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I hear sounds from the kitchen or is it the living room? I turn in bed and lift my eyeshades. But no, Isadora is sleeping with most of the covers wrapped around her body. The blue fabric hangs off her heart shaped-shaped bottom and I turn back towards my side of the bed and wonder. I slide out of bed and slip on sandals and creep over to the hook near the door and slip the black robe into my hands and work my arms into it. A few more light knocks and bumps come from the kitchen. I open the bedroom door, closing it behind me as quietly as I can; then turn and head down the hall. It´s Oriana and she´s emptying the ashtrays. She hates smokers and I see the stub of last night´s joint disappear into the trash can as she looks up at me and then looks down at the next ash tray she´s going to clean. Her look is not overly sullen and I decide to greet her,

Ey loca, que haces?
Fucking cleaning up after you stoners is what I´m doing.

I´d like to defend myself but I had smoked some, so there was no point quibbling. I switch subjects,

Just get in?
A while back

She shrugs and washes her hands in the kitchen sink. I wait till she´s finished and then fill the kettle and head out to the balcony and the woodstove. Good, there´s still coals so I can add some branches and leave it at that. I return to the kitchen. Of course I can´t find Rosamonte. We´ve only got Cruz de Malta.

Ori plucks a stale croissant from the microwave and stuffs it into her petulant mouth. She turns and looks at me surprised when there´s a soft knock on the door. Who the hell could it be this early? I head over and ask as softly as I can,

Quien es?
Me.

Damn, it´s Toby. Ori´s face lights up with pleasure and excitement but she quickly covers it up as I open the door and let him slide in. We all sit at the kitchen table and I sip my mate. Toby refuses and Ori has already had her chocolate milk special. He pulls out a brown paper bag and lets some coins spill out onto the surface of the table. Are they gold ... ? Yes! And that´s an antelope? No, it´s a springbok. They´re Krugerands. And worth a lot with gold prices today. I saw the quotes at Jones Tur on Luro. How many are there? Ori looks uncomfortable and stands and leaves us two and heads to her bedroom.

How much in total?

But Toby just smiles and winks at me. Why is he showing this to me? Does he lack ID and do we have to cash them in for him? His passport ... does he have one? He must, I´m certain of it. How did he get into the country otherwise? This is tricky. I´d like to wake Isa, but it´s early and she doesn´t like me getting involved with Toby. What the hell am I going to do? We shake hands and he leaves and the kitchen is empty again. Ori returns and stares at me for a long time. She asks me,

Were you talking to yourself??