In Front of the House, All Night Long

"What are you doing here?"

Betania was standing on a corner, two blocks from home. Nervous. She wore an old dress and had her hair loosely tied up in a bun. If it weren't for the carelessness of her appearance, she might have been taken for a novice prostitute.

"What are you doing here?" Álvaro repeated his question.

"There's a jeep in front of the house," she responded.

It was sunset, a sunset of orange and dusty gold, and the streets were full of people and cars and buses that trailed puffs of black exhaust.