BURIALTHE HEAD sank deeper into pillowed arms, which were not soft nor sinewy, there rose a whisper, almost inaudible to be a murmur, and yet
disturbing, because I was seated so close to Paulo (our desks had been arranged face to face to save office space) so that I could hear his deepset breathing which came to me as waves, for I myself
had reclined on my arms on the desk in an attempt to take a nap, and now had straightened up. I could swear he had stopped breathing because the head was still, was a disheveled raven nest on
emaciated boughs, bur suddenly there was an insistent ringing on the wall that announced office time, and Paulo stirred, mechanically because he was wont to wake up at one o’clock in the
afternoon, seconds or an hour after he had closed his eyes for the noon break
