not Cuban, she's called Yuli and she's got lovely big tits." "I know everyone here is at it, all you have to do is pay." "I had to tell them to stop bathing me, because it gave me a raging hard-on." "One of them said:" ""Oh, Mr. Beneset, that is a big one..." "And at your age!"" "But I tell them to let me wash those bits myself." "I feel sorry forthem, being here, so young, touching a flabby old man." "But... there are lots of men here who take advantage." "And they're clean." "They do it with gloves on." "Not like these old ladies who pretend to have got the wrong room and get in your bed in case you want to do it." "With the mouth, one of them offered me." "You know what I mean?" "I filled it up before you came." "So I was ready." "You come so rarely, I don't want to waste a minute." "I know you're busy, son, I know that, and I don't mind that you only come occasionally." "I have to watch the hairdresser so she doesn't slip up." "She tends to use the shaver, as soon as she gets the chance." "She wants to finish as fast as possible." "In here, when someone dies, they say:" ""he's gone away."" "You know they've died:" "suddenly, they're not here." "Not in the garden or the dining room, or in the TV room." "If they haven't been around for days, they say:" ""he's gone away."" "Where?" "They never tell you where." "Last week, another one "went away"." "Sometimes, at night, you hear noises in the corridors." "Footsteps going up and down, in a hurry." "They must be taking away a body, I think, and it's logical to do it at night, to avoid worrying the rest of us." "Why all this trouble, when I only have a short time left, and even that is too much?" "I've spilled it everywhere!" "No, only a bit." "Give me a tissue... I'll clean you up." "I sometimes dream I'm being called from heaven." "My dad, my mum, all my brothers..." ""Why is he taking so long?"" "I'm the only one left." "The first to die was Ricardo." "Then, my dad, in..." "I don't know how long ago." "60 something years ago." "Then there was Arcadi, 20 years ago." "I've lived 20 years longer than my longest living brother." "I've had enough." "If I could, I'd take one of those pills that put you to sleep and you don't wake up, because they kill you without any pain." "I don't want to suffer any more." "Let's go back to the room." "Already?" "We've only been here half an hour." "I've had enough." "Honestly, I'm tired." "The other day I said to the doctor:" ""Why not give me one of those pills and get it over with?"" "She told me off." ""Don't even joke about that!"" "How does she know ifl am joking?" "I'm serious, but nobody believes me." "Sometimes, I go up to the top floor, look out of a window, and think how easy it would be to jump." "The hard part is getting up there." "lfl could squeeze through, sit down, and pass my legs overthe ledge..." "But I don't have the strength." "And I couldn't ask you." "There's still a while until lunch." "You go, you've got work to do." "And don't rush to come again, I know you have obligations." "1.2." "A cut" "Bye, Dad." "Bye, Toni." "What's the matter?" "They cut me with a broken bottle." "is that any way to enter a classroom, Toni?" "Ferran and Roger had a broken bottle, sir, and they stabbed me." "Do you just walk in without saying good morning?" "is that what we've taught you, Toni?" "Good morning." "Good habits have been slipping for while, and, yes, I know it's not your fault." "It's our fault too, the institutions who have been incapable of educating you to be good-mannered and responsible young people." "It's also society's fault." "Too many parents want the school to provide the authority that they are incapable of exerting." "You, Toni, are just another example of this, a grain of sand in an infinite dessert of universal chaos." "Where are the manners of yesteryear?" "Where is the effort and the sacrifice?" "Where is the basic politeness that we've instilled in you day after day?" "I know that other schools are more lax about manners." "I also know that it's impossible to totally isolate an individual, and knowing the tendency youngsters have for mixing and fraternising, it is small wonderthat for all our school's efforts to educate you in an exemplary manner," "if we're the only ones doing so, you run the risk of becoming infected by the lax discipline of others." "I'm covered in blood, sir." "So I see." "I