"THE WHORE AND THE WHALE" "Dear Lola, I'm in Poble Novo, in a barricade." "The Nationalists pushed us against the sea." "They are crossing the river while I'm writing to you." "I could run away but the war brought me to the place where you were born, as if you were waiting for me." "I liked your letter." "I never receive love letters." "I didn 't write it." "He did." "Never mind." "You sent it." "How did you know I was in Bercelona?" "Everybody told me but you." "You 're at your father's, with a son but no husband." "I hate it when you look at him like that." "Who was he?" "An Argentinian who died in Barcelona." "His photos are good but these ones are a mystery." "Look." "A collector had them." "The letter was in his notebook." "You tore out the letter's pages?" "No, they had come loose." "But he never sent it." "Look." "Have a good look." "What?" "She looks like you when you were her age." "You gave me the slip until the tour was over and you were going back to Spain." "The party was crowded." "I kept giving away showgirls, but I had set you aside for me." "No other girl got undressed like you." "As if it soothed you, as if nobody could hurt you." "Lola." "Nothing scared you in this life." "Neither in this one," "nor in the other one." "I almost fell." "You scared the hell out of me." "What will you do?" "Kill myself." "To show them." "Show them your naked body?" "Ifphotos steal one's soul, I stole yours that night." "Your memory remains motionless." "Hanging like a fallen angel." "The one from the letter?" "She looks like a showgirl." "There's a Dolores in the program." "Who cares?" "She's a character." "You 're going to Argentina." "Do some research on those times." "Still." "Once, at convent school, I got undressed in the confessional." "That day I finished primary school." "How old were you?" "14." "I got undressed and sang the Segadors." "Did you hear the director's speech?" "He made a toast to the old Spain 's comeback." "The Spain that's getting rid of the reds." "I was taking pictures." "You reacted as if he had insulted you mother." "My father." "Know why the nuns kicked me out?" "Because he burnt down a church and was killed." "They are my family." "Nobody else cares whether I stay or not." "I care." "Are you going to Patagonia?" "You had not packed." "You wouldn 't go back to Spain but you dared not stay alone." "And you could tell stories." "Do you really care?" "The truth is that you saved my Iife." "You can do with me whatever you want." "Don 't sell your soul to the devil." "Who's talking about souls?" "You had things your way." "Without worrying about the price." "Staying or leaving, that's never for free." "Knowing what you want is not for free." "When are you leaving?" "On Sunday." "I have a job." "Writing nonsense for a women 's magazine." "The letter wasn 't an excuse for me to see you." "You must publish." "When you were 20, you had a novel published." "That was when you picked up the notes I threw away." "When I mention this book, my father leaves the room." "He never read it but hates it when his patients praise it." "Messed up my Iife." "You father." "The book." "Want me to write another one?" "I wrote a whole chapter about this photo." "And didn 't write it all." "It's been a Iong time." "Does it show?" "What's wrong, Vera?" "I have something here." "Touch me." "I'm going to my gynecologist's." "Won't you ask me to stay?" "But your gynecologist..." "Jordi!" "Fancy that!" "You left me for Antonio." "You don't get it." "That's why women last you just 3 fucks." "We were a year together." "Barely 11 months." "The happiest of my Iife, during which I never felt alone." "Catalan is my mother's voice, her words." "When I lie in my old bed I still hear her tales." "Do you lie in other beds?" "Nobody asked me to." "Hi, Toni." "Sorry I interrupt your meeting." "We are in Madrid." "What are we gonna do with Juanito?" "Where are you?" "América Avenue." "This is such a jam!" "Everybody's coming back." "I won 't stay at home, Antonio." "I wanted to tell you that." "Whatever he told you, I spent a month thinking about this." "It'II be better if I don 't stay at home." "If Maribel's in, I'II leave him with her." "I Iove you too." "Know who's waiting for you in the bathtub?" "Pikachu." "Shall we give him a bath while Maribel cooks dinner?" "And then mom will..." "Remember mom is not sleeping at home?" "Why?" "Just because." "You know." "Sometimes you don't know why you do certain things." "And you scold me." "I need to be alone, to realize what I want." "What do you want?" "I don 't know." "I don 't want to mistake it for what dad wants." "Or for what grandpa wants." "It happened my whole life." "And now it almost happened with your dad." "The train looked like a ghost ship, adrift." "You gave up, patiently." "But I, who always want what I don 't have, counted the minutes," "like a con." "Shall we make the wishes?" "What wishes?" "It's New Year's Eve." "You eat a grape with every chime and make your wishes." "Who do you miss today?" "Nobody." "Not even your family?" "I miss my uncle a Iot." "If my father knew him, he'd jail