Yo-Yo Boing!

— It’s as smooth as nail polish. One of my assistants will teach you. I offered the job first to Leen, but Leen wanted to write about Olmo-Olmo, and I said, Oh, no, no Olmo-Olmo, you can only write about me.

— I told you, I don’t know if I can do the job, but I’ll try. If not, my translator will do it.

— Are you still writing poetry?

— I’m writing poetry disguised as a novel—you offered apologetically.

— There are no disguises here—I said—She’s writing a screen play.

— A screen play! — he said. Ya know—he pointed at you—ya know wha-what you are?

— Me? — You shrugged shyly.

— Ya, ya know wha-what you are?

— Wha-what?

— You’re a, you’re a pentagram—then he pointed at me—and you, ya know wha-what you are?

I rolled my tongue again—oops—frenó en el paladar — déjame parar — a ver si para—oops—frenó en el paladar — la lengua motada en la cólera de su frenillo.

Frenillo. Ponle freno a tus estribos.

Hold your horses — frena los caballos–

Hold your horses — relinchan los caballos–

Hold your horses—Whuiiiiii. Stop.

— Ya know wha-what you are? — he sta-stammered—You’re a, you’re a Yo-Yo. ¡BOING! Choqué contra el techo y me desperté. Wow—this is night. Silence reigned over the house. All the kids were asleep except me. I looked around the moonlit room and saw my rocking horse in the corner and a glowworm by the door. Somehow I climbed over the bars and landed belly up with my head thudding against the carpet. I crawled downstairs backwards, following the wizardly mumbling coming from the kitchen where my parents were arguing at the table. I stood up at the door and waved.

— Mírame a mí. Mírame a mí.

— My mother took one look at me and screamed.

–¡Un gargajo!

— I was so scared I scrambled upstairs on all fours and climbed into my sister’s bunk. But I showed them who I am. Notice me now. How I dared down the dark stairs crawling into a fight. Sure they noticed. None of my brothers ran into the traffic of the night and sent my mother into a fright.

— I guess it’s like when you least expect it, in the middle of the night, in the streets, near a dumpster, a mouse appears. You scream and in a flash the mouse disappears.

— I first appeared in Kalooki.

— You played a seal, didn’t you? I can imagine you balancing a beachball on your pugnose.

— There were plenty of silly animal tricks, but I landed a role that nobody dared.

— Nobody wanted.

— Kalooki tried to fly like a bird, but never pulled it off. Leopard Seal flopped and flounced around, but never left his rock. But me, I crossed the whole ocean, inch by inch, belly-crawling across the rug so gracefully, so quietly nobody noticed I was moving. I not only gave setting to the play, I gave a dwelling to the penguins.

— You let them step on you?

— On the quilt covering me. Such fierce concentration did I exercise that neither squawk nor squeak did part my kisser when Kalooki stepped on my fingertips. It was a humble role, but the power behind the play.

— Dog or woman?

— I didn’t bark or scream. I became what I had to become, an iceberg. Unable to see what the animals were doing, I was minding my own business, the business of crossing the whole ocean without melting, even though I was sweating like an ox. When the curtain fell, I was the one who went the farthest and accomplished the most. They clapped and hooted when I emerged pink and soppy, bowing: Here I am. Then I cartwheeled across the stage.

— Reminds me of when Jabalí and I drove through the mountains and there in front of us was an icy river.

— What’s this got to do with Jabalí?

— He used to fish in that river.

— What’s this got to do with me?

— He sat on a rock and fished with a needle and thread.

— How pathetic.

— How poetic. The fisherman and the iceberg. To know that my Pipo saved all those penguins from drowning. What a tender guy. When I looked into Jabi’s eyes I used to see el hilo verde de la esperanza, until I started feeling I was his rag and he was sticking needles in me.

— Wait till you feel my iceberg melting in your ocean.

— I prefer a fire burning in the heath of my house.