She
was going to hunt for her brother who, three years before, had lost it during
a backpacking trip through Nepal. He kept sending postcards with glitter and
pictures of cows, always asking for money for his monastery, declaring himself
occupied with the breeding of tigers to be sold in the black market. Illegal tigers had Lucas written all over. She would find him and record every
step of the way, short that down to 20000 words, and hand them in to Norman for
the article of the year. Of the century!
He reached into his pocket once again, he pulled out a little black bag with the tip of his fingers, untwisted it and displayed it on the table. A mountain of white powder rose in the middle of the plastic basket like a flour volcano. He chopped the cocaine into ten lines, bent over and sniffed one of them, placing his nose so close to the table, he looked like a fat dog looking for leftovers.
He still remembered that first time he had met Nim, she went in for an interview just minutes after Natalia had resigned, taking with her half the articles to be published in the next edition. Norman was feverish, she walked into the room wearing a long tight skirt and a shirt with a black bow. They shook hands, he did not feel comfortable with her.
-How many words can you type per minute?
She could not reply.
-Never mind, just leave it, just leave!
He kept trying to place a call from his fax machine, the line was busy time and time again. Nim stood still in the middle of the room.
-I have a story for your magazine.
Norman lifted his forehead as if in the presence of God. Those were the exact same words Natalia had used, in that same office, six years before, to pitch her article on Australian aboriginals´dreaming. Maybe it wasn’t such an outstanding coincidence; he could feel his mind slowly degenerate, clinging to nonsense trails of thought. His moments of lucidity were scarce.
He told her to go ahead, Nim came into his life like a miracle, an immense possibility of not losing his job because of Natalia´s rebellion. Whatever she said, he would have taken. Norman remembered how rude he had been to Natalia when she first showed up. He had made her beg for the article. And there he was now, his job depending on a stranger, powerless. He took an instant dislike to Nim.
He always thought cocaine would make situations better, but it never did. That was a lesson he wasn´t willing to learn yet.
He reached into his pocket once again, he pulled out a little black bag with the tip of his fingers, untwisted it and displayed it on the table. A mountain of white powder rose in the middle of the plastic basket like a flour volcano. He chopped the cocaine into ten lines, bent over and sniffed one of them, placing his nose so close to the table, he looked like a fat dog looking for leftovers.
He still remembered that first time he had met Nim, she went in for an interview just minutes after Natalia had resigned, taking with her half the articles to be published in the next edition. Norman was feverish, she walked into the room wearing a long tight skirt and a shirt with a black bow. They shook hands, he did not feel comfortable with her.
-How many words can you type per minute?
She could not reply.
-Never mind, just leave it, just leave!
He kept trying to place a call from his fax machine, the line was busy time and time again. Nim stood still in the middle of the room.
-I have a story for your magazine.
Norman lifted his forehead as if in the presence of God. Those were the exact same words Natalia had used, in that same office, six years before, to pitch her article on Australian aboriginals´dreaming. Maybe it wasn’t such an outstanding coincidence; he could feel his mind slowly degenerate, clinging to nonsense trails of thought. His moments of lucidity were scarce.
He told her to go ahead, Nim came into his life like a miracle, an immense possibility of not losing his job because of Natalia´s rebellion. Whatever she said, he would have taken. Norman remembered how rude he had been to Natalia when she first showed up. He had made her beg for the article. And there he was now, his job depending on a stranger, powerless. He took an instant dislike to Nim.
He always thought cocaine would make situations better, but it never did. That was a lesson he wasn´t willing to learn yet.
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