him." "He chases anarchists." "Can you make 12 wishes?" "I wish whatever I want." "It's midnight!" "You scared me." "Only now I dare confess it." "Now that you are dead." "Your body, so full of life, scared me." "There are no grapes but there is wine and that's the same." "And though it's hard to admit," "life parted us more than death." "I wish I always fell in love like this." "With me." "With whoever, whoever I want." "With me." "Let you die for me." "Let all my wishes come true." "That doesn 't count." "It must be one at a time." "Emilio." "If you don 't cheat, you 'II see that wish come true." "Yes?" "Jordi..." "I was dreaming." "You saved my Iife." "A hotel." "Last night I took Juanito home and called you." "I haven 't felt so lonely since my mother died." "I began writing on her machine." "Listen." "A blank page." "Nothing comes out, the tape is dry." "About that woman in the photos." "The one from that photographer's letter, the one you hate." "I was dreaming of him." "He took photos of me naked." "That's right." "Shall we meet?" "Excuse me, just a sec." "Is that Argentina thing still on?" "I'm gonna quit the magazine." "I won't think." "I wanna leave." "I don't want to feel like shit near my son who's feeling like shit." "Last night, I cried more than him." "And if I think about it, I'II admit Antonio's right." "I'd be back home in 3 days." "I need to go." "As soon as possible." "Nothing." "See my gynecologist and have some tests." "3 or 4 days." "Send me the ticket and the photos." "Thank you." "I'II do a good job." "You 'II see." "Valdés Peninsula, Patagonia, January 9, 1934" "We wanted to go to the end ofthe world." "I didn 't know the way." "When the gringo landed in Bah a Blanca we were about to take a ship." "He confirmed my first job." "It wasn 't a lot of money but it allowed us to go south." "The gringo Orestes was a hawker." "He had a plane instead of a cart." "You acted as if you had spent your life delivering things." "The town appeared out of the blue." "That stop looked like it'd be a quiet stay," "an easy job, lodging and food." "I had to take photos for the covers of a musician 's scores." "Nobody knew his first name." "Even his son called him Suárez." "By his surmane." "Gringo!" "Did you bring the records?" "I brought everything, the photographer and the contest's rules." "Santamarina, Suárez." "Pedro the Kid." "Bandoneón player." "Future composer." "Emilio, right?" "The gringo told me about you." "The scores." "Did you come alone?" "Dolores Puig, a friend of Emilio's." "Your hands are cold." "Welcome to Patagonia." "The contest's ones are like these." "But with your photos." "How much are you gonna pay me?" "You tell me." "Who's gonna see them?" "You 'II just describe them to me." "How was your trip?" "I'd never travel in a thing like that." "I Ioved it." "I must've been a bird in another life." "Sure, women are braver than men." "We are good at wooing or doing art, taking photos, composing tangos." "Or driving a plane, if you dare." "But when you really need a man, you must call a woman." "Suárezreminded me ofmy father." "He liked to sound off." "He hated Buenos Aires but wanted its people to dance his tangos." "He wanted to illustrate his scores with women." "That's why I noticed Matilde." "When you climbed up the stairs after her I had a feeling." "I shut up not to be a Jeremiah." "For you, those two weeks were part of the adventure." "And the whales?" "They come in winter." "June, July." "Get out!" "Out!" "You can 't sleep here!" "Everything's the other way around here." "Even the moon." "I'm ashamed of this room." "Why ashamed?" "I'm Dolores." "They call me Lola." "Matilde." "Emilio told me that this place, apart from being a hotel, is also..." "Nobody's gonna bother you." "Don't be afraid." "I'm not afraid." "I'm curious." "In Buenos Aires I wouldn't go." "You let women in here?" "What am I?" "I sleep with a pen in my hand and feel you behind me, peeping at this letter, like you used to do in the darkroom." "Only the ghosts that appeared in the photos remain." "Nameless faces that someone will find in the suitcase" "of a dead photographer." "Don 't touch it." "It'II bother you for a while." "Anesthesia made you dream a Iot." "You talked all night." "About what?" "Some photos." "I'm preparing a book about photos" "of the '30s." "How nice." "You must go to a milonga." "I've already gone." "A guy asked me to dance but I wouldn 't." "I'm so clumsy." "Liar." "Are you gonna say you can 't dance the tango?" "Don 't listen to her." "What does she have?" "A Iot of years." "What else?" "But my memory is good." "Aren 't you Catalan?" "Don 't men court you?" "That's a good one for your book." "That expression is so old." "What did she mean?" "That men make passes on you." "Yes, my God!" "The way they stare at you!" "As if we went around naked." "When you get out, you 'II hear many nasty things." "As if I had both tits." "Well..." "You knew what you had?" "I had some tests." "I didn 't think it'd be so fast." "Doctor... what's his name?" "Doctor Zimmerman." "He told me to have the operation in Madrid." "You didn 