I’m going to tell you something, Dália. But you have to take it seriously, okay?
Okay.
But let’s cross this plank first.
He goes in front with the dog and holds out his hand to Dália just before he gets to the other side. She lifts up her skirt a little and takes his hand. She crosses the plank with a single step.
I’m incapable of recognizing faces. That’s why I didn’t realize it was you on the beach. Or in the bar tonight.
That’s no excuse for ignoring someone you’ve known for two or three days. It means you couldn’t care less about them.
Listen. I can’t recognize any face. It’s a neurological disorder.
She stops and stares at him.
Take a good look at my face, she says, pointing at it. Can’t you see it? Can’t you see my mouth, nose, eyes? Is that it?
I can see it. But I won’t remember it. My brain doesn’t retain it. I have brain damage right in the part that recognizes human faces. If you leave my sight, I’ll forget your face in five minutes, or ten, or half an hour with a lot of luck. It’s inevitable.
I’ve never heard of it.
It’s very rare.
She stares at him for another instant, then starts walking again.
Don’t you believe me?
You said you were serious, so I’m taking you seriously. But if you’re messing with me… the sooner I know the better. A moment from now is going to be too late.
I’m serious.
The fishing sheds are all closed. They pass a young couple heading in the opposite direction, coming back from the rocks, listening to electronic music weakly amplified on a cell phone.
So you’ll never be able to recognize me? If I want to talk to you, I have to go up to you and say, Hi, I’m Dália, remember me? Waving my hands and all? She opens her eyes wide and makes a funny smile, gesticulating as she talks.
No, of course not. There are lots of things besides a person’s face. The voice almost always helps. And the context. I know you’re the tallest girl in the pizza parlor. If I go there while you’re working, I’ll know who you are immediately. Sometimes it’s an item of clothing that the person wears a lot, and I memorize it. A way of walking. I always have to be on the lookout for things that can identify a person, besides their face. I scan the details. In your case, the first things I noticed were your height and your hair. The better I know someone, the easier it is to recognize them. But it’s always a little complicated. Yesterday on the beach, for example, it would have been almost impossible because you were with your son, and I didn’t know you had a son.
I’ll introduce you to him as soon as I get a chance.
Please do.
They reach the crumbling stairs that lead to the footpath around the rocks. He lets her go first and follows, pulling Beta along by her leash. There is a strong smell of sewage around the winding stairs. Dália hunches up and hops on the spot a few times.
I need to go.
As soon as he unlocks the door, she hurries to the bathroom. He puts out dog food and water for Beta and leaves her eating in the tiny laundry area. He gets a can of beer from the fridge and opens the living-room shutters. Dália doesn’t take long. He hears the flush, then the door opens and she comes out talking.
Okay, but tell me, how did it happen to you?
Perinatal anoxia.
Well, of course. It had to be perinatal whatyamacallit.
At birth. I wasn’t breathing when I was born, and it caused brain damage. I’ve had it since I was a baby.
Oh, how awful.
No, it isn’t awful. It’s just a bit of a drag sometimes. People generally refuse to believe it exists. Hardly anyone is okay about it, like you.
Hey, remember me? she jokes, batting her eyelids, as she comes over and takes the beer can from him. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me!
Exactly.
She leans on the windowsill beside him.
Why don’t you put some music on?
I burned out my sound system. The voltage here is two hundred and twenty.
Silly. Anyway, we need to go get the girls and see if this party’s any good. Your car’s at the gas station?
Yep.
Did you leave it there to have it washed?
I left it there to sell it.
Who’s going to give me lifts now?
He doesn’t answer.
I can’t really be bothered going to this party, to be honest.
What about your son’s dad? Where’s he?
A young man in a baseball cap and no shirt comes along the footpath with a panting white and yellow pit bull on a leash, its large mouth open in a crocodile smile. They take the stairs down to the rocks.
He went back to Criciúma. He’s from there. He moved here with me a few years ago, but then we had a fight and he left.
Do you get along okay?
Yeah, pretty good. Pablo loves him. He goes to spend a few days with John twice a month. We treat each other well. Pablo is what matters.
His name’s John?
Yeah.
