Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord

Author:François Lelord [Lelord, François]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101458983
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
Published: 2002-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

HECTOR IS SMART

HECTOR had simply written, ‘You have a real problem there. We should talk.’

And so the door opened and one of the boss’s two friends told Hector to come out, in a not very friendly voice. He wasn’t even holding a revolver. Hector told himself that at least they’d understood that he was no fool and wasn’t going to play Jackie Chan and try to knock them out with kicks in all directions.

The boss was still sitting down, holding Hector’s note, and he said, ‘What do you want to talk about?’

And so Hector explained that he was a visitor to this country and that he didn’t want any problems. If they let him go he wouldn’t tell the police anything.

The boss laughed, saying that if that was all he had to say he might as well have stayed in the storeroom.

Hector said that he wouldn’t tell the police anything, and to prove it he wouldn’t tell Eduardo anything either.

At this, they all opened their eyes wide, a bit like the other two in the car earlier. Except for the boss, who asked him very calmly, ‘You know Eduardo?’

Hector said that he knew Eduardo quite well, but above all he knew his wife, who was suffering from a deep depression. Because, well, he was a psychiatrist.

The others had gone quiet, and then one of the boss’s friends, who had kept Hector’s wallet, looked inside it and almost screamed, ‘It’s true, he’s a spychiatrist!’

‘Shut up, you moron!’ said the boss.

Hector could see that the boss was thinking very hard. If Hector was telling the truth, he wouldn’t say anything to the police, because if he knew Eduardo and his wife he couldn’t be that interested in helping the police. But if Hector really was Eduardo’s friend and he told him what had happened, Eduardo might not like it and life could become a little difficult for the boss. In that case, the sooner Hector disappeared the better. Then again, if the police and the small army of white men began searching for the boss and his gang, life wouldn’t be easy either, especially if Eduardo got mixed up in it as well. On the other hand, if the boss let Hector go and he reported them to the police, it would also be a problem, except that since Hector would still be alive, the police wouldn’t think it worth wasting their energy on — rather like in Hector’s country when you go and complain that somebody has stolen your car radio.

Hector was counting on the fact that bosses are usually smart, and that the boss of this gang was going to think about all this and make the right decision: to free Hector.

The boss looked at Hector and he saw the notebook sticking out of his pocket. He made one of his men bring it over and opened it at the first page:Lesson no. 1: Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.

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