't listen to him." "No." "If I were you, I'd go home." "What home?" "Don't you have anybody in Spain?" "I have a son." "I have a husband and a father who's a doctor." "But I'd be as lonely as I am here." "I have nobody here, that's clearer." "Somebody called you from Barcelona." "Jordi?" "Yes." "He's calling back." "Wants to give you a surprise." "He sounded so sweet." "Why did he call here?" "You gave us his name." "Just in case." "I won 't leave without paying." "You are in I.C." "You had an arrhythmia." "If Zimmerman has something to say, Iet him say it to me." "You must get out of here." "Vera needs to rest, grandma." "She is not Vera." "Her name's Dolores." "You always managed not to be alone." "There you were." "Learning the family rules." "Matilde was dancing unaware of you watching her." "But that night I knew that far away from everything you began to know who you were." "How's the Galician doing?" "Catalan." "In Argentina, you 're all Galician." "Come in, don 't be afraid." "How did you know it was me?" "I saw you." "Your heart's beating faster." "Not to mention what I'm smelling." "You 're a kid." "How old are you?" "Want to tell me how you are?" "No, I don 't." "We brought that?" "I'm the one who asks." "Wanna try?" "No." "I'm sorry." "I'd rather not." "If you play with fire..." "You 're not blind." "I can see some things." "Lights." "And shadows." "Lights and shadows." "Were you born like this?" "I saw everything I had to see." "You haven 't seen me." "Come here." "Here." "The gringo told me about you." "But he didn 't do you justice." "I heard you 're a dancer." "Showgirl." "Rather than dance, I show my ass." "And I dance the sardana." "Would you have a go at the tango?" "You just walk smoothly like a queen and tighten your pussy." "Look who's here, grandma." "Hi." "It isn't allowed, but thanks." "How are you?" "Getting by." "They keep me alive to get money out of you." "Really?" "Let them unplug you." "Sure." "I can die for free anywhere." "Would you unplug the old lady?" "Stop kidding." "We'II get fired." "I brought the scores." "What do you want them for?" "To show them I was young once." "Is this you?" "But..." "Aren't you ashamed?" "Ashamed of what?" "Not here." "But here, we are virgin all our life." "Even Lola." "Eventhough she loved to play the whore." "Keep your hands to yourself." "What are they?" "Money." "$2 a fuck, $4 the whole night." "In less than two weeks you looked like one of them." "You went from table to table, just for fun, confusing the customers." "Do you take photos of her?" "Naked?" "With her showgirl costume." "Like the one on the train." "I'II show it to you." "But one like this," "never." "No?" "No." "No way." "It would be too expensive." "How much?" "AII those counters." "The bandoneón was sacred." "You didn 't ask permission." "You had to live touching life." "Drop it and I'II beat the shit out of you." "Get out." "Is it too hard?" "A whole life won 't be enough." "Aren 't you angry about Emilio sleeping with us?" "Not at all." "Sometimes I eat at home, sometimes I eat out." "Out of here!" "You are like flies." "I stole it from the theater." "If you Iike it, it's yours." "Stay still." "Just like that." "Both of you." "You never touched the books." "But you repeated the poems learnt in bed." "You wanted to teach Matilde, who was a pro." "It's odd." "A whore who doesn 't believe in free love." "Emilio wouldn 't believe either, if you were the one who fucked." "We do whatever we want." "You know?" "This is torn just once and you are a virgin for life." "You could only fool the kid." "He kept staring at you." "At me too, but he looked at me as if everything was my fault." "Still a virgin?" "Which one do you Iike?" "Sometimes I think of him." "I imagine him touching your photos and his memories." "The few ones we left." "What are you doing?" "If you need something, you tell me." "Want them?" "Go to bed and I'II bring them for you." "Come on." "I have to call Jordi." "You can 't." "The Spanish guy?" "You can't make a Iong-distance call from here." "Tomorrow we'II move you." "You can call from the hallway." "Vera, come." "Vera." "Give me coins." "You need a card to call Spain." "Give me a card." "I don 't have one." "Have a card?" "No." "You 're getting me into a mess." "Don 't you realize...?" "What?" "That I have cancer, that I'm gonna be scrapped?" "I do realize it." "Listen." "No, you listen!" "With the rest of my Iife I am going to do whatever the fuck I want!" "Want to help me?" "Find me a card." "I have one." "Are you two related?" "She's like a grandmother to me." "She mistakes me for a Catalan, Iike me." "Jordi?" "It's Vera." "Okay, I swear I'm okay." "That's not why I'm calling." "Because of the book." "I think I found something." "I'm not crazy." "They removed my tit, not my brain." "Telling my sister is like telling my father." "Let Antonio think I came to dance tango or fuck." "But don't tell him." "That's better." "Shut up and listen." "Do you remember seeing a photo of her with a bandoneón?" "The one who looks like me." "Naked, with a bandoneón." "A bandoneón!" "A musical