Is he American?
No. He’s from Criciúma.
The young man lets the pit bull off its leash and throws a plastic bottle half filled with water into the sea. The dog studies the edge of the rock for a moment and launches itself after its toy. The young man lights a cigarette and watches the dog swim.
Does he give you child support or something like that?
She swallows her beer quickly and gives a short, explosive laugh, before answering scornfully.
All he does is smoke pot. But no, to be fair, he gives me some money when he can. But he hasn’t got a thing. He’s a lazy-ass, that one.
Do you live on your own with Pablo?
No, I live with my mother. She helps me. She moved here when we broke up, and she lives with me. Tell me, do you recognize your own face in the mirror?
I don’t know if I want to talk about it anymore.
The pit bull comes out of the water with the bottle in its mouth. The man wrests it from the dog’s jaws and throws it again, several yards out. The dog dives in.
No, I don’t recognize my own face in the mirror. And there’s no point staring at photos. When I wake up the next morning, I’ve already forgotten it.
That must be really crazy. What if you shave or cut your hair? Does it change anything?
No. But my mother always told me I look better without a beard. I trust her.
And do you know if someone is good-looking, if they’re sad, angry, that kind of thing?
Yes. I can tell if I’m looking at the person. I see emotions normally. I know if someone’s ugly or good-looking, young or old. No problem. But I forget their actual face. I remembered that you were gorgeous. So it’s nice to see you again.
She bumps him with her shoulder.
You did not. You’re just saying that.
They stand there for a while, watching the pit bull’s workout, which seems interminable. He turns his head and sees that Beta has made herself comfortable on her towel at the other end of the living room, next to the front door.
Sometimes I think the dog’s watching me.
What?
Nothing, it’s silly.
So if I spent the night here you wouldn’t recognize my face in the morning?
Honestly? No.
You’re the only person in the world with a good excuse for it.
She leaves her empty can on the windowsill and turns to him.
Are you really sure you wouldn’t?
It’s never happened.
Not even if it was a really, really good night?
I don’t want to give you false hopes, Dália.
Where would we be without false hopes?
• • •
He wakes up without opening his eyes. There is the heat, the smell, and a clear memory of all the things for which a face, and even sight itself, is unnecessary. Weight is one of his favorite sensations. He’d be able to identify her at once if she lay on him the next morning or in a year’s time. It wouldn’t matter. And the way a body moves. If it is in intimate contact with his, if he can hold it firmly with both hands at its diverse points of articulation and in this manner read its voluntary and involuntary movements, soft and brusque, repeated or not, he can forever retain a tactile image that can tell him much more than any visual stimuli about how the person draws back and lets go, asks and refuses, approaches and retreats. Dália has protruding collarbones, wide hips, and full, muscular legs. Wiry hair and slightly bitter sweat like weak coffee. Milk and sugar breath. The way she uses her teeth. The bodily self-consciousness typical of beautiful women restricts her movements. A collection of little embarrassments and inhibitions that fade somewhat, as the half-light in the musty room reveals more and more. Her reserve gives way to a certain submission. The difference is subtle. He’ll remember everything. The darkened bedroom and the kitchen light filtering through the open door. Her feet twitching when he tried to kiss them. Tension in her whole body that took a while to yield. She digs her nails in lightly, gives little punches. When her hand holds something, her fingertips press alternately as if trying to remember how to play a tune on the piano. Maybe she plays piano or played it when she was little. It is moving to think about a person’s repertoire of caresses. Why they touch others this way or that. It comes from so many places. The things we imagine must feel good, the things we’ve been told feel good, the things we’ve had done to us and liked, the things that are involuntary, the things that are our way of giving pleasure, period. She comes almost in silence or, come to think of it, in total silence. And with her eyes closed. Not a peep. He can hear the waves. He won’t forget a single detail of it. He will still be able to recall it several months or years from now, and it will only remind him of her. He catalogs with renewed amazement the countless ways in which the world can be unveiled by his senses. Nothing but faces are lost. Dália sleeping soundlessly by his side, emanating heat, her buttocks pressed against his hip, her back against his left shoulder, the waves almost hitting the window. He’ll remember everything.