think of an animal, tell me an animal that isn’t pretty. A rat? Take a good look. Look at the other side of the river. Don’t let yourself be influenced by the word. What you don’t like is the word. Besides, Polka said it was thanks to river rats we discovered aspirin. When other animals died in plagues, rats got off scot-free, looking all shiny, because they gnawed at willow roots. The eye doctor, Dr Abril, once said invisible animals, bacteria and the like, are even more beautiful. Like modern paintings. That’s because bacteria are modern as well, I thought to myself. The Colorado beetle’s also modern. And pretty. But, being modern, it can’t be killed by hand. Modern armament is needed. Polka says they’ll end up killing everything, the cure is worse than the disease. The poison also kills off snails and slugs. He won’t go where there are dying snails. We must seem very strange to other animals. You can tell by the way they look at us. When I was little, I told Polka I was afraid of the wolf and he laughed, ‘Well, imagine how afraid the wolf would be if he bumped into me. Wolves are terribly afraid of lame people!’ He says that as a joke. Polka’s not that bad. You can tell ancient animals are ancient because they’ve been around time and seem to have come from the future. Like octopuses and razor-shells. Snails and slugs. Lampreys. Or eels. Maybe hairs turn into eels. That wouldn’t surprise me. Eels are a bit like us. The way they live in the mud, are desperate to eat, slip away when there’s trouble. They can move by land as well. At night, you find eels in the meadows, travelling inland. I’m not surprised. It’s so damp there’s sometimes not much difference between being in the water and out. You could stuff the mist in sacks like stive. People go slowly through the atmosphere not just because it gets in your bones and makes your body stiff, but because they have to clear a way through the mist, like divers in their suits, you have to pass through curtain after curtain. It all takes time and occasionally words, sentences, are imprinted on the air as when you write with your finger in condensation. That way, you find out things that weren’t meant for you. As happened with the letters left in the pocket of trousers that were for washing.
The Portuguese Architect
Reading them was like looking through a keyhole of noble ancestry. The look didn’t ask if it was good or bad. The look was greedy. An enigmatic character appeared first of all. Who was this Most Worthy?
Most Worthy Judge
My dear Dr Azevedo da Acosta,
That’s how well they know how to address each other, the heights they reach. Imagine Polka receiving a letter like that: Most Worthy Gravedigger. He’d think it had come from another world. If that’s the way you start, you’re not going to write just anything. You’ve something important to say.
I would be greatly interested to know your opinion concerning the work of the Portuguese architect António Soares, based in the city of Porto. I have the impression he is considered a bright hope on account of his boat-houses and is held in high regard in foreign countries, in particular France and Holland. I would ask for the greatest discretion in the likely event that you should have to request additional information. People of importance to me in the field of construction are studying the possibility of hiring his services, but I wish this initial exploration to be confidential and not to come to the said architect’s notice. Before contacting him and taking a false step, my friends wish to count on the opinion of someone of sound judgement and exceptional meticulousness, knowing that he will be duly rewarded for his efforts. At your service as always.
May God keep you for many years.
And there, at the end, was the typed name: Ricardo Samos Pego-Mandivi.
This is what sets hairs and letters apart. Hairs go in search of each other and re-form locks in the river. But letters in the water quickly disintegrate. Though it’s true there are some letters that, if you dry them out, go stiff like survivors who’ve been