instrument!" "Come here." "The bandoneón, Suárez." "Sit down." "Now listen." "You play it like this..." "Wait." "It grumbles." "But if you spread your legs, slowly," "it sighs." "For you." "And if you do like this and touch it here, it gives up." "Suárez." "You're interfering, move over." "Listen." "Move over, Suárez, please." "It's like a woman." "You have to find the right button." "Look at me." "Don 't you Iike it when I Iook at Suárez?" "Or Matilde?" "Look at me." "I can 't see you." "It's as if you were spying on me." "Look at me." "I can 't see you." "It wasn 't you anymore." "You were my invention, or Suárez', who said that that was the best photo, eventhough he hadn 't seen any." "He's going to baptize her." "I've searched this for so long." "A B flat, kid, a B flat." "Yes." "I'm gonna dedicate this tango to you." "It's yours." "It'II be yours forever." "When are you leaving?" "Tomorrow morning." "I'II pay the gringo after you print the photos." "You shouldn't charge for them." "You made a good deal." "Are you sure of what you 're doing?" "Maybe you're in love." "With her?" "She's not the kind of girl to fall in love with." "I won't stand her sleeping with other guys." "And what do you think being in love is?" "I don't know." "It never happened to me but..." "I do think she's the kind of girl to fall in love with." "Don't you even think about it." "What is it, to be in love?" "A mistake." "A tall story." "Pure crap." "It's healing well." "On Monday I'II remove the stitches." "Enough." "I'm gonna cover it with a waterproof dressing." "If you keep it dry you can take a shower." "May I Iook at it first?" "Of course." "I'II see you next Monday, at 4 p.m. Okay?" "You can fly to Madrid that same night." "Okay." "And as soon as I get there, I start chemotherapy." "For now, you 'II take your antibiotics, one analgesic every six hours..." "I'm sorry." "If you are in great pain, you have this injected." "It'II make you dizzy." "Are you by yourself?" "Completely." "What will you do this weekend?" "Stay at the hotel, I guess." "Why?" "Are you asking me out?" "Will I need chemotherapy or not?" "Probably." "Tomorrow I'II have the result of the biopsy." "You 're very young." "Like my mother." "My father put her through chemotherapy and she died." "You start your way up from down here." "As high as you can." "Little by little." "You 're gonna be okay." "I can tell, when I see them coming from the operating room." "They wake up and you say: "What have they seen, where have they been?" They look like astronauts." "An astronaut never looked at me but, I don 't know, those things belong to another jurisdiction." "Don't tell Zimmerman but there are things that doctors can 't explain." "Some medical histories" "look like criminal records but they make it." "And if we talk as if you were not here, you must stop us: "I'm still here"." "It's up to you." "Only you can wriggle you out of this." "Did the whales arrive?" "For some time now." "Did you swim with them?" "Tell me." "A kid wanted to know where whales go when they leave." "In winter he watched them from the shore." "In summer, he kept on asking." "Wait for me!" "But people only talk about the sea surface." "They said: "Be careful, stay close to the coast"." "Not a word about the whales." "So one day he stopped asking and went swimming with them." "Go on." "Down there you see everything the other way around." "The surface is a bright crystal and whales fly." "From the coast you see the sea the other way around." "From the bottom you see it the way it is." "He was a Iittle scared." "Why?" "What happened?" "Nothing, they got too close." "Whales are shy but curious." "They Iookd at him with a huge eye, to know how he was." ""I am the mystery", the kid thought." "And then he realized that everything is relative." "That we can't understand much." "So he stopped wondering where whales go" "and just waited for them." "And where do they go?" "I don't know." "Something tells them where to go." "And they trust." "An appeal, the species' call, water vibrations." "Something leads them to destination." "They come and go, eventhough we can 't get to know where they've been." "It's not a fish." "It's warm-blooded and was harpooned." "Come here!" "How is it?" "And when they are about to die, they go to the shore." "No, darling." "They die out on the open sea." "They beach every now and then.?" "But we don 't know why." "Because they are tired." "I'm tired too." "Take me there, would you?" "Throw me into the water." "Your dad will tell you where." "And remember to go fetch the money." "The painting is on the bed." "Give it to her." "Tell her to come." "Come, Catalan." "Don 't be afraid, you 're not gonna die." "Take care of that painting." "I took care of it for you" "my whole life." "Get out, please." "Both of you, get out!" "Heart failure!" "Come on, grandma!" "I don 't know why I went to that beach." "Like a circus, to watch a nature's accident." "I named the photo I left to Matilde" ""the call of the species"." "Not only after the tale she told but also after you." "Come here, Emilio." "Give me your hand." "Let