I also meet these two rich older dudes drinking cognac at the bar. Introduce themselves as the Vice-President and Barbaro, his bodyguard. I must have the footprint of fresh disaster on my face. They listen to my troubles like they’re a couple of capos and I’m talking murder. They commiserate. It’s a thousand degrees out and the mosquitoes hum like they’re wearing expensive suits, and Barbaro is even sporting a purple ascot. Once a soldier tried to saw open his neck and now he covers the scar. I’m a modest man, he says.
- This is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz
