"You're driving me nuts, you jerk!" "Shut up, let me listen." "A drag, eh, teacher?" "Damn, now I've lost track!" "Computers are the big items now." "English is more important." "Computers rely on English." "First things first." "In the police, what counts now is cybernetics." "If you want to get ahead, concentrate on cybernetics." "A minute ago," "It was computers, now it's cybernetics." "Get it together, jerk." "Tell him, teacher." "Be nice and tell him about it." "About what?" "Computering." "The word doesn't exist in Spanish." "Whaddya mean?" "I'm taking a computering course." "Data processing." "That's the right expression" "You don't know what you're studying!" "Tell him more, teacher, make his trip." "4 times 4?" "What?" "4 times 4." "I don't get it." "answer me, you sonuvabitch!" "4 times 4?" "16." "Louder!" "That's your limit." "That's all he knows, teacher" "Hold it like this and push this button." "Over here." "Hold it." "Don't breathe." "Now!" "That's fine." "thank you!" "bye!" "Something's coming up." "Terrific!" "Rubbing brings it out, the warmth of the hand." "It's really something, eh?" "No wonder.... ...it's the prettiest flag of all." "The second prettiest!" "What?" "The truth. why hide the truth:" "the prettiest flag was the French, ours came next." "It's a good ranking, nothing to be ashamed of." "You're getting senile, old timer." "It was our national anthem came 2nd, after "La Marseillaise"." "Bullshit." "Everybody knows:" "our anthem came 1st, our flag 2nd." "Right, teach?" "I don't know." "You don't know?" "No, I don't." "What kind of teacher are you?" "A math teacher, that's all." "Mathematics!" "Mister," "I've learned respect." "When my buddy tells me," ""You're in serious danger, buddy..." ""ln danger buddy..?"" "I respectfully say yes..." "The hole must be pretty big" "You'll see..." "This would be the ocean..." "You gentlemen must be..." "Who are you?" "I am the official agent here" "Civilian?" "Yes, but..." "Where are the police?" "They were transferred" "I've been entrusted and named as agent for..." "Guess we'll have to give him to these..." "These guys?" "We're in radio contact." "We knew the prisoner was coming." "He's no prisoner, he's an exile." "Sure...the exile." "You know what an exile is?" "Yes" "No" "Partner, this is unprofessional." "Listen to me this is Ramiro Orellana, a teacher." "He was sentenced to internal exile for disturbing public order." "He can't leave this town until he's released." "Got that?" "Yeah, we gotta keep him locked up..." "Not locked up!" "He can wander freely in the town" "Get this straight:" "the teacher is ex-il-ed!" "I understand perfectly." "This is where he has to sign," "Sign?" " That's right.." "But... sign what?" "Jerk!" "He's disgracing the service!" "Listen closely!" "This is the town, OK?" "Here's another, and here' s a third." "Follow me?" "Make the exile sign often enough so he can't get here or here between signatures." "Got that?" "Sure." "Got that?" "Certainly, Chief." "Don't forget the receipt" "The receipt?" "A paper saying you received the exile in perfect condition." "Understand?" "Your journey ends here." "Check him over." "I think he Iikes it." "Touch him, don't be afraid." "Go on, touch him!" "Take him away." "At once!" "Get going, deputy!" "Over there." "Have a nice time, teach." "Be smart, stay out of trouble." "Don't worry, I know my duty...." "Talk less and act more." "You're sunk if he gets away." "Not a chance, I assure you..." "From now on, you will sign in every day at this time." "Don't forget." "If you do, watch out!" "We know all about terrorists." "Many of them around here?" "You weren't exiled here to ask questions." "Where will you live?" "In the church." "I've a note from the archbishop." "The priest isn't here." "He has several parishes." "I've no money for a boarding house." "There isn't one." "We had one till the tidal wave" "So what do I do?" "That's not our problem." "Right?" "I don't know, Chief, because..." "Because what?" "Excuse me..." "I'm not sure, but..." "Maybe we..." "We have to take care of him." "We have no orders on that." "That's