Álvaro would sit down on the lid of the toilet, hold his breath and listen. Mixed in with the rest of the general morning buzz of the building, he’d hear them get up, wake the children, wash and fix themselves up in the bathroom, get breakfast ready and eat it. The man took the children to school and returned a little while later. Then the two of them would put the house in order, do the domestic chores, joke around, go shopping, get lunch ready. In the silence of the nights, he’d hear her pleased laughter, conversations whispered in the quiet darkness of the room; later, agitated breathing, moaning, the bed’s rhythmic creaking and soon silence. One morning he listened to their giggles as they showered together; another time Señor Casares pounced, in the middle of the housework, on Señora Casares, who, in spite of protesting feebly at first, gave in almost immediately without offering the slightest resistance.
Álvaro listened attentively. He was annoyed that all these conversations were of absolutely no use to him. He’d purchased several blank tapes in order to record, plugging the machine into the bathroom socket, everything that came through the neighbours’ ventilation window. But why should he record all this useless material? He would hardly be able to use any of it in the novel. And it was a shame. Álvaro surprised himself — at first slightly perplexed — at regretting the lack of disagreement between the couple next door. All couples go through difficult periods every once in a while and he didn’t think it much to ask that they too should abide by this norm. Now that the book was going well, now that the knots of the plot were beginning to get nicely tied up, was when he most needed a real fulcrum that would spur him on to take the story line firmly in hand to the denouement. The tension of one or two arguments, provoked by some trivial domestic or conjugal event, would be enough to simplify his task extraordinarily, to help him continue with it fearlessly. That’s why he was exasperated to the point of paroxysm by the laughter and whispers he heard through the neighbouring ventilation window. From the look of things, the Casares were not willing to make the slightest concession.
One day he went back to spying on the hallway, waiting for Enrique Casares to leave for work. Once again they met by the lift. They chatted, and Álvaro offered him a lift to the factory. The sticky heat of four in the afternoon didn’t keep them from carrying on a conversation in between the abstract protests of honking horns and the dun-coloured clouds of smoke escaping from exhaust pipes. They talked of politics. Casares criticised the government with a bitterness Álvaro thought out of character within his affable corpulence. He confessed to having voted for them in the previous elections, but now regretted it. Álvaro thought his neighbour’s vitality had turned into an almost agitated resentment. Casares said it was incredible that a left-wing government could play such rotten tricks on workers, the very people who’d voted them into office. Álvaro agreed, paying close attention to his words. There was a moment of silence. The car stopped in the factory car-park. Casares didn’t get out immediately and Álvaro realized he wanted to add something. Wringing his hands nervously, Casares asked him if he would mind, seeing as he was a legal adviser as well as a neighbour, if he consulted him about a personal problem that was worrying him. Álvaro said he’d love to be able to help. They agreed to meet the following day. Relieved and grateful, Enrique Casares said goodbye and Álvaro watched him walk away across the car-park under the burning afternoon sun.
At twelve noon the next day, Casares turned up at Álvaro’s apartment. They sat down on the sofa in the dining room. Álvaro asked him if he’d like something to drink; Casares politely declined. To assuage the tension his neighbour had written all over his face, Álvaro spoke of the happy proximity of the summer holidays. Casares practically interrupted him, no longer hiding his embarrassment.
‘It’d be best if we got straight to the point. I’m going to be frank with you.’ Álvaro said to himself that, although he still addressed the couple with the formal usted, they had both now definitively adopted the friendlier tú. The fact did not make him feel uncomfortable. ‘If I’ve resorted to this it’s only because I find myself in a bind and because I think I can trust you. The truth is I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t inspire confidence.’
Casares looked him frankly in the eye. Álvaro cleared his throat, prepared to offer all of his attention.
Enrique Casares explained that his company had begun a process of downsizing. This restructuring of the workforce affected him directly: they were now processing his redundancy. As he would have read in the papers, the workers had gone on strike, the union had broken off talks with the company and the ministry. For the majority of workers affected by these measures, the situation was hopeless. His own case, however, was different. Casares outlined the details that made his situation special. He said he wondered whether it might be possible to appeal against his dismissal with some chance of success and that, to avoid getting lost in a jungle of unfamiliar laws and decrees, he was going to need the help of a lawyer.
He added, ‘Of course, I’ll pay whatever it costs.’
Álvaro remained silent in his armchair, without the slightest gesture of assent or refusal. His visitor seemed relieved of a terrible burden. He said that he’d now gladly accept the beer Álvaro had offered earlier. Álvaro went to the kitchen, opened two beers, which they drank together. More relaxed, Casares said he couldn’t exaggerate the importance of the matter, since his salary from the factory was his family’s only source of sustenance. He begged him not to mention the matter to anyone: he’d been keeping it secret so as not to worry his wife unnecessarily. Álvaro promised he’d investigate the case thoroughly and assured him he’d communicate any concrete result as soon as he had one. They said goodbye.
V
For some time, the writing of the novel was put on hold. Álvaro spared no effort in studying Enrique Casares’ case. He obtained all the relevant information, examined it carefully, studied it, revised it several times, checked the case against other analogous ones. He arrived at the conclusion that, in effect, it would be possible to appeal against the redundancy, with a virtual guarantee of success. In the worst case, the severance pay the company should be obliged to provide if the dismissal was carried out was almost double the paltry sum his neighbour had been offered.
Once the situation was clarified, he reflected cautiously. He considered two options:
a) If he appealed the dismissal it was very likely Casares would manage to keep his job or, at least, that the damage would be far less — on the hypothesis that the company might choose to resort to a paragraph of the law which stated that they had no obligation to readmit a dismissed employee to his post. In this case — Álvaro continued — I will have won Casares’ gratitude, but I will also have lost time and money, since I have no intention of sinking so low as to charge him a fee.
b) If he allowed events to take their natural course, without intervening in them, he would still gain his neighbour’s friendship and appreciation, given that he would understand and respect all the disinterested attention Álvaro had devoted to his problem. Besides, Álvaro wouldn’t charge him a cent for all the time generously spent on it. On the other hand, it was certain that the loss of his job — their only source of sustenance — would have repercussions on the couple’s relationship, which might deteriorate in such a way as to make possible that he, Álvaro, might be able to expect to hear, from his surveillance post by the ventilation window, the vicissitudes of that process of deterioration, which he’d undoubtedly be able to use in his novel. This would facilitate his work enormously as he would enjoy the possibility, so long nurtured, of obtaining from the couple the material he needed to proceed with and conclude his work.