Valentina brought the boy to the elevator and tried to convince him that I would leave alone, with five large suitcases and two handbags. Sitting in the cab, I waited for the forty minutes she needed to fool the child into going to the bed. We were both quietly at the airport, where the clerk asked her for an autograph and checked out the excess baggage. In the VIP room, I asked for two glasses of champagne, we spoke cheers and nothing else. When the speaker announced the flight to New York, I think I saw a slight contraction in her lips, but Valentina got up quickly, gave me a kiss on the head, and disappeared pulling the wheel case. I ordered another champagne and flipped through a magazine full of faces that seemed out of focus. Valentina's expression was still clear in my mind as she opened the passage I had given her in a suede wallet wrapped in tissue paper.