go, Iet go." "Come to the water." "Are you afraid your money will get wet?" "You 've been paid." "For the photos." "The photos?" "Yes." "And what was Orestes paid for?" "I don 't know." "For bringing us here." "And me?" "What do I get for posing naked?" "I don 't know, Lola." "Talk to Suárez." "I don 't owe you anything." "You do!" "You owe me a trip to the end of the world!" "Remember, son of a bitch?" "You 're free to come and go, to sleep with whoever you want." "And I don 't even own my own body!" "Hi, honey." "We spent a beautiful Sunday," "didn 't we, Juanito?" "Yes." "And he learnt something." "Show her." "He can whistle." "He's been practicing, in case you called." "When are you coming home?" "It's Antonio." "I've been calling all week long." "Where are you?" "Hi, mom." "Welcome to your computer." "It's Jordi." "Antonio called me, he's pissed off 'cause he can 't find you." "I had to tell him." "Hi, mom." "Welcome to your comp..." "I'm calling about Matilde's painting." "I'll stop by at the home." "She's gonna be cremated tomorrow at 9." "We could meet at the cemetery." "Hi." "Hi." "In Spain it's two." "I spent the whole night with the paperwork." "Even dying is complicated here." "May I help you?" "Want them?" "Would you give them to me?" "There's no room here." "That Catalan you were curious about." "Matilde loved her a Iot." "My grandpa dedicated his best tango to her." "He was a musician." "But he lived on women." "And this one, the Catalan, was called Dolores." "Why can't I go in the plane?" "I'm lighter than a letter." "I want to go alone." "How many days are you staying in Trelew?" "I don 't know." "I have to make the copies, talk to the printer..." "What if you don 't come back?" "How do I go to Buenos Aires?" "You are not free." "You 're a coward." "Gentlemen!" "Silence." "I want to make a toast." "To our friend the photographer, who's moving on." "Cheers." "Cheers." "Cheers, mate." "He might find wonderful things, but none as the one he's leaving us." "The legend intrigues me." "What legend?" "Something after what the tango was named." "The light bulb." "It's ready." "What's ready?" "It's already warm." "Now, play for me." "She danced it the first time my grandpa played it in public." "With a light bulb between her legs." "Here, 500." "The rest, as always." "Okay." "When I was in college I lived in Matilde's apartment." "I slept on a sofa watching the painting." "When I asked about it her mind started wandering." "She talked to herself." "Poor dear!" "Where is this?" "In Patagonia." "You came here to study?" "Biology." "Three years." "Then I had to leave." "I Mexico I was a tourist guide." "And you swim with the whales?" "I only watch them." "I wouldn 't like it." "What?" "That you just watched me." "I mean, if I were a whale." "What are you gonna do with all this?" "I must empty the room." "I must go or I'II miss the plane." "Besides, I can't stand collecting memories." "Really?" "Not to mention goodbyes." "Careful." "Won 't you ask me what they did to me?" "No." "They removed me a tumor like a nut." "The left breast." "And who knows how many ganglia." "I still have the stitches." "They look like barbwire." "I wanted you to know." "I knew." "I could show you my heart." "Really." "You can see it through the ribs." "The beats." "A souvenir." "Take whatever you want, but let's go." "Whatever I want?" "Then go." "Don 't miss your plane." "I'II take care." "I missed it already." "Not if you hurry up." "The season began." "They have already a waiting list." "Are you serious?" "I'd Iike to stay for a while, by myself." "Really." "I'm gonna give you something mine too." "I wrote it." "Really?" "Isn 't it you?" "Sure, when you were a kid." "So you also posed naked like..." "You look alike." "Matilde wasn 't so wrong." "Go." "So you were a writer?" "When I did whatever I wanted." "Like what?" "Whatever I wanted." "Like what?" "Like fucking with a stranger." "Who is it?" "It's me, Suárez." "I have Orondo's counter." "Here." "The plane overflew the buoy." "The tide was in and the whale wasn 't there." "The feeling of relief stayed with me during the whole trip." "As if everything had fallen into place." "For unknown reasons, this morning a whale beached on the Patagonian coast." "This specimen is known as franca whale, and it is more than 15 meters long." "It is a female and we are working with wolunteers to keep her alive." "If the tide comes in, she could be able to free herself." "We want to thank our colleagues from..." "Valdés Peninsula, Patagonia, September 20, 2003" "What are you doing here?" "I called the Institute." "They said you were with the whale." "That you 'd come here." "I heard it ran aground again and..." "Again?" "Yes, a whale at the same place." "What was that?" "Whales." "Mating." "This place is perfect for that." ""The Seal", Vera." "Hi, Seal." "Hi, Vera." "Besides, I guess I came to see you again." "But don 't blame me." "Somedody called me." "Me." "You think it's crazy." "But as the kid in your tale says, we can 't understand much." "The same happened with Matilde." "I felt somebody calling me and went