The wind, Antonio reads, sent its spies about the house again, they’re summoning you in the other room, Ida says, numbers, Ada says, sparkling water with ice, Eva says, what power could now prevent the insensibility of nature, Antonio says [in a mock horror voice], lights off, Ida says, one more page, Mamo, Antonio says, this side, Perrito, Ida says, my side of the covers has all the amenities plus free lectures on literature, Mister Perro, Antonio says, if he chooses your side of the bed there will be chicken drumsticks for dinner for a week, Ida says, but what after all is one night, Virginia Woolf says, why are you doing this to me, Antonio’s father says, say to your son I am not afraid of you, Peter Ström says, your phone contains a recording of your sister, Arturo says, don’t need to hear it, Antonio says, open your iTalk app and press aaaa, Arturo says, leave him alone his visit to his sister’s house in Baltimore has been erased already, Antonio’s mother says, the red button on your iTalk app that says aaaa, Arturo says, your tooth implant looks beautiful the bone has regenerated, Dr. Sze says, your sister has been delivered to Baltimore City jail in Baltimore, Thomas Saville says, we’re waiting for her to be transferred to the Spring Grove State Hospital in Catonsville, Maryland, 3:16 a.m., Antonio’s phone says, no chance of falling sleeping again, Arturo says, but the stillness and the brightness of the day were as strange as the chaos and tumult of the night, Virginia Woolf says, here’s the living room where Ada used to dance to Ravel’s Une barque sur l’océan, Nicola says, running across it in her pink ballet uniform, Dr. Adler says, the Blood Bank out the window, Hershleder says, two men loading plasma into a truck, Katerina says, a truck that will traverse a valley that will resemble the X-rays of your tooth implant, Arturo says, Bovary’s multilayered hat according to Nabokov, Jules Jakobsdóttir says, that vent where he went was sort of a funnel, Dora says, that led him down into a frightful black tunnel, did my mother send you to ogle me do you want café con leche, Estela says, or do you want to rest first or rent a movie to distract yourself, what movie do you want to see, Antonio says, Iron Man we can buy it at Best Buy, why don’t we rent instead of buy, Antonio says, I want to see it on the television screen, can’t you connect the computer to the television, Antonio says, yes but I need the cables, what cables, Antonio says, you know what cables don’t be a moron, I wouldn’t know I don’t have a television, Antonio says, yes you do you hide it from your daughters, I don’t have a television, Antonio says, the one in the closet in Ida’s room, ah that old mammoth I threw it away already, Antonio says, see I remember everything I’m not crazy the government says that the technology in Iron Man equals the technology deployed through (sorry for the interruption) satellites Barack Obama says that if we [in a robotic voice] don’t. leave. this. filthy. house, and don’t tell me it isn’t a filthy house there’s radial frequencies from satellites with lasers that come from the solar system in other words the sun therefore there’s abundant vegetation as in a neighborhood park due to the abundant solar energy therefore there’s forest animals also, how many hours a day does Barack talk to you, Antonio says, twenty-four hours a day Barack isn’t the one who talks to me the CIA talks to me from the Pentagon which controls the armed forces Barack is the leader of the government that controls the CIA they’re doing to Obama what they’re doing to me sorry. for. the. interruption, which means he’s a CIA trainee which means that (stop looking at me sexually) you have to have psychological training from your sister so you can feel better about yourself otherwise Ida and my mother are going to shred you psychologically, they called from Robert Half they’re about to cancel your temp contract you will lose your health insurance so we need to talk to them, Antonio says, I’m sorry I’m the one who needs to talk to them it’s as if the CEO of Prudential Investments had made a mistake you report to the CEO of Prudential Investments, no, Antonio says, don’t tell me that who do you report to, I work in a group called sales and marketing headed by Morton Stephenson, Antonio says, why are you lying to me, why would I lie to you, Antonio says, you don’t speak to the CEO every now and then, no, Antonio says, he doesn’t call you Guatemalan Superstar yes he calls you Guatemalan Superstar if he doesn’t do it to your face he does it behind your back because it’s a joke by Barack Obama, if there’s no medical certificate justifying your extended medical leave they will cancel your temp contract, Antonio says, I abandoned my job because I have four felony charges pending and according to the instructions given to me by the American government I can’t return to work because the client is a media company that has invaded my phone and chases me through the radial system in my car those pieces of shit charge eighty-four dollars an hour for me imagine the margins that’s why Robert Half hasn’t thrown me out yet this is privileged information (don’t interrupt me) if you tell that bitch of my mother I will deny it because there’s no invoice to prove it you’re quite smart to be working at an investment firm so they can’t invade your personal life because it would affect the Federal Reserve System of the United States, they called and said unless you provide them with a medical certificate they’re going to cancel your contract, Antonio says, I don’t have a certificate I have a legal issue that I can’t comment about, I understand but if you don’t talk to them they will cancel your contract, Antonio says, if I go back and talk to them and say I have legal issues pending the manager will say what legal issues and I will have to tell her I can’t talk about it so she will run a background check on me and she will find out I have four felony charges pending and Robert Half will share it with all their clients so what my lawyer is doing (let me finish) he’s saying (no, you’re in my house, and I adore you, Toñito, but this is the first time you’ve been here, and I thank you that you’re here) but my lawyer is doing the same thing your CEO is doing to your marriage he’s not giving you a raise because you’ve made the wrong decisions he will spy on you and they will steal your psychiatric files they will know your psychological problems caused by that bitch of a mother by the lies and bribes of Ida who impregnated herself for money they’re going to say if you’re so smart with your two years at Yale we want to see how you come out of this problem now if you betray me and say to Robert Half [in a little girl’s voice] my