also see the mess you're making of the floor." "Not to mention your T-shirt." "You know I like you all to look impeccable." "But we'll talk about that later." "Now go to reception and ask Manolo for a mop and bucket, and try not to drip any blood, or you'll have to clean that up too." "1.3." "Praise" "Hello, Carme." "Hello." "Two very interesting books, Mr. Broto." "People say this Ukrainian is great, but I've never read him." "No, me neither, but everyone speaks highly of him." "And this, "Cadmium's beauty", has an opening sentence which I found most intriguing, and not at all stupid." "I flicked through it and I see the author uses rich prose." "Rich but not too fussy." "It's a young author." "The boy has promise." "Congratulations, Mr. Broto." "Oh, is it out?" "Didn't you know?" " What?" "About that kid's book." ""Can you tell us a book you've particularly enjoyed recently?" "David Guillot's 'Cadmium's beauty' was a very good read."" "They asked me to name a book that I had enjoyed." "I said the one by Guillot, but I didn't give it any special value." "It's on record now." "Yes, I think it's very good, but I won't get into a state about it." "You have a radio show, you know how it is." "You said it, Mr. Broto." "Vall-llosera, Vall-llosera..." "I know you." "Hello, this is Guillot, David Guillot." "Thank you very much." "Your kind words mean so much to a new writer." "Recognition from an acclaimed writer such as yourself is a like gift from heaven." "Thank you so much." "Well, I suppose you're a busy man and you can't waste time on trivial matters, just a young writer starting out, you know..." "But, if it's convenient, I would love to speak with you, even if only overthe phone, because you're a master." "You're the most important living author, you influenced my adolescent writing, and you're an inspiration, who, let's be honest, convinced me to become a writer myself." "Hello, this is David Guillot again." "I think I took too long." "I don't want to bug you." "I'll leave you my number in case you want to call, and I'll stop bothering you." "It's 93 414 49 06." "And thanks again." ""extraordinary!"" "I never said it was "extraordinary"." "I just said I'd liked it." "ls that all?" "That's all." "You say one thing, and the publishers just put anything they please." "Anyway, I'm not going to lose sleep over it." "Hello, what's your name?" "Carles." "Thanks very much." "I don't know if you remember." "Awhile ago," "l left a message on your phone." "Ah, yes." "Thanking you for the praise in the newspaper." "It meant a lot to me." "It reaffirmed my determination to write and it really influenced public opinion." "Well... I do literary criticism now." "I wouldn't have made it if you hadn't mentioned me." "No, it was nothing... I wanted to say sorry about that coverthey put on my book." "It was the publishers' decision, not mine." "Don't worry, it's no problem." "But I didn't want that, or forthe second edition to appear with your comment printed on it." "I bet you wish you'd never read my book, Mr. Broto." "You don't need to buy one." "I'll have the publishers send you a dedicated, signed copy." "No, no way." "Your books are so good, Mr.Broto..." "They mean so much to young authors learning theirtrade." "Having a personal dedication is a dream come true, like being able to talk to you, face to face." "Very well." "Perhaps we could call each other to meet for a coffee some day." "With pleasure, yes." "Anytime you like." "In case you've lost it, here's my number again." "Great." "Hello, this is David Guillot." "You must be busy again, but a few weeks ago we agreed you'd call me to meet up." "I don't want to bug you." "I imagine you haven't got time to waste on young authors just starting out." "Especially now they're all getting published more and more." "But if you ever feel like it, I'd be delighted to go for a drink with you. I don't know what you usually drink, Broto." "Just that there are a few things I'd like to ask you." "Because you're a beacon, an authentic light in literature, in an increasingly mediocre and banal landscape." "Anyway, I don't want to bug you." "I'll leave you my number in case you lostmy card." "Hello." "Hello." "I won't ask you to call me, because I know you won't." "We both know people say, "l'll call you", or "Call me", but they're often just empty phrases." "It's not that