19
Manuel stopped painting the ceiling. He took off his improvised mason's cap, closed the ladder, rested the brushes and removed the grounded paper to protect the floor,
where a few drops of paint had gone anyway. He had also protected the desk with newspaper sheets. Under the paper, the telephone ringing rose. Manuel took off the paper and answered the call, finding it hallucinating that someone was still calling on landlines.
"Yes?" he answered quietly.
He listened quietly, rolling his eyes all over the place as if butterflies flew around him. He nodded with a half-smile, then looked surprised at the handset, the air of those who were upset because they had closed the phone in his face.
"For f**k's sake" Manuel exclaimed, suddenly accelerating the cleaning operation.
"Do you know
