The Day I Killed My Father by Mario Sabino Page B

life and fucked another guy. And enjoyed it! A blind man could tell you what you’re feeling. It’s called jealousy. And middle-class jealousy at that. Your story is pretty cock and bull, too, darling. Now get out.’
    â€˜Bernadette, I …’
    â€˜I said, get out. I can’t stand looking at you any more.’
    â€˜Can I take the book?’
    â€˜By all means. You’re going to end up like Ivan Karamazov.’

X
    â€˜You look upset. Wasn’t it any good?’
    â€˜Of course it was … It’s just that I had an argument with my ex that I can’t get out of my head. She’s pregnant to a guy she doesn’t know, and she’s going to keep it.’
    â€˜These ex-wives have always been a headache for me.’
    â€˜â€¦â€™
    â€˜It’s almost like a dream being here with you, you know.’
    â€˜A nightmare, you mean.’
    â€˜Oh, don’t be so bitter, darling. If Jonah knew, he wouldn’t believe it …’
    â€˜Who’s Jonah, your whale?’
    â€˜Dickhead … A really intelligent guy I went out with years ago. We got along really well. But one day he said he needed to take some time out, travel around Europe. The last night … Wow, it was wild!’
    â€˜Then, bye-bye, Jonah?’
    â€˜Yeah. When the Berlin Wall came down, he’d just arrived in Germany. He even sent me a little piece of the wall. Cool, don’t you think? He wrote a note saying that, unlike socialism, I wasn’t one of his lost illusions. The guy was so fucking creative.’
    â€˜So why wouldn’t lost-illusions Jonah believe we’re fucking?’
    â€˜Oh, don’t talk like that — “fucking.” We’re having a relationship.’
    â€˜OK, so why wouldn’t lost-illusions Jonah believe we’re relating by fucking?’
    â€˜You’re a lost cause, you know … Because Jonah also really liked your journalism.’
    â€˜So one of my twenty-five readers was a backpacking communist.’
    â€˜There was this news item once about a banker who spent much more on the guard dogs at his branches than his employees. Then you wrote in the paper that that was an apt illustration of the difference between socialists and social democrats: while the socialists wanted the bank employees to earn more than the dogs, the social democrats would be happy if they made the same. Jonah laughed his head off and used to tell it to everyone.’
    â€˜I didn’t write that.’
    â€˜Yes, you did.’
    â€˜What an idiot I was.’
    â€˜Jeez, you’re in a bad mood.’
    â€˜I’ve had it with journalism, but I need to think about what I’m going to do for a living. My job on that in-house paper finishes next month. Hemistich said he was going to make me a proposal … Have you heard anything about that, Kiki?’
    â€˜No. He’d kill me if he knew we’ve been together so many months. Actually, you swore you wouldn’t say anything.’
    â€˜I won’t say anything. But I don’t get why you’re so scared of him. You’re free, I’m free …’
    â€˜I’m not that free. How do you think I pay my bills?’
    â€˜By renting out the properties you inherited. That’s what you told me.’
    â€˜I lied.’
    â€˜You lied?’
    â€˜I lied. I don’t have any properties, and I live in a rented flat. To be honest, I live on what Hemistich pays me.’
    â€˜You’re paid by Hemistich? What does he pay you to do?’
    â€˜To help with what he calls “persuasion tactics”.’
    â€˜Which is …’
    â€˜Having sex with the guys he wants to draw into what he calls his “sphere of influence”. I’m like a continuation of the special events.’
    â€˜You’re a whore.’
    â€˜No need to be insulting.’
    â€˜Does he pay you to go out with me?’
    â€˜He paid for me to go