people don't want it to happen, just that circumstances sometimes won't allow it." "They need me, I have to go." "I said "perhaps" l would call him." "I never promised him anything." "All I did, and I'm now starting to regret it, was to praise his book." "You're too nice." "And I now hate what he said to me." ""l bet you wish you'd never read my book, Mr. Broto.", or something like that." "I honestly don't know what to write." "It's my second book and I know it's because of you." "If you hadn't praised the previous one, this one would probably never have seen the light of day." "Anyway, you owe me a call." "No rush." "What the hell?" "I don't owe him anything!" "Guillot, you've represented this renovation of literature in this country, tell us about Daniel Broto's new book?" "It's difficult to say this, because Daniel Broto has meant such a lot to literature." "Broto has been a very important writer of literary novels, that's undeniable, but it's also true that we have to dismantle the myths." "If only to cleanse ourselves and open windows to a new world." "I think that..." "Yes?" "I don't know how to put it..." "Go ahead." "We'd love to know." "Well, to be honest, I think it's time to question the excessive importance given, incomprehensibly, in my opinion, to this author." "No doubt about it." "Broto belongs to the past?" "." "Well, that's the way it is." "You know that, Doctor Vall-llosera." "1.4." "When Berta opens the door" "Hey!" "Come over here and let's talk." "We can't talk if you're overthere." "Don't come any closer or I'lljump." "If you don't jump, I'll stay here." "I'm going to jump anyway." "Don't be stupid." "And pardon me." "Maybe I'm stupid for calling you stupid, that'll hardly persuade you not to jump." "I can't do it better." "I don't know why you're doing this, or ifl can do anything about it, but, honestly, whateverthe reason, it's not worth it." " Yes, it is worth it." "ls it really?" "There's a nice film opening tonight." "If you want, I can take you." "You mean you haven't got anyone to go with?" "To be honest, you're right." "It's just a lie to convince me." "You don't care if I go with you." "You think that by playing the loser I'll believe your life is worse than mine and I'll have no reason to jump." "You don't know me, and you've got no right to." "Orto pretend you want to go the cinema with me." "Anyway, it's Monday, films never open on Mondays." "That's not true." "They do sometimes." "Normally they open on Fridays, but a friend of mine is a camera operator and he gave me an invitation forthe opening." "And it was a Monday." "Monday." "I don't understand psychology." "I don't know if every word I say will encourage or dissuade you, but when I say I'm not lying, it's true." "I'd like to take you to a film and dinner, and then a walk in the park, and to lose myself in those black eyes." "They're brown." "I don't want to ask myself why." "If you hadn't appeared, I would've jumped." "And now, I wouldn't jump for anything in the world." "Oh, dear, I almost did something really stupid!" "1.5." "The fork" "Hello." "How are you?" "Long time no see." "Yes." "It was before Easter." "Really?" "lt's been a very cold winter." "And even colder up here." "Now the days are getting longer." "Good thing too, because people don't come out in winter." "There's no place like home." "How are the kids?" "Getting bigger all the time." "And cheekier." "is the digital TVworking?" "Go on in, I've reserved you the your usual table." "But you can choose." "You're the second ones to arrive." "No, this is fine, isn't it?" "Yes." "I'll bring you the menus." "Great." "Thank you." "You sit there, I'll sit here." "That way we can chat while the men are talking football." "That's better." "Why didn't she ask the waiter to change the fork?" "If she doesn't consider it unusable, why didn't she leave it next to her plate?" "Some people don't care if it falls on the ground." "In the United States, among teenagers, there is an imaginary Five Second Rule." "If something falls on the floor and you pick up within 5 seconds, it's absolutely no problem." "They say it takes longer than that forthe dirt and the germs, the filth, the bacteria, and what have you, to affect the object in question." "I'd say that lady is totally unaware of that American rule, Felix." "But it's outrageous." "She picks up the fork, deems it