“Explain to me why I’m always in the same rut. Tell me what I do wrong that keeps me from climbing up the ladder a little…”

I stopped to light a cigarette and she waited for me. Her eyes went through me. I sort of shrugged, as if to say, “Search me.”

“We’ll never get a break if we stick around here,” she said.

I looked over her shoulder. She was breathing quickly.

“I don’t know…” I said.

“What do you mean you don’t know? What kind of answer is that?”

“Shit, it means I don’t know!”

To put an end to the scene, I took a few steps off the shoulder of the road and pissed. I turned my back to her. I thought I’d gotten her to button her lip. I made a little blue cloud of steam in the night, thinking that, sure, living with a woman always has its inconveniences, but in the end the scale always tips in favor of doing it. Let her bitch all she wants, I thought, it doesn’t really bother me. It’s a small price to pay for all the good things I get from her. I felt her boiling over behind me. I couldn’t remember how long it had been since I really had someone by my side. It had been a long time.

I zipped my pants up, feeling good. That`s how it is when you take up with a high-spirited girl-yon can’t avoid a few hot moments, no way around it. The alcohol made my blood warm. I pivoted around on one leg to face her.

“I don’t feel like discussing this anymore,” I said. “I’m not up to it. Be a pal…”

She looked at the black sky, sighing:

“But God, don’t you ever think that life is passing us by, right under our noses? Doesn’t that just get to you sometimes?”

“Listen: Ever since I’ve been with you I don’t feel like life is passing me by. I even feel like I have more than my share, if you really want to know…”

“Oh shit, I’m not talking about that! I mean let’s get out of this together! Somewhere opportunity is knocking at the door. We just have to find where…”