to say goodbye." "I thought I was the one leaving." "Do you have a room?" "How's the whale?" "alive." "By the cliff." "Didn 't the one with the harpoon beach there?" "Somewhere near there." "Where was it plunged?" "In the back of her eye." "Sorry, I have no rooms left." "She can take mine." "I'II sleep on the boat." "No, you don 't have to." "It's okay." "The whale with the harpoon, when did she beach?" "In 1934." "A long time ago." "Could it be the same?" "The poor thing would be very old." "THE LIGHT BULB" "What do I do with this?" "He sent it to you." "Just this?" "He sent Suárez the scores." "He told me to give you one, as a souvenir." "You can 't work like that." "Are you taking anything?" "Next time I'II bring you some medicine." "Where did Emilio go?" "South." "He's taking a boat to Tierra del Fuego." "Suárez owes me money." "It's yours if you take me out of here." "I'II hide in the plane." "Nobody will know." "I couldn't come back." "I come here to work." "Take care of that cold." "Orestes used to talk to himself." "He said that in the air you could hear forgotten words." "That if you repeat them, things happen again." "In case that's true, I am writing what I never told you." "Th ey were n ot goin g to sort th ese." "Look." "Th e same callu ses." "Your hunch wasn 't so absurd." "Scientists don 't believe in that." "On the contrary, that's what we do." "Last night I stopped by but couldn 't find you." "Do you always write at night?" "I haven 't written for ages." "You got inspired." "It's this place." "They say that it's a matter of starting over." "Problem is that if you don 't get it out, it rottens inside." "Each one was worth a Iot." "They made combs, nitroglycerine," "oils..." "How long is she going to last?" "At the most, one more tide." "There's nothing we can do." "Keep her wet, frighten away the seagulls that hurt her..." "Only she can wriggle herself out of this." "See?" "Have you heard?" "And if she is the same?" "I don't know." "She'd have scientific value." "You won." "She has a scar at the back of her eye." "See?" "Have you heard?" "How did you get into this mess?" "What did you come for?" "I started reading your book." "Really?" "I liked it." "I Iike the girl's freedom." "Do you?" "Would you have liked to meet her?" "You forgot a letter." "Did you read it?" "No way." "How could I?" "I read it many times." "And instead of texts for photos," "I started a novel." "I put myself in Lola's place." "Nothing scared her." "How do you know?" "I know." "I imagine she is just like I used to be." "And you haven 't written until now?" "That's right." "I wrote the novel and got married." "I had a son." "Do you have kids?" "Yes." "A girl, she lives in Mexico with her mother." "Can you stand being apart from her?" "No." "Then you know how it hurts." "Are you writing about whales?" "Matilde never mentioned a photographer?" "Emilio." "The one of the scores." "I have his photos." "And the letter." "He wrote it to Lola before he died." "In January, 1939." "Never sent it?" "He was killed." "But Lola was already dead." "That's what I'm investigating." "What do you know about her?" "What my grandpa told me." "Se went back to Spain and became a big success." "No." "If Lola worked for him, he must've seen something." "My grandfather was blind." "You wrote about that photos?" "You had them already?" "They are a publisher's." "They pay me to write a book's texts." "Why didn 't you tell me?" "I don 't know." "I'm sorry." "When I was about to go back to Madrid, empty-handed," "I met Matilde at the hospital." "It was chance, fate..." "I took you to the home." "You kept Matilde's stuff." "Is that chance?" "You were going to throw them away." "Hi." "What are you doing here?" "Just passing by." "You can complain to the publisher." "Jordi Ferré." "He's in charge." "I forgot your name." "Ernesto Suárez." "The grandson of Lola's pimp." "Who?" "Lola." "The one in the letter." "Hi, Ernesto." "How did you find me?" "Where do I start?" "When you told on me to Antonio." "I called Dr. Zimmerman, flew to Madrid, then to Buenos Aires, went to the hospital and you were gone." "I flew to Puerto Madryn, scoured every hotel, checked in in one and took a taxi to this place." "How is it called?" "Puerto Pirámide." "And here I am." "100 km by cab." "I deserve to be in the Guiness." "You went to see my doctor." "That's astounding." "You 're unable to take care of anything." "It was easy." "I just asked to myself what would Antonio do in my place." "Let them look after you." "You can 't handle this on your own." "I caught cancer all by myself." "Antonio has the tests, your father spoke to Zimmerman but" "I have the result of the biopsy." "Give it to me." "Shall we go for a drink?" "Shit, I can only think of getting drunk with you." "Give me one." "No." "I'm no a health supporter kind of guy, but don't ask me that." "It's not the only thing I'II ask from you." "D'you know when I quit smoking?" "No." "The last time I slept with you." "And that was..." "Years ago." "How many?" "I don't know." "What are you doing?" "Vera, I have Iongsightedness." "The doctor allowed