not hygienic enough for her but perfectly clean enough for him." "is he less scrupulous?" "That's years of living together, it turns everything rotten." "Probably just an example of many little vengeful tactics that we don't know about." "Do you think she spits in his coffee in the morning, when he's not looking?" "What do you reckon?" "1.6." "The letter" "Are you leaving?" "Yes." "I can't wait forthe undertakers any longer." "Mr. Esteve was very fond of you." "He didn't have anyone else." "I was his only relative." "Distant relative." "I think a one night wake is enough." "I have to rush, I need to go to my office and then to the radio studio." "l've got to work to do." "What can you do?" " Good day." " Good day." "Hello." "Hello." "Dearest dickhead, I received your letters, but I haven't had time to read them." "I'm replying on the understanding that it'll be the first and last time." "I've got better things to do than console poor souls like you." "You fill my head with promises which are irrelevant and unsolicited." "You don't live in the now." "You know I'll never come back, because we gave each other all we could, which, in actual fact, was notmuch." "Don't come to me with sob stories." "You ought to show a bit of character." "You say that I went with Albert because, sexually, he satisfied me more than you did." "You say it like an insult, as if you want me to feel like a whore." "But you're wrong if you think that makes me feel bad." "Who do you think you are?" "I can spend hours caressing him, and then, I can make him come wherever I want." "And then all I have to do is start again." "He's so different to you!" "He's got imagination, lots of it." "But you were right about me enjoying itmore with Albert." "I certainly do!" "When he whispers in my ear what he's going to do to me, itmakes me wetter than you ever did." "He asks me for my knickers in public, things like that, which you would disapprove of." "Why take your knickers off so often?" "But it makes me horny as hell." "We grab each other like teenagers." "It turns me on to know we could be discovered at any moment." "I have to hide my face and bite his hand so the taxi driver doesn't noticeme." "I come again and again until the seat is sopping wet, and we laugh just imagining the look on the face of his next passenger." "Do you like me telling you this?" "I bet you do." "You must be enjoying this, suffering." "You always enjoyed suffering and torturing yourself." "Are you getting excited hearing how Albert gropes me?" "He gropes me and puts his fingers everywhere, in every hole he can find, and I do the same to him." "I put my hand down his pants and I grab it, hard, firm and hot, and I wank him off as the bus bumps along" "until he comes over my fingers... I lick them as I get off, and a passenger sees my lips and my fingers and smiles." "You can wank off if you want." "If, however, it pains you to hear all this you know what you can do:" "Never write to me again." "If you were normal, by this stage, almost two months after we split up, you'd have a girlfriend and you'd be touching her arse instead of trying to give me a guilty conscience with your stupid "letters"." "If it's any consolation to you, or if it increases your pain, I've started seeing Sergi, and Albert is a bit jealous." "I'm having fun, maybe even more than with Albert, which is a tall order, confirming your theory about my new boyfriends, always seeming better than the previous ones." "And how, when I know him better, I lose interest." "He's very young, I have to show him everything." "I protect him, like a mother." "He's gentle and strong as an ox, and he fills my mouth like nobody else!" "It must be his age." "Such a sweet boy." "Do you want to hear more?" "I hope not." "And, as for your threat to commit suicide, it's in poor taste and not very original." "If you want to blackmail me like Xavi did when I left him for you, remember that he at least had the balls to do it, whereas I doubt you do." "So, my dear, hoping to never hear from you again," "Yours unfaithfully, Gina." "1.7." "When Sergi works at night" "What are you doing?" "You put them up, I pull them down." "Listen, this is my job." "I'm allowed to put up any posters I want." "I don't think you are allowed to." "I think you have no right." "But let's not go there." "It's my right to pull them down, so that's