“Afterwards, when things are changed, it would mean a good deal to you.”
“I know it. I’m all for you. But I can’t do it.” “Why not?”
“I make my living with the boat. If I lose her I lose my living.”
“With the money you buy another boat.”
“Not in jail.”
They must have thought I just needed to be argued into it because the one kept on.
“You would have three thousand dollars and it could mean a great deal to you later. All this will not last, you know.”
“Listen,” I said. “I don’t care who is President here. But I don’t carry anything to the States that can talk.”
“You mean we would talk?” one of them who hadn’t spoke said. He was angry.
“I said anything that can talk.”
“Do you think we are lenguas largas?”
“No.”
“Do you know what a lengua larga is?”
“Yes. One with a long tongue.”
“Do you know what we do with them?”
“Don’t be tough with me,” I said. “You propositioned me. I didn’t offer you anything.”
“Shut up, Pancho,” the one who had done the talking before said to the angry one.
“He said we would talk,” Pancho said.