just it..." "What's just it?" "Because we have no orders, the authorities may think..." "What do you suggest?" "Nothing, but maybe the back room here..." "The registry?" "Are you crazy?" "Put a terrorist in with the town files?" "You wait outside!" "Come on in, You'll get soaked out there." "Thanks a lot." "Why didn't you come in?" "I just got here and..." "That why you have to get wet?" "No, but..." "You're the exile." "Yes." "I left my magazine." "Be back tomorrow." "Tomorrow, then." "I can lend you an umbrella." "To go where?" "Wherever you're staying." "For the moment, I've nowhere to live." "I've a letter from the archbishop so I can live in the church, but the priest is away." "The local delegates... are debating what to do." "They didn't give you the key?" "What key?" "Come with me." "Take this." "Give him the church key!" "You can't order me around!" "You wait outside." "Go farther away." "Miss Maite, I don't have to give you any key!" "Unless you sign this paper" "I can show to Father Patricio." "Right, sign here!" "This is now your responsibility alone." "If anyone complains..." "Send them to me." "This key will open the sacristy door." "If the rain ever stops, return the umbrella." "Thanks a lot." "Wait, I'll escort you." "Never mind, I'm used to it." "Keep one thing in mind, buddy:" "my life depends on you, air." "Remember that I'm down below." "If and you suddenly stop pumping and my air's cut off," "I'm screwed!" "Ma'am, I haven't had a hot meal for 36 hours." "My name is Ramiro Orellana." "I have no money now, they gave me no time to get any, but I'm expecting some, it'll arrive soon and I can..." "Sure you can have a nip, everyone's got a right to a little nip, but you're drinking yourself to death." "You'll die, and kill me too!" "Thank you" "I'm warning you for the last time this is dangerous" "We've worked together for 20 years and I've never talked to you like this..." "But I have to do it now" "My skin was getting blue" "last time I went down!" "I pulled like mad but you wouldn't pump shit" "You hear what I said?" "Did you?" "I say, did you get it?" "shit, what the hell?" "!" "My assistand is dead!" "he is totally dead.." "What are you waiting for?" "..." "Sotito goes to bed early take him at once or you'll have to wait till morning for the coffin" "I'll pay you as soon as I... thank you..." "Excuse me Sir, are there any candles here?" "you see... here you have some." "I had told him many times... you're killing yourself buddy..." "Now, here he is... dead as hell..." "I'm sorry pal... thank you sir..." "You're going to stay the night?" "I'll stay with my buddy... till the priest comes" "to say mass for him... if you need something, just tell me." "thank you sir..." "Good night..." "Good morning!" "Good morning father!" "I'll see you!" "The delegate told me to walk up... to the raft so he can set a timetable... then he knows when the exile has to sign." "What exile?" "They sent us an exile, which is like a criminal terrorist, but not so serious." "He's in your church, has a note from the archbishop." "The archbishop?" "Anything else?" "A dead man's waiting for you." "What?" "When did you last confess?" "Never mind." "Just remember you're in God's house, and not Caesar's" "I hope not to abuse your hospitality too long." "I don't care about time, or if you're a believer." "While you're here you must obey at least 4 rules." "One:" "keep the place clean." "Two:" "help me prepare mass." "Three:" "attend mass." "Four:" "no women on that bed." "Objections?" "No, Father." "Call me Patricio if "Father" bothers you." "It's fine, Father." "Can you help me?" "Married?" "Children?" "Yes, but..." "I see." "I know people like you." "They don't care." "Married one day, not married the next." "What people?" "Ring the bell." "Can you ring a death toll?" "It's easy." "Pull the rope." "When it tolls, you count:" "1, 2, 3, 4, 5." "Ring it again, and count again, and so on." "Tolling death's easy." "It's the simplest." "You must come and sign right away." "It's not time yet." "That' s changed." "You must sign every 8 hours." "The Chief's orders." "You heard him, Father." "Caesar's orders!" "Don't worry, I'll ring the bell for my buddy." "Alright, go on." "Now let us recite the Lord's Prayer for the soul of our brother..." "What was his name?" "Vera, Father." "Not his family name, his first name." "The truth is, I always called him buddy." "He didn't talk much." "Alright, the Lord will recognize him." "Let us pray." "Hold on!" "Nobody move, it's not over." "Teacher, come up here, please." "Hurry up, I have a lot of work to do today." "This brother is teacher Romilio..." "Ramiro Orellana has been exiled to our town." "He lives in God's house." "He may be a terrorist." "What do you mean?" "Maite, no jokes now." "I'm not a terrorist!" "That's no one's business." "Maybe he's a killer." "That doesn't matter either" "Jesus said:" ""I was in prison, you came to me:" "hence you will enter God's kingdom."" "What counts is that the teacher is a brother in distress and our Christian duty is to be charitable." "Do not be swayed by convenience or mistrust." "and you, teacher, show respect." "For the town and its beliefs." "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." "Off to the cemetery." "The Father and I have a deal:" "I play for the services, and he lets me play what I want afterward." "A tidal wave swept away my piano." "Then you're not religious." "How do we know?" "Come see the tourist attractions in this town." "Religious or not, you're doing your Christian duty, as the priest asked" "Why say that?" "Just say you'll come or you won't." "Forgive me." "I must still still be a bit dazed." "Of course I accept... with gratitude." "Out, you cows!" "Help me!" "This was my room as a kid." "Pretty spot." "Be right back." "This was our house." "My father built it stone by stone." "The wave also took my mother and my son." "Their bodies were never found." "You come every Sunday?" "Why not?" "The cows and the tide have messed up my life." "Let's eat." "The sea's good for me..." "A souvenir?" "I found it." "Keep it, there's no door to knock on with it." "When'd you come here from Spain?" "After the war." "Pablo Neruda put us on the "Winnipeg"." "To save us from the fascists and bring us to this new world." "You must've been a baby." "Not really." "Odd that you've kept your" "Spanish accent." "I had to keep something, no?" "We lost the war in Spain, then I lost a handsome, cowardly man who got me pregnant and ran off." "Then came the tidal wave." "After that, we lost again..." "Take" "What's that?" "Our biggest tourist attraction." "Part of what the tidal wave left behind when it receded." "You're from Santiago?" "Know if the Hotel Las Flores is still standing?" "Near Ahumada Street." "Could be." "That's all I recall of Santiago." "We stopped there on our way from Spain... one night." "Sign your name." "Then print it." "I'm the only exile here, and it 's the same signature" "We need it printed too!" "Help me!" "I'll be leaving again early tomorrow." "People need the Word and food too." "You can eat the food in the sacristy." "It's for you." "thank you" "I want to apologize for this morning." "I spoke too loosely about terrorists." "I know nothing of that." "I don't want to." "So it won't interfere with my charitable duties." "That's OK, don't worry." ""Don't worry?"" "I'm a priest." "I must." "God will judge me." "You feed and house me." "That's more than your duty." "Why were you punished?" "Guess I'm a terrorist." "You haven't forgiven me, eh?" "I signed a protest against the abduction of a colleague." "Thank you" "Get into bed and cover yourself." "This place gets icy." "Father and Mother who rule all people," "Male and Female energies who rule the Universe, the foreign friend is sick, the non-Mapuche friend is sick," "O you, almighty, all-powerful one, we pray to you in the name of cosmic order..." "Let's wait: when he's better, he can sign all at once." "And if the brass shows up first?" "What'll we say?" "That he's sick." "They'll blame us for that." "He was healthy when he got here." "No, keep trying." "It'll never match." "So?" "Can he sign yet?" "Then when:" "You must boil these herbs and give him the brew four times a day." "Me?" "I can't come every day." "I have many patients." "I'm the Chief here." "Not the prisoner's nurse!" "And I'm your deputy." "Let's not forget that." "But if he doesn't take his medicine..." "What?" "He'll die." "I don't like it." "Not one bit." "We got no instructions about books." "So what do we do?" "They're books on mathematics and chess." "If that's all they are..." "He can have them, but you're responsible." "I just gave my opinion." "And the magazines?" "They're different." "They're confiscated." "But we had no clear instructions..." "You didn't say so!" "I'll have to correct myself." "we could keep them under observation." "Correction!" "We're keeping the magazines for now." "That all?" "I think that's all." "Hand over the items." "So that was all..." "Give me that!" "Who's this weirdo?" "None of your business." "You have no right." "You're violating postal laws." "You could read the letter to the exile, and keep it with the magazines." "You're breaking the law!" "I'm doing this on your instructions." ""Ramiro..." ""This is my handwriting and it's from me."" ""I'll explain later."" ""This is what our friends could raise."" ""I hope it's enough."" "Open brackets, "at least for a while"" "Close brackets." ""Everyone's working for you."" ""I'm doing my best, too."" ""But after 7 years away from Chile," ""it's hard to get things moving overnight."" ""l hope you recognize Hernan. "" ""It's a recent photo:" "I took it at his school" ""in Amsterdam."" "Period paragraph." ""Don't despair." "Laura"" "You can have that." "And the photo." "It's my son." "You can see it's a kid." "Could it be evidence?" "It's a kid." "You're responsible." "No more collaborating with the exile!" "Yes sir" "How are you?" "How do you feel?" "Better." "Good." "Could I talk to the lady, if you don't mind?" "No problem." "Just a second." "Come in." "Here he is." "I wanted to thank you for your care." "You're not healed yet." "At least I feel much better." "I hadn't seen this." "It's a burn." "Let's have a look." "It's nasty." "That's better." "When you change the bandage... put one of these leaves under it." "Thanks." "I have some money now." "I'd like to repay you..." "Leave it there." "Whatever you can afford." "Going back to town?" "Mind if we go back together?" "Of course not." "Thanks for you help, ma'am." "I may bother you again some day." "Take care." "Nice day." "Sure is." "I'm going to Miss Maite's library." "So am I." "Don Ignacio' s books were all he had after the tidal wave." "He dried them all to make a library." "But the locals don't appreciate that, they don't read." "You speak English?" "No." "And you?" "Me neither." "A pity." "Why?" "I found something important in a magazine at the library." "But it's in English." "So how do you know it's important?" "It's obvious." "You knew we had a tidal wave?" "I was a kid then." "But I remember the tidal wave." "First, the water flooded the town very slowly." "Then the earth shook and there was a thick fog." "That night, a huge wave engulfed the whole town, then the water drained away as if you'd pulled the plug in a bathtub, sweeping away everything in its path." "Where did all that water go?" ""From a void comes nothingness" as Father Patricio says." "There must be a hole." "Sure." "Or two seas connected by a hole." "I wouldn't know." "I'll explain." "If the ocean bed is like a blocked lavatory, where does the excess water come from?" "Rainfall isn't enough for a tidal wave." "There's the tides, continental shift..." "I looked into that, too." "There was a tidal wave here and in Japan at the same time." "I know where Japan is from the map." "If it was the tides, the volume of water would be the same." "If the level rose there, it would drop here." "But it rose there and here." "Can't be the same volume!" "There's no other possibility:" "beneath the sea bed, there's another sea and a hole connecting them." "As the sea bed is pure heat, the water underneath heats." "When it's hot, it rises through the hole and forms a tidal wave." "When the water above cools down, it disappears down the