you?" "I've done it already." "I'm never the first." "Nothing like fucking when you 're tired." "I remember how you are." "Shut up." "And this place really suits you." "You look like a pro," "fucking with your clothes on." "Would you shut up?" "We've made it in weird places." "But never in a brothel." "What?" "The taxi driver told me." "There used to be whores here." "Maybe, on this bed..." "What did I say?" "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "PEDRO THE KID and his quartet" "I've heard about that harpoon since I was a kid." "What did they say?" "That they removed it from the whale and gave it to my grandpa." "That's why she made it." "You'd say by chance, right?" "Know what, Galician?" "I don't believe in anything." "But I'd Iike to." "I'd Iike to believe in God, be a revolutionary..." "But the few things I believed in, vanished away." "And now you come and say that it is the same whale, and it is the same." "I was so afraid of that harpoon." "What will you have?" "Whisky." "Straight." "What were you looking for at the home?" "Worthless money." "Some old bills Matilde had." "Could they be these?" "Where did you find them?" "Matilde asked me to throw them too," "but I don't know what they are." "Do you know what?" "I think they are Lola's price." "What do you know about it?" "Emilio mentions the money in a letter." "He says he gave it to Matilde." "And, apparently, it is true." "You know who I mean." "Look, I was a kid." "I barely remember." "Do you remember the money?" "Lola!" "Lola!" "Thank you for being with Matilde till the end." "She was fond of you." "Yes, it's true." "Let me introduce myself." "I am Pedro the Kid, bandoneón player, future composer." "Lola!" "Nice to see you." "Finally remembered your friends?" "I have to talk to you." "Yes, I'm coming." "What's up?" "I came for Lola." "And what will you do?" "I'm not gonna give her to you for free." "Touch her again and I'II kill you." "Who are you gonna kill?" "Son of a bitch!" "Shut up, woman." "And you, bullying won't help you." "If you want her, don't raise your voice or be so cocky." "Lola's staying." "And if you talk when you're not sopken to," "I'II sell you." "Did you bring the dough?" "Yes." "The $1500 you gave me." "Tell me, kid." "What do you want her for?" "I want her." "I don't know what for." "That's none of your business." "I don't like to lie to people." "We have a better one." "But, well, if you're stuck on Lola, and if Matilde agrees..." "Right, babe?" "It's up to you." "If you want her, she stays." "If you let her go, the money is yours." "Here." "Here." "Oh, kid, kid!" "Lola's not the woman she used to be." "Since you sold her, she went to pieces." "Did you tell her?" "I didn't tell her." "I just want you to know." "I know." "I know what I did." "No, I'm telling you so that you know what you are taking." "You cope with the rest." "This place is charming." "That nostalgic touch..." "If you wanna smoke, buy your own cigarettes." "Have you known each other for long?" "Vera was 19." "I was teaching a summer course." "We got hooked." "Vera showed me what she was writing and..." "Anyway, I Iive on other people's talent." "Will you publish what she is writing?" "Well, she had to write texts for a photographic book, but it seems she is writing a novel." "Do you have the title?" "Yes." "It will be "Lola's Price" or" ""Tha Whale And The Whore", something like that." "To the new novel." "It'II sell a Iot more than the other." "To Lola and Emilio." "I'd give my soul to dance like ker." "Because now, my body..." "They want more tests." "What is the sentry ganglion?" "The one which warns." "They want to make sure that cancer hasn 't spread." "I'm not a doctor but you shouldn 't ignore them." "He wants to dedicate the next one to you." "$2, a fuck; 4, the whole night." "Want to come in?" "You pay." "The counter." "Listen." "Want to come in?" "You pay." "You pretended not to know that you were not working anymore." "I shut up and paid a counter." "I'd have done anything to go in..." "That night, at least." "Even if it were the last one." "I could hear the whales nearby, as if they were calling you." "Excuse me." "They closed the bar and I found somebody" "to take me to Puerto Madryn." "Won 't you stay for the night?" "There's always a second chance, right?" "Sometimes you can use it to finish saying goodbye." "But I'm too drunk." "I'd rather go." "Won 't you stay, as a favor to me?" "Don 't you even want to try?" "Come on." "Let's pretend you are a traveling salesman." "You come in and tell me that you have to pee." "But he is not you, he is a coarse guy." "Eventhough he has your face." "Stop it." "If you want to fuck, go fuck somebody else." "My plane takes off at 9." "You could still make it to Dr. Zimmerman 's office." "I'II be at the airport." "Give me some money." "I'm as poor as a whore in Lent." "Once again you give up without fighting." "You are still the same." "The same what?" "D'you know what happened to me during these years?" "Nothing." "Sometimes I start talking, yelling." "'Cos nothing happened in the bars." "That hasn't changed either." "And