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Irene: Don't say that, Raimunda, or I'll start crying. And ghosts don't cry.
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Sole: Mom?
Irene: Hum?
Sole: There's something you want me to do, isn't?
Irene: Cut my hair.
Sole: I mean if there's something you couldn't do alive and doesn't let you rest.
Irene: There are always things undone. Or bad done. And my life has been no exception. Look, I don't know if I can fix them, but if I can, it's up to me to do it.
Sole: [after a long silence] Customers will arrive soon. What are we going to do?
Irene: We attend to them. I'll help you.
Sole: But I can't introduce you as my mother. They all know I'm an orphan.
Irene: Then I'll pretend to be foreign.
Sole: Foreign? Where from?
Irene: ¿Dominican?
Sole: No. There are lots of them on the neighborhood and they would notice the accent.
Irene: ¿Chinese? Madrid is full of Chinese people.
Sole: Who's going to believe that you're from China, mom?
[Thinks]
Sole: Something strange. Not very common around here... Rusian.
Irene: Do wou really think I look more Rusian than Chinese?
Sole: Yes. Rusian women are just like us, mom. Look, whatever you hear, keep your mouth shut. And it can't looked in your face that you understand us.
María Isabel Díaz Lago
Extended Reading
