s. Remember, we talked about going
there sometime."

"Blue-footed boobys," Arthur said.

"Exactly," Penn said. "And the tortoises. Amazing! I was in the money.
I took a couple of months to go down and check out some of the places
we lived when I was a kid. My Spanish came back. Had a good time.
Anyway, I was on a city bus when Constanza got on with the kids. The
bus was full, so I gave her my seat. The kids were crawling all over
her. She had that long black hair, you know, red cheeks, bright eyes,
one of those solid bodies for the ages--we started joking around, made
a date to meet at a park the next day. Have you been there?"

"Never have."

"You can imagine--hot, steamy, crowded, flowers everywhere. We had fun,
the five of us. She turned out to be smart, full of life. She'd just
come from Quito and was trying to find work and a place to live. She
was staying with a cousin and running out of money."

"The father was in Quito?"

"Yes. A hell of a thing. He was from a family that had been there for
centuries. I guess he and Constanza got into it when they were very
young. The family allowed her to stay on one of their properties, paid
all the bills. She kept having babies. The situation changed, and she
was let go. I don't know whether the guy was tired of her or whether he
married or took a position in the family empire that wouldn't allow the
arrangement or what."

"Terrible," Arthur said.

"Constanza was sad, but she wasn't bitter. She loved him. She was from
a poor family, and she had a good life for a while--that's how she
looked at it. When she told me the story I thought, for once in your
life, be useful. I married her. In a couple of months we were all set
up in California, kids in school learning English, the whole trip."

"Incredible," Arthur said.

"It was fine for a few years. Then I got restless. The kids kept us
going, but the relationship was out of gas. I didn't know what to do. I
had cash flow problems. But I got lucky and made a good call in the
market. I figured I'd better change things while I could, so I told
Constanza that we were going to take a vacation in Quito. Took her and
the kids, and, as soon as we got there, I explained that I had to leave
the marriage. I gave her all the money I had, enough to buy her a house
and get her started. You know what she said? 'No way! We're going back
to California.' She took the money, and two weeks later she and the
kids were back in the city. Sh