I hear myself saying the same old words." "It's just that I'm older." "AII in all, you're lucky." "I wish some day I could say that." "You're gonna outlive us all." "You are not the girl who fell for me anymore." "But you've grown into such a woman!" "Come, come." "Say goodbye to me." "Say goodbye to me." "Otherwise, I wouldn 't be the same." "Get undressed." "We don 't have the whole the night." "We have the whole life." "We're leaving tomorrow." "I came 'cos I wanted to be with you." "Aren 't you gonna ask what I want?" "Do you want to stay?" "I don 't." "But you should've asked." "I'II never forgive myself." "I missed you." "I had a lousy time." "I had a great time instead." "I needed to be alone." "But to be alone in Tierra del Fuego is scary." "You realize what you want." "You realize what you want." "I want to be with you." "I don 't care what goes on with you when you 're far away." "I don 't care what goes on with you when you 're far away." "You want what you don 't have." "You don 't have the guts to look after what you have." "Look at you." "You 're here and don 't feel like it." "'Cos you act like a whore!" "That's what I am!" "Thanks to you." "I want to see them." "What?" "The $1500 I cost you." "Matilde has it." "I wonder which is the worse." "If to sell me or to buy me." "I wonder which is the worse." "If to sell me or to buy me." "You're still the same." "The same what?" "You're not such a man." "You're not such a man." "You don't know what you want." "I do whatever I Iike." "Whatever you Iike?" "What are you talking about?" "You mean whatever I Iike, or Suárez likes." "If you are not flattered, you don 't know who you are." "Stop!" "And if you are, you spread your legs." "You don 't do what you want, you serve others." "And that's being a whore, right?" "And that's being a whore, right?" "I'm not a whore 'cause you sold me." "You sold me 'cos I'm one." "I didn't say that." "Don't touch me." "Far away, I kept wondering" "who are you," "when nobody's looking at you." "We are taking Matilde to the sea." "Do you want to come with us?" "Did I wake you up?" "No." "I was writing." "I think I found it." "The novel?" "Yes." "I thought your father was going to tell me that the whale" "had left." "Another hunch?" "That she had left again." "Are we gonna see her?" "Maybe." "She is on our way." "You fell asleep and I watched you all night long." "Then Pedro came to lead us to the plane." "You woke up and looked at me as if I were a stranger." "When we took off, I saw the whale at the sandbar." "With animal certainty, as if time didn 't exist, she was heading somewhere in the middle of the sea." "I'm taking more than $1500." "Hey, don 't be a fool!" "Don 't mistake value for price." "I'm not free because you let me go." "I'm free just because." "Because I was born." "Eventhough I've served others." "Am I right, Suárez?" "But you did see me." "Eventhough you 're a blind son of a bitch." "Go away, kid." "I told the whore to follow the whale." "When you say so, we throw the ashes to the sea." "Right?" "I'm gonna throw you if you don 't tell me." "I didn 't even tell Suárez." "You are Suárez." "You know?" "You are not a kid anymore." "He keeps his mouth shut." "He's always been like this." "When my grandpa told his stories, he wouldn't listen." "Do you feel well?" "You can't do this kind of thing." "Take this off, you're gonna get sick." "Don't treat me like if I were sick." "But you are sick." "I forget about it, but you are sick." "I'm fine." "Just a Iittle dizzy." "What fault is that of mine?" "Some things just happen." "Sorry, I don 't know what I'm saying.-Say whatever you want." "But don 't apologize." "Today, your father reminded me of mine." "The things we never said." "I've always blamed him for everything." "What you say is true." "Of course I am sick." "It's a relief to hear it." "I don't know how you were before, but you are beautiful." "So you 're leaving tomorrow?" "I do whatever I want." "Like Lola, that finally realizes what she wants." "One day, I'II see your novel in a bookstore" "and I'II know that you 're okay." "Will you buy it?" "Yes." "And will you read it?" "Yes." "Then I will write it." "Is it here?" "The runway was over there." "They came up to here and kept overflying the whale." "We stayed over there." "Whale!" "Lola." "Lola!" "Hold my hand." "Hold my hand!" "Are you crazy?" "Gringo, level the plane!" "Gringo!" "Level it, fuck!" "Lola!" "Take a photo of me." "Take a photo of me!" "Take a photo of me." "After a while the plane went on its way and the gringo" "never came back again." "You still see them?" "Yes." "They are overflying the whales." "Later, Matilde started telling me that I had made it all up." "That if I told Suárez, she was going to say to him that I was a liar." "And Suárez never knew it." "I hardly see what I'm writing." "The bullets are falling" "like shooting stars and I make always the same wish." "Here, in the war, while waiting for my time to come," "I take photos of death." "It plays hard to get 'cause it knows I'm waiting for it." "But don 't get impatient." "I won 't be long."