what I'll do." "Until tomorrow." "Until tomorrow." "Be careful not to get run over!" "1.8." "Cleaning" "Cleaning." "Part two" "2.1." "Next month's blood" "Nazareth, in the reign of the good king Herod." "Joseph, the carpenter, loves Mary, his wife." "A flying visit." "God has bestowed His grace upon thee." "Why are you being so formal?" "God has decided you shall bear a child." "You shall call him Jesus." "What ?" "Do not be afraid." "God has given you a son." "Jesus." "Why not?" "No way." "I don't accept." "I won't have this child!" "I won't have this child!" "2.2." "The Sleeping Beauty" "After breakfast, the knight gets lost in his woods." "Aware of his role in the story, he kisses her." "He doesn't mind having to marry, as tradition dictates." "They will live happily ever after." "Creep!" "He doesn't know what to do." "2.3." "Helvetian freedoms" "Walter Tell, son of the famous William, is instructing his heir." "He was named William by his mother, a great fan of herfather-in-law." "Father, were you afraid when grandpa fired?" "When I was little, father took me to Adorf market." "Brunock, a tyrannical Austrian governor made everybody revere him." "My father refused." "To the gallows!" "Have pity!" "There's no better archer than my father!" "Put an apple on his head and fire an arrow from 80 paces." "I won't tremble, trust me." "If you succeed, I'll spare you." "If not, you die!" "In the end, all heroism has its reward." "Fire!" "A historic gesture!" "But as the years went by..." "Since that day, I've had a nightmare." "He shoots the arrow straight into my head!" "Do you want to try it?" "Have no fear." "I'm as good as grandpa." "Your grandpa was a national hero." "I need your trust." "Go on, fire!" "2.4." "The toad" "What's on the Prince's mind?" "What will I do when I inherit the throne?" "Which woman will I share it with?" "Princes like you go out every night." "They meet princesses and plebians." "My colleagues tell me all women are whores." "I shall find the pure princess I have sought since puberty." "Far from human banality, she will be different!" "He will find her enchanted in the form of a toad." "If only you knew how long l have waited!" "You had to freeme from the spell." "I've searched for you since I was little." "I always knew I would find you." "I thought this moment might never arrive." "Well it has arrived." "Yes." "lsn't it great?" "Are you happy?" "Yes, and you?" "Me too." "Anyway..." "So much waiting and this is it." "Yes, this is it." "They have their whole lives ahead ofthem." "2.5." "One fine day" "The princess, under a spell, needs a kiss to wake her." "Oh, she's cold!" "Perhaps he kissed her too gently." "He will have to try harder." "He feels an uncomfortable swelling in his crotch." "He can't contain himself." "She's so beautiful!" "This should wake her up." "The definitive kiss." "Even this doesn't wake her." "It is in vain." "After a short while." "Oh, what a dream!" "How long is it since I shut my eyes?" "He doesn't know that nobody will wake him." "He'll be there for several years." "2.6." "Hunger and thirst for justice" "Robin Hood and his aristocratic clan wallow in excess." "Robin despises the social inequality." "He has something in mind." "The hat his uncle Richard brought him from Tyrol." "He targets the richest people in the county." "All of it!" "In the sacks!" "The booty he obtains is exceptional." "In Sherwood Forest, he chooses the poorest family." "I come in peace!" "Open up, I'll give you what I stole from the rich!" "Don't be afraid, it's all for you!" "Do the ends justify the means?" "Feeling proud, he returns home." "A few days later, the rich are back to normal." "Robin attacks the inalienable right to private property." "You again!" "They'll probably rob us all the time now!" "Just in time!" "We were starving!" "Robin has found his calling in life." "Hood's greatest virtue is his perseverance." "The booty is becoming scarce." "Robin repeats his forays regularly." "His generosity has led to the rich becoming poor... while the poor wallow in abundance." "How didn't he see this licentiousness coming?" "Hey, kid!" "Hello, son." "Time to leave behind a world of delusion and mistrust." "Part three" "How many times have I come here?" "3." "The arrival of Spring" "My parents are always in their room." "They used to go to the lounge, or outside, under the trees." "Look