sister has four felony charges and I am a moron who works for the CEO of Prudential Investments and I travel to the Federal Reserve and I’ve seen all the hot women in Baltimore and my sister when she’s fit she’s more beautiful than any stripper from the Gold Club and more intelligent than any of the strippers from the Gold Club and because I am a moron I allowed myself to be taken in by Ida who’s the biggest criminal in the world because there’s rumors she killed her grandmother I am Antonio Jose Jiménez I am a moron who allowed himself to be conned by my mother who’s a bitch [in an angry voice] who sucked my dick when I was an adolescent to destroy me for the rest of my life you think my mother didn’t touch me inappropriately when I was little and I don’t remember she touched me inappropriately and left me on the floor, naked, yes, my mother, and the American government blocked it from me they’re so advanced in their military technology they blocked my brain I had forgotten until now that I’m stuck here in this filthy house receiving secret information from the American government I sound crazy I know it sounds crazy because they’re so advanced nobody can believe it so they recommend that we see Iron Man because it isn’t a technology invented by Iron Man but by the American government I hope you understand the logic and don’t think I’m crazy because the logic of my legal situation (sorry. for. the. interruption) is what I do need you to understand and why I can’t call Robert Half do you understand why, no, Antonio says, your logic has limits, or you’re tired, stop looking at me sexually, you filthy rat stop looking at me sexually I call you filthy rat not to insult you but because you’ve lived like a filthy rat being the best father in the world that’s why they’ve promoted you like the filthy rat that is Ida who has abused you psychologically like my mother, the problem with Robert Half, Antonio says, is that without their contract you won’t have health insurance and that’s a considerable problem, I don’t need to see a doctor and you can threaten me a thousand times that you’re going to commit me to a psychiatric institute but as long as the police find me sane they can’t commit me to a psychiatric facility, and what happens if they don’t find you sane, Antonio says, my lawyer has the medical records I am not crazy I just have mood swings, nobody is saying you’re crazy what did your lawyer say about it, Antonio says, stop patronizing me, I’m asking you a question because I need to understand, Antonio says, why are you here is it because my mother has nothing else to do or because you want to talk about your divorce with Ida, why would I want to talk about my divorce with Ida, Antonio says, because you have to divorce her otherwise you will never get promoted they’re going to steal your psychiatric exams and they’re going to see you’re a moron that allowed his mother to suck his dick and nobody defends him why doesn’t anyone defend him because they’re jealous that you’re handsome and intelligent and because we come from a racist family, why did your lawyer call 911, Antonio says, because he was drunk the police felt bad I sent him a text saying if the rest of the Guatemalans called him to please not answer the phone he said calm down we’ll talk next week he’s a nice guy, why would a nice guy call 911 on you, Antonio says, because he had enough of my antics he knows I’m normal why didn’t the police take me to a psychiatric institution it’s a mind game until you catch up to the big leagues, bro, you’re not going to get it, what’s going to happen if someone else calls 911 if you’re being antic at the supermarket for instance, Antonio says, you said antic, that’s the word you used, Antonio says, psychological antics like what I’m doing to you right now, I’m concerned about your current state, Antonio says, why are you concerned, I’m concerned that you are having, Antonio says, that you are in a situation that you are not well, please leave this instant I hope it goes well for you I can throw you out of my own house, I know you can throw me out, Antonio says, why don’t you leave then, why would I leave I’m giving you my opinion, Antonio says, you can go now, I am not going, Antonio says, leave or I’ll call 911 so they can remove you, call 911, Antonio says, if you start behaving like my mother I won’t tolerate it you will leave the house I will call the police, I don’t know what you mean, Antonio says, do you want to go out and eat something, yes I’m hungry, Antonio says, stop crying as well, I’m not crying, Antonio says, stop crying the worst that can happen is that I lose my lawyer I can get a court appointed lawyer I can retrieve my psychological files Obama is tired of your psychological antics and says that if you don’t believe me that he protected you while you were at Yale and you’re a moron who believes my mother who sent you that means you’re letting yourself be manipulated by my mother which means you can leave my house (sorry for the interruption) I don’t want to suck my mother’s vagina or lick my father’s penis for the rest of my life that’s why I prefer to be alone I say this metaphorically you know I haven’t seen my father since I was eleven he barely did anything to me but because my mother is a crazy perverted woman that was raped by her brother she comes here to screw us up and my father barely shouted at me and he hit you and my mother sucked you so you will have the same psychological problems as her for the rest of your life the government blocked it from me so I wouldn’t be traumatized unlike you who’s a man and if you don’t want to believe me that the government can do it, don’t believe me, that’s your problem, you will end up an embittered old man, alone, I am a spy for the American government that’s why they can’t take me to a psychiatric facility, let’s take a time-out, Antonio says, I’ve overwhelmed you already, yes, Antonio says, speak, the Censor says, for you have summoned me, I don’t want to remember any of this, Antonio says, you misunderstand the nature of my role, the Censor says, the Censor censors, Stanley Elkin says, I disguise, the Censor says, not erase, disguise as blanks, Antonio says, up to you what the disguise will be and not up to you do you understand, the Censor says, is this your first day of high school too, Antonio says, yes but I’m already in the honors program, Silvina says, me too, Antonio says, coincidence, Silvina says, that strange machine, open your iTalk app and press delete, Arturo says, aaaaaaaa, Dr. Sze says, through the open window the voice of the beauty of the world came murmuring, Virginia Woolf says, too softly to hear exactly what it said, el panadero, the ambulatory salesman says, la vitamina.