"I like this street," said María. "Someday I'm going to live here."

A group of teenage hookers was standing around an old Cadillac parked at the curb. María stopped and greeted one of them:

"Hey there, Lupe. Nice to see you."

Lupe was very thin and had short hair. I thought she was as beautiful as María.

"María! Wow, mana, long time no see," she said, and then she hugged her.

The girls with Lupe were still leaning on the hood of the Cadillac and their eyes rested on María, scrutinizing her calmly. They hardly looked at me.

"I thought you died," said María all of a sudden. The callousness of the remark stunned me. María's tact has these gaping holes.

"I'm plenty alive. But I almost died. Didn't I, Carmencita?"

"That's right," said the girl called Carmencita, and she continued to study María.

"It was Gloria who bit it. You met her, didn't you? Mana, what a fucking mess, but no one could stand that cunt."

"I never met her," said María with a smile on her lips.

"The cops are the ones who nailed her," said Carmencita.

"And has anyone done anything about it?" said María.

"Nelson," said Carmencita. "Do what? The bitch knew too much, she was in way over her head, there was nothing anyone could do."

"Well, how sad," said María.

"Say, how's school?" said Lupe.

"So-so," said María.

"You still got that hot stud running after you?"

María laughed and shot me a glance.

"My friend here is a ballerina," Lupe said to the other girls. "We met at Modern Dance, the school on Donceles."