The German Room by Carla Maliandi

Author:Carla Maliandi [Maliandi, Carla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999859381
Publisher: Charco Press
Published: 2018-10-23T15:52:53+00:00

SIX

I

I walk without thinking where I’m going and suddenly I realise I’m lost, that I don’t recognise the neighbourhood, that I can’t tell north from south, that I have no idea how far I am from the river. There’s no one around, the shops are all closed, it’s almost nine and the streets are totally empty. I search for Shanice’s mobile phone in my bag. It has hundreds of numbers saved in it but I only know two people, her mother and Miguel Javier. Of course I call Miguel Javier.

The Tucumano listens to me carefully as I spell out the names of the streets I see and he gives me directions to get back to what he calls ‘our house’. When I arrive he’s waiting for me at the door, dressed in a jacket that’s too small for him, rubbing his hands together because of the cold and before I can even say hello he tells me that we have to talk.

‘Fine, Miguel, but let’s go inside, it’s cold.’

‘Before we go inside I want to talk. There are two things that upset me in life. One I can’t tell you, the other is people messing with my family. And because of you my sister’s got it into her head that she has to go see Feli, and nothing good is going to come of it.’

‘Who’s Feli?’

‘Feli! The psychic.’

‘I didn’t ask her to go see any psychic.’

‘Yes, it was her idea. But you have to call her and get that plan out of her head.’

‘Call her now? In Tucumán?’

‘Yes.’

‘And what do I tell her?’

‘That you remembered who the father is so she doesn’t need to ask the psychic. And that she should stop going into the slum to see that witch. You have no idea how dangerous that freaky old lady is, not to mention her whole family of junkies. Come on, please, call her now. Please.’

The Tucumano is so upset that I agree without asking any more questions. I feel ridiculous calling Tucumán, to talk to his sister who I don’t know, to make up some kind of story. Miguel Javier dictates the number as I punch it into Shanice’s mobile phone. I ask him to go away, to let me talk to her by myself. The Tucumano walks slowly to the end of the block and as he turns the corner and disappears from my view Marta Paula answers. I can hear dogs barking, a baby crying, and another noise that sounds like a football game playing on a badly tuned radio. I say hello, I ask her how she is. She’s elated when she recognises my voice. She first tells me some things I can’t hear, then she quiets the dogs and starts talking nonstop, as if there were too many words to explain something she herself doesn’t understand.

‘I was just going to call you. I was thinking about going to the phone booth because I can’t talk with all the noise at my house. And you just

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