"The truth is it's been four years since we heard from her..." "She sold the house to my godmother, may she rest in peace." "And then we came to live here with my husband and our children." "We came to live here." "The only thing I know is... that she was with a man from Chaco, she got together with him and then she disappeared from town..." "She came back later to sell the house and... they left together:" "But she didn't leave a phone number, address, nothing..." "You came to visit her?" "Yeah." "That's too bad, darling, she didn't leave a number... nothing." " Good morning." " Good morning, how are you?" "I'm looking for a job, for a short time... for the summer... cleaning the pool, mowing the lawn..." "The thing is that this is not my house, I'm watching it for my aunt and uncle and I think they take care of those things." "For me, only a few pesos a day would be fine, it would be only for the summer because..." "I have a job promised in Buenos Aires..." "but... painting..." "Come back tomorrow, let me discuss it with my aunt and uncle, maybe there is something to do, okay?" " Yes, great." "Thanks." " No, don't mention it." "You are Eugenio, right?" "Yeah." "Because..." "I used to swim in that pool when I was little..." "I'm 'The Russian', Esther's son..." "The one who had a convenience store next to the empty field, next to an abandoned bus..." "Martin?" "How are you?" "Your face looked familiar..." " I'll come back tomorrow." " Do you want to come in?" "No, no..." "It's fine." "Eh, do I come back tomorrow?" "Okay, come back tomorrow" " Okay, good." "Thank you so much." " You're welcome." "See you tomorrow." "Martin, come here, I bought something to eat." "Where are you staying?" "At my aunt's place." "She lives next to the hospital." "What about your mother?" "No... my mom passed away when I was thirteen." "That was when..." "I went to live with my grandmother in Uruguay." "To Montevideo?" "To Cardozo." "Have you been there?" "I went to Montevideo, not Cardozo." "What is it?" "A town?" "Yes." "A town just in the middle of Uruguay." "And you never came back?" "No." "Well, yes." "I went back to Buenos Aires a couple of times with my grandmother:" "And here, only once when I was eighteen, also with my grandmother:" "So, do you have cousins?" "Eh, no..." "Yes, but they all live in Buenos Aires and..." "And where you will be staying in Buenos Aires?" "No, no..." "I don't know yet." "Excuse me, can I take a bath in the shower in the storage room?" "No, there's no hot water there, but you can bathe in the bathroom in the house." " No, that's okay, no problem." " Come on, I'll give you a towel." " No, it's okay." " Come on." "Martin, I have some clothes here, I don't know if you want to look at them." "They belonged to my dad, maybe something will fit you." "Just saying, so you don't have to work in your own clothes..." "I don't know..." "Try them on..." "Thanks." "You're welcome." "Keep anything you want." " Eugenio..." " Yeah?" "Thank you." "Yes, no problem." "Okay, I'll be going now." "You look like another person." "Hey... come and sit down for a second." "Ok..." "Eat some cookies, you have been working the whole day." "Thanks." "I spoke with my uncle, and I convinced him to have some necessary repairs donr in the house." "So there will be work for the whole summer." "You are staying until the last week of February, right?" " Yeah." "And when exactly do you start in March?" "The first week." "Where?" "In... maintenance at a... school..." "...a religious school." "Listen, whenever you want to take a bath, fell free." "Don't even ask me, okay?" "I'm going by the hospital now, do you want a ride?" "No, I'm going to... the public pool, right next to it is my cousin's house." "I'll take you." "No, it's only seven blocks and it is the other direction." "Come on, I'll give you a ride." "It's so hot." "Even more now that the sun is so intense." "What?" "You'll wet the seat." "No, no problem." " Thank you." " No problem." "See you." " Bye." "See you tomorrow." " See you tomorrow." "Martin." "Don't you want to get in the pool?" "You've been out in the sun the whole day..." "No, that's okay, thanks." "Come on, get in." "Just for a bit, I'll get you a bathing suit." "Come on, please, don't make me beg." "Okay?" " No..." " Leave this here..." "Come with me," "I'll lend you a bathing suit and you'll swim a bit." "Okay... okay..." " We are the same size, don't you think?" " Yes." "Let's see." "Try this one, I think it should fit fine..." "Thanks." " Try it on here." " Here?" " Yes, it's cool." "Excuse me..." "How does it fit?" "Good..." "Pretty good..." "Do you have this one in green?" "I'll take it." "Come on, let's go..." "Leave it..." "We'll tidy things up later:" "two pineapples..." "What?" "Two pineapples..." "Here it is..." "look." "See?" "Here." "Cool." "Hey, why did you come from your aunt's house?" "Because... my grandmother passed away and..." "The one who raised you?" "Right..." "I lived with her ..." "and when she died, my uncle... said to me that I had to leave the room I was staying in ... because there were going to fix the house to sell it." "To do the legal inheritance and then sell it." "And he left you on the street from one day to the next?" "He let me stay for three months." "I stayed until December:" "And I imagine you inherited part of the house?" "The thing is that the