Cronología de la muerte

Capítulo 20

Out of self-defense, she quickly turned her head away: "Maybe it's because I haven't adjusted to the time difference."

Berhali wanted to see her eyes more clearly, but the light was too dim. He could tell how easily a woman would take the bait from her responses. If she was agitated, it meant she was very open to teasing, and he could get her in a few hours or even minutes.

Marlene laughed, yawned, and said, "I really want to go to bed right now."

“Well,” Berhali said, his words carrying a double meaning, “I think so too!” This was the most tactful thing he could say.

Marlene raised an eyebrow, realizing there was a hidden meaning in his words. Beryl smiled, and Marlene returned a smile that was neither an objection nor an acceptance.

“These trees,” she changed the subject again, raising her voice, “are they poplars? The shape of the leaves isn’t easy to see. Most of the leaves have fallen.”

They stood head to head, looking at the blurry outlines of trees in the darkness.

The first night (1)

To help my friends truly understand Lijiang, I added a translation by an architect to my travel guide: "Over the past eight centuries, this place has been frequently struck by earthquakes, some reaching magnitude seven, making the residents' teeth chatter and the food in their cupboards teeter on the brink of collapse, but it could not break our determination to stay. Because Lijiang is so beautiful, no one wants to leave. But if you must leave, after you pass away or look down from an airplane, you will notice: Lijiang is like an inkstone used for centuries, writing poems praising its antiquity and nature."

This description of my hometown is beautiful. Of course, most of my friends are too lazy to read it.

According to my plan, they will stay in the best hotel in Lijiang. The hotel is located in the new district of the town, right opposite the entrance to the ancient town, where there are tree-lined paths and canals, as well as old-fashioned rural courtyards built with sun-dried mud bricks.

The new hotel in Lijiang has a lobby with marble floors and waiters in uniform who have all been trained to greet guests with a smile.

The new hotel rooms have two beds and sheets, and the towels are cleaner than those in other hotels. Small rolls of toilet paper are provided daily, which should be enough if people's stomachs can handle it. This is the best hotel in the Naxi Autonomous County, but for American tourists accustomed to five-star Four Seasons hotels, "best" is merely a narrow, relative concept in this context.

Because Lijiang was described as "historical," "long-standing," and "close to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau," Mrs. Masai had imagined that they would stay in a nomadic tent with compacted earth on the ground covered with yak hides, tapestries on the walls, and camels, saddled and panting, waiting outside the door...

Only her husband, Dwight, was breathing heavily; he nestled in his wife's arms. They both wanted to have a child while they were still young. Mrs. Marseille had brought a thermometer with her on this trip, and the latest reading indicated that these were good days to try for a baby. But she seemed distracted, as if she were merely completing a work project.

In the room across the hall, Berhari was alone, replaying his conversation with Jumarin in his mind. He was convinced that Jumarin was seducing him.

How could he take it a step further? And how would he deal with her daughter? Thankfully, the trip was three weeks long, enough time to figure something out. It was unbelievable that Esme was already twelve; she looked only eight, completely undeveloped. The happy days before puberty allowed her to be without her mother. "Esme, sweetie, here's ten dollars. Go into the jungle and give a dollar to every monkey you see. Sound good, right?"

Beryl then thought of another single woman in the tour group: Heidi, Madame Massey's sister. She had blonde hair styled to the side, bright eyes, and a light step. And, on such a petite frame, her breasts were enormous, almost unreal (I assure you they were). Beryl, an expert in animal anatomy, was convinced of his opinion.

Although Jumarin's breasts are smaller, she'll definitely respond sweetly to touch. At the same time, Jumarin's advantage is that she's older and more mature than Heidi, which suits Berhali's taste perfectly. Heidi is young and cute, but a bit neurotic, and will soon be past her prime. She's always too picky—is this unclean? Is that unsafe? If she's going to find fault, she's sure to find it.

If you're always focused on dealing with bad things, your life will be full of bad things. But if you reward dogs for good behavior, they'll keep doing what you think is good. How wonderful the world would be if more people understood dog behavior!

Marlene's daughter, Esme, was also thinking about dogs, especially the little Shih Tzu: big, watery eyes, and a slight cough. She saw it in the hotel lobby; the dog belonged to a girl at the hotel, who said there were other dogs—holding up seven fingers, asking for seven hundred dollars. The puppy was probably only three months old, and Esme thought it was a "very good dog." The girl said without hesitation, "Make it cheaper, two hundred dollars." That was about twenty-five dollars.

“Where is the mother dog?” Esme asked.

“Not here,” the girl replied.

Is it an orphan?

The girl immediately reassured her: "If you're not satisfied, I guarantee I'll give you a refund."