who's here!" "Hello, Dad." "Hello." "Who did you expect?" "Nobody else ever comes." "Hello." "How's work?" "Fine, fine." "What are you doing these days?" "I write." "Stories for cinema." "is it going well?" "Yes, Mum." "What are you doing these days?" "I told you, I write stories for cinema." "Film scripts." "is it going well?" "I'd be happy with a little pill." "One of those that ends it all." "It's called "Anastasia"." "If you don't speak up I can't hear you!" "It's always the same story with him." "He's an idiot, you see?" "An idiot!" "Idiot!" "You see?" "Same as always." "They look at me with pleading eyes, as if I should decide which one ofthem is the hero and which is the villain." "Mother was the strong one." "She worked non-stop, slept four hours a night." "From work on an assembly line to the housework, she did it all." "Everything." "She never stopped for a minute." "He's an idiot!" "Idiot!" "Idiot, idiot!" "It's no use..." "It's always the same." "He's an idiot." "He's just an idiot." "Dad emigrated to Germany in the sixties, to a town near Bielefeld called Wiedenbruck." "He only lasted two weeks, before he came back, tail between his legs." "With that suitcase, Mum went to Geneva, to work in the Turkish ambassador's residence." "My father having failed, she had to drag us out of poverty and turn us into first rate Europeans." "This Spring, Mum has started falling often." "Son..." " What is it?" "Nothing." "My mother has had a fall." "Look what you're doing, woman!" "You're coming up?" "Okay." "I won't last long." "I don't have much time left." "When will you bring Toni again?" "Well, Toni?" "Tomorrow." "Next week, Dad." "Give your grandpa a kiss." "Does it hurt?" "A bit." "What?" "A bit." "Right, bye, Dad." "Bye." "Say goodbye." "Bye." "How is everything?" "Are the family well?" "What?" "Look, son, we'll get to the point." "We've decided to commit suicide." "We've thought about it properly." "There's no point to all this." "This is exhausting." "It takes too long." "Son, it's so hard to leave this world." "Don't go all round the houses!" "Just say what you have to say for once, or we'll be here for hours, and the boy has to work." "We can't keep him waiting here all this time." "We'll give it to you straight." "We thought of throwing ourselves out the window, but it's too dramatic, and we've never been ones to show off." "Where would we get the strength to climb up there?" "Honestly, everything he says..." "Don't listen to her." "We're serious." "So we can't go out the window." "It has to be something more discreet." "We thought we could slit our wrists." "But there's a problem." "The problem is that they would see the blood." "Because if we did it in the shower, which is logical, to avoid staining everything, the blood would run down the drains into the other rooms." "And when they see blood coming out of their plugholes, they'll want to know where it came from and they'd find us before we're totally dead." "I heard on the telly that the human body contains five litres ofblood." "Five." "And so, as I have two buckets for washing my clothes, because they're dirty here and they don't do it right, look, I wash my bras myself..." "Because all these other old folk, the thousand fools who live in here, they don't care, they can't tell what's clean and what isn't." "The buckets." " Oh, yes." "So when we slit our wrists, we'll fill those two buckets and that way no one will see our blood in the plughole." "So that's the method you've chosen to kill yourselves?" "Slitting your wrists?" "Yes, but you need to be brave and know how to do it right." "It's not as easy as you think." "Young people bleed themselves to donate it orto sell it, but us old folk have so little!" "I'm not sure I'll bleed much, and, you mark my words, even bled dry I could still go on living." "To be honest, it's a nightmare, son." "The best thing would be not to eat." "It's the best solution." "It would be easy for me, with how little I eat, but your dad, who eats like there's no tomorrow and who's never had enough." "Do you think he'd last any time at all without eating?" "I knew a woman who committed suicide like that." "So perhaps that what we'll do." "The cleaning ladies sometimes steal my clothes." "Blouses, knickers..." "What are you doing these days?" "Woman!" "I'll come back tomorrow." "Dust floats around the room