house really belonged to a man that was with my grandmother for twenty years but he's not my grandpa, I never met my grandpa." "And well, my uncle, well, I call him 'uncle' but he's really not anything..." " Right..." " Let my grandma stay there but now that she passed away..." "I have nothing to do with the house anymore." "And you came here before going to Buenos Aires?" "Yeah." "What happened?" "What happened, Martin?" "It's nothing..." "I got caught..." "Are you all right?" "Yes, yes, I got caught..." "I got caught in the wire." " Oh, but you cut yourself, dude." " No, it's nothing." " Let's see..." "I cut myself here." " No..." "let me put something on that..." " No, it's nothing." " It could get infected." " No, no, it's fine." "No, look how bad it is, no, come on, come on..." "It's pretty bad, come on." "Right now." " You should get a tetanus shot." " No, no, it's fine." "Yes, yes, now I'll take you to the hospital and then I'll give you a ride to your aunt's." "I'm not..." "I'm not staying at my aunt's." "And where are you staying?" "And this is all you have?" "I have two, three boxes with stuff in a cousin's garage in Luján." " Couldn't you have called him?" " No..." "He has three children." "He barely has room for them." "I didn't want to bother him..." "It's okay... it's okay." " You really have a job in March, right?" " Yeah, they gave me their word, but..." "Yeah" "Why would they say so if not?" "Tomorrow I'll take you to the hospital, so you can check if you need a tetanus shot or something, Mm?" " Martin." " Yeah." "I brought you some books, in case you want to read in your free time." "Great, thanks." "I remember, I remember..." "Tomorrow I'm going to Buenos Aires in the morning, and I'll be back the day after:" "You have some leftovers in the fridge;" "meat and potatoes from the other day..." "Otherwise, you can cook something..." "whatever you want." "Okay." "You will be taking care of the house, mmh?" "I'll get another coke..." "Excuse me, Martin." "Eh, I'm going to wash some clothes, I'll take this." "Sure." "Would you come to my room when you finish?" "Yeah." " Eugenio?" " Here, come in." "You asked me to come?" "Yeah." "Eh, I brought you some clothes, check if some of it fits you from this pile." "I have so much clothing." "And I never use it... try it on." "And try this on too." "Check if it fits because I can still exchange it." "Okay." "This one is empty." "A friend of mine has a store and he gave them to me for free..." "I'll tell him when I see him." " Should I try it on?" " Yes, try it on here!" "That..." "There is no problem, don't be a sissy..." "And what are you writing?" "A book..." "Generally I write for newspapers, articles..." "But now I'm writing a book." "Like a story?" "Yeah... a novel." "And what's the story about?" "It's..." "A father who lives with his children on a kind of large piece of land... and he's the owner:" "And one day..." "The youngest daughter, a six-year-old, starts to ask questions." "The family is like a type of period family where no one talks at the table unless the father gives permission, right?" "And the girl starts to ask questions that really surprise her father..." "One day, for instance, she asks... why does he own all that land?" "The father answers quite naturally that he inherited it." "But the girl starts to get interested in how could it be... that people decide that one day to the next something belongs to them." "It's a... a game between the father's power and this kind of perspective... between innocent and communist, so to speak, of the girl." "And the father doesn't know where it comes from." "It's a sort of tale about the fair and the unfair... but from the innocence point of view, of trying to... understand." "These questions lead the father to see the girl as a germ... of something that could devour him." "The novel is called 'The Germ'." "That's it..." " It's good." " Mhm." "Are you thirsty?" "Thanks." "We stoned a cat to death here..." "That's right." "I didn't remember that I had been with you..." "I remembered just now." "The truth is I remembered that I had done it with some kid, next to a river, under a bridge..." "Every time I see a dead cat I remember that cat lying under the bridge all beat up." "Do you remember when we used to go hunting with my dad?" "I totally remember:" "Your dad told my mom that we were going fishing..." " Yeah... - and she wouldn't worry." "She didn't even imagine that two hours later we would be walking with a gun in our hands." "Well, it wasn't really a gun, it was an air gun." " Really?" " Yeah, it's still here." "If you see it you would laugh." "It's this small." "Of course, you were eight years old and you remember it like a shotgun... but it really wasn't." "No, my dad wasn't that crazy..." "Still, you can shoot your eye out with a pellet." "Should we go for a swim?" " We go there next to the bridge?" " I don't have a swim suit." " Swim naked, I won't look." " No, it's not about that." "C'mon, let's go." "Want to go eat?" "I'll be right out." "What?" " Can I?" " Wait." "It is very old... it is old and the..." "the sight is crooked." "That's why..." "Try." " Be careful." " Yeah." "The sight was crooked right?" "Did you aim to the right or to the left of the can?" "No, I aimed at the can." "Let's see." "There you go." "I'll load it for you because..." "Shall we make a