hole." "That hole must be near this town." "But try telling that to the locals." "The only one who helped me search was my dead partner." "Tell me, do terrorists drink a lot?" "I'm no terrorist." "That doesn't matter." "What matters is the other part." "I'm not a terrorist, nor do I drink much." "Sorry, friend, I meant no offense." "I'd like you to become my assistant." "What?" "First, I had to find out if you were a drunk." "Not like my other assistant, it was dangerous." "You really mean it?" "Sure." "What's so funny?" "The drawback is I can't pay you" "But a square meal every day isn't bad." "And if we find any valuables, we're partners." "60% for me, as owner of the boat, 40% for you." "Well?" "What do you say?" "This library was never so crowded!" "Excuse me, Miss Maite." "Go ahead." "I wanted to thank you for your help when I was sick." "You seem much better." "What'll you do now?" "I don't know... wait..." "Wait for what?" "For the time to pass, I guess." "The time will pass anyway." "Leaving." "Dad?" "I'm translating it." "That's why I hoped you knew English." "There's important stuff." "But hard to translate." ""Chile, between the Andes and the ocean..."" ""An ancient Mapuche legend of southern Chile: one day" ""Ten Ten villu raised the mantle of the seas..."" "Goodbye all." "Where's he going?" "To Spain!" "I'll be off." "Once again, thanks for everything." "Well, are you going to accept my offer?" "Thanks, but I can't accept." "Why not?" "I'd be no good at that kind of work." "It's easy." "All you have to do is pump down air." "Just keep pumping, that's all I need." "You said the sea was good for you." "But this isn't..." "Why, you'll be out in the fresh air?" "Unless you're afraid of the water..." "In that case, I won't insist." "If water scares you..." "I never said it did!" "So?" "Partners?" "I'll pick you up in the morning." "You have to stay up so late just to make me sign?" "The Chief is abusing you." "Sign and get going." "I print, too?" "Sign, print, and leave!" "Have a nice night!" "He heard you, girl!" "Well do a surface test." "Don't worry, just keep pumping." "One, two..." "No!" "What are you doing?" "I'm not ready!" "Don't go down yet!" "How could you do it to me?" "That was dangerous!" "I'm not going on." "I quit!" "You can't do this to me!" "So why are you pumping?" "You were great." "I felt like I was in the open air." "very good." "You should've warned me!" "I trusted you, I knew you wouldn't let me down." "Now let's get some shellfish." "What, another dive?" "No, we'll catch them in the surf." "Is Miss Maite in?" "She's busy." "Please give her these." "Tell her I caught them myself." "You're the exile?" "What are you waiting for?" "The Durango campaign." "It's still damp." "It always is." "This damn town is so damp that nothing ever dries." "So you gave the fascists a bad time?" "I didn't give them a thing." "You did something to get exiled!" "Nothing much." "I signed a petition about the abduction of a colleague." "That's enough." "Franco would've shot you!" "Nowadays, even fascists can't do their job!" "Sorry you're disappointed" "Sure." "If things were as they should be, you'd be dead." "There's been no shortage of corpses lately." "I'm alive because I'm harmless." "They convinced you of that to cut off your balls!" "It's a trick." "You are dangerous!" "No." "A math teacher can't be dangerous." "Put some logs in the stove." "What are you up to with Maite?" "What?" "What are you up to with my daughter?" "I'm up to nothing with her." "What a pity." "I thought you were in Spain?" "I came back!" "I mourn the dead there..." "and on this frontier." "Those of the tidal wave?" "We said:" ""The Fascists won't get through!"" "But they did!" "And so did the sea!" "Over our heads, godammit!" "Well..." "See you...." "Wait!" "Don't leave yet." "Your father said you were busy." "Those were nice shellfish." "I caught them." "You were right:" "the fresh air is good for me." "Of course." "But if you're out late at night in the rain with no umbrella, you'll get sick again." "Why do you say that?" "You peeped at me." "I wasn't peeping..."