like glitter in a children's story." "My parents world was littered with broken objects which they never threw out, just in case." "Room 311?" "I'll put you through." "We haven't had lunch or dinner." "Neither yesterday nortoday." "I'm not going to eat, son." "Please, put Mum on." "It's the boy." "Eh?" "Mum, is it true that you're not eating?" "I don't think they brought us anything." "No breakfast, no lunch, no dinner." "No food, son." "This place is a disgrace." "I'll come soon." "They forget about us and pocket the money." "They bring our clothes back dirty." "They don't wash them so they can save on detergent." "This place is a disgrace." "Bye, Mum." "See you tomorrow." "We're waiting for you, son." "You have to save us!" "Your father had an anxiety attack." "Again?" "Even with oxygen he couldn't breathe." "We sent him to the hospital, but they say he'll be back soon." "Where's Mum?" "Upstairs." "They just took your father in today." "It's tough for you, all this." "Poor Mum, you never stopped for a minute, so you wouldn't have to think what to do with thatminute." "How must you feel living like this?" "The great objective in the life of a worker is dodging work." "Being permanently on leave." "Being on "leave" was his way of showing his great skill at getting through life." "Who's interested in working himself to death in a factory?" "I swear, son, my mind was made up." "But last night... lt must've been around twelve, I was starving, I got up and I ate a banana." "He's an idiot!" "He's an idiot!" "Mother..." "You don't look well, my son." "Not well at all." "You look after yourself, son!" "Look after yourself." "Look after yourself, because if anything happened to you, what would become of us?" "I will, Dad." "Yes, yes, what would become of us?" "Long term sick leave." "Bravo!" "Bravo!" "The greatest triumph of his life." "Stopping work and claiming a small pension." "The paradise of permanent leave." "The joy of never having to set foot in the factory again." "He'd never need to fake it again." "Chronic obstructive lung disease." "He's been hooked up to a respirator for six years." "It soon became clear that Mum had some worrying condition." "She didn't want treatment because she was convinced all doctors were fools and that they didn't know a thing." "Yes, I know the poor woman is not well." "But neither am I!" "It's hard for me to breathe and my back hurts more than you can imagine!" "My poor parents, shrinking all the time." "is there no way out?" "." "It's been seven years of slow agony, sorrow and helplessness." "I've got a fever, haven't I?" "No, you haven't." "Yes, I have, I know it." "You haven't got a fever." "He's just an idiot." "Poor man." "He always had all the illnesses, and now Mum's embolism has trumped him." "Thirty-five point four." "I swear it isn't working." "I'm very sick too, but I don't make a fuss because I see that you're stressed, and I'm scared you'll get sick." "A heart attack or something." "Yes, a heart attack or something." "Don't worry." "I look after myself." "Work is fine and being with you doesn't stress me." "I can't take this." "I can't take this." "Do you want me to kill you?" "Isn't this the peace you wanted?" "Your blood, Mum, look!" "Isn't death the best present a son can give?" "Five litres, Mum!" "Petrol, petrol!" "There!" "That's it, life is over." "I'll set it on fire!" "Just like you wanted." "I can't do this. I can't." "I'm digging this grave for you." "You'll have dignity and respect." "Nobody will ever say otherwise." "See if you can get me some of that "Anastasia"." "How's work going?" "Fine, thanks." "is work going well?" "I'd be happy with a little pill." "Ignasi!" "Ignasi!" "Ignasi!" "Hey, don't hide!" "Don't you know what you have to do?" "Hold on, be brave, Ignasi." "That's right, that's right!" "Be strong!" "There's no other solution." "Hold on, hold on!" "Life is difficult." "Remember we see all sorts here." "Don't think you're the only one." "You still have many stories to tell." "You must keep going." "Everybody keeps going." "Are you the one who tells our stories?" "Many, many stories!" "Many characters..." "We need you." "We need you!" "It's Spring now and the trees are full of new leaves, not like in winter, when you only see bare branches." "And in the distance, the city fog." "Translation:" "daniel MURRAY" "Subtitles:" "LASERFlLM"