bet to see who can hit the can more?" " Okay." " Yeah?" "What do we bet?" "No, nothing, just to know who is better:" "Okay..." "Mhm..." "Mhm.." "Yeah, yeah..." "Uhuh..." "Yeah... yeah, yeah..." "Eh..." " What?" " Nothing, nothing." " What!" "?" " Nothing." "Come on, what?" "How much older are you than me?" "I don't know, two or three years." "I remember, when we were kids..." "That your dad once... he gave my mom a bunch of your clothes." "And I spent a whole winter wearing a red sweater... that had 'Eugenio' written in black here." "No!" "I forgot about that sweater!" "My grandmother knitted it." "She knitted one for my brother and sister too..." "Mine was the only one that had the full name." "The others said 'Santi' and 'Flor'." "Right..." "I don't remember much about your siblings..." "It makes sense." "I'm a couple of years older than you, and my siblings are even older." "Flor is five years older and Santi seven." "Right." "Amazing, I didn't even remember..." "How awesome was my dad, he was always willing to help people out..." "I miss him, actually." "Did he pass away recently?" "He passed away two years ago." "That's when I inherited this house." "And my uncles bought it from us to help me out." "Because my brother and sister wanted the money, and I didn't want to lose the house." "And my uncle never told me so but..." "I know it was like that." "When he heard that we had to sell the house he decided to buy it himself." " Easy, easy." "Put your arms back." " Here?" "The loser has to give something to the winner:" "You'll have to give me your crucifix." "No..." "I can't." "It is a gift from a girl I really care for:" " A girlfriend?" " No." " Okay, and what will you give me?" " Anything you want..." "Okay, your eye glasses." "Son of a bitch!" "Are you ready?" " Sure..." "What's the finish line?" " At the end." " On the count of three?" " Okay." "One?" "Two..." "No, it didn't count." "It didn't count because I felt my heart speed up a lot." "I stopped because I thought it was going to stop... like tachycardia or arrhythmia." "Feel." "Notice how it beats off time..." "Pumpum, pum, pum." "Like, off time..." "Do you feel it?" "It feels on time..." "Might be, maybe it was just me..." "Ugh, my god..." "Hey Martin." "I found another one..." "Martin..." "Hey..." "Hey..." "Martin..." "Martin..." "Hey, Martin..." "Martin, I found another one..." "Martin, I found another one..." "I'll stay here fora a little bit..." "A little bit here..." " Excuse me, Eugenio." " Yeah." " Do I take the trash out now or.." " I can't right now, Martin." "Why didn't you come with the boys?" "Nicolas had a birthday party, and Andre said he wanted to come..." " 'Uncle Eugenio this and Uncle Eugenio that'..." " So why didn't you bring him then?" "No, I wanted to get away from Buenos Aires by myself, the business is going non stop." "My head is about to explode." "You like him." "What?" "You gave him a job because you like him." "Do you think I'm stupid?" "What are you going to do?" "Are you going to fuck him and then tell him:" "'Hey, sorry, I gave you a job because you turned me on.'" "I couldn't not help him." "You would have done the same thing." "Do you want to be his boyfriend?" "Don't push it... don't push it." "Enough." " Did something happen already?" " No!" "Does he know?" "What should I have told him?" "'I'll give you a job but hey, I'm gay, if you want to work or not'" "And if you fuck him and the summer ends, what are you going to do then?" "You'll take him to Buenos Aires, to a Levi's store..." "You buy him some clothes..." "You take him to Palermo and support him?" "Or you'll send him to work on a construction site..." "And you'll wait for him at six o'clock with a hot tea." "Stop it." "Enough!" "Enough..." "I'll get some ice." "And we'll drink something." "I have to leave at seven." "Okay." "Over here..." " Done?" " Yeah." "Should I... continue?" "Oh, sorry." "Hey, be careful with that stuff..." "What?" " We need to buy chlorine." " Yes, I'll give you some money later:" " Martin." " Yeah." "The poison you bought the other day..." "The one you used on the room next to the grill." "Is there any left or did you use it all?" "No, there is a lot left, cause you have to mix it with water..." " I used only a third of it." " Oh." "Do you mind if I wash my clothes here?" " No, no, no." " Sure?" " Yeah, yeah, yeah... sure." " So that's not a problem?" " I mean, it's no big deal if you mind." " No." "It's... the poison is next to the little room, where the tiles are." "I'll look for it there..." "See?" "..." "So..." " Do you see how they fall?" " Yeah." "You have to do this until they are all gone..." " Because they block they light..." " Right." "You have to do it from side to side and then sweep them up..." "It's full of them." "It's always full of leaves... the thing is that they never fall, so then they start to..." "Stop, stop" " Wait, wait, wait." " What's the problem?" " Nothing, I have a..." " Are you okay?" "Yes, yes, but I have a..." " I can't open it." " Wait, wait..." "let me see." "Stay still." " Open it slowly... slowly." " Slowly." " Blow" " No, no, no... there." " There it is, see?" " Oh look, it's so small." " You're full of leaves." " Yes, it's awful, how many there are." "A lot." "You also have some..." "No, no, no, no..." "No, no." "What?" "Is is because of the drawings?" "Pineapple..."