A nearly 29-year-old woman, Suzanne, is eating breakfast alone at an outdoor table in front of a diner in La Ceiba.
Boy, no older than 21 [pulling up in front of the diner on his bike and staring at Suzanne, speaking in English]: Hello. [a little louder to make up for Suzanne’s rudeness in not answering him] Hello-o. [She still ignores him. He is now practically yelling] Hell-O!
Suzanne [in Spanish, making a joke of boy’s rudeness for yelling at her by quoting the lyrics of a popular reggaeton song]: Deja el show!
Boy [smiles approvingly and flirtatiously while locking his bike to a fence in front of the diner]: Hello.
[Suzanne smiles but says nothing, continuing to eat the fried plantains and beans on her plate.]
Boy [looks one more time at Suzanne before heading into the diner]: Welcome!
[Suzanne feels like saying she doesn’t need a welcome, she has already been in the country for a year and a half, but lets the conversation drop and continues chewing.]
Boy [has come back out of the diner and leans against Suzanne’s table]: Yu espeek Espaneesh? I espeek Eenglesh. [pauses for effect]
Suzanne [making an effort to be friendly]: That’s great. Where’d you learn to speak English?
Boy: What?
Suzanne [giving him a second chance]: Where… did... you... learn... to speak… English?
Boy: Een dee eskool. Yu haf byooteefal nahws!
Suzanne: What?
Boy: Yu haf byooteefal nawhs! [seemingly changing topics] Oo-air ar yu frum?
Suzanne: [switches to Spanish] The States.
Boy [also switches to Spanish]: I think that most of the people who come here from the States and Canada have beautiful noses. Watch this! [wielding a blue ballpoint pen with his right hand, he holds up his left palm facing Suzanne and, with a flourish of the wrist, draws a single line representing the profile of her face]
Suzanne [pleasantly surprised by the show of artistic talent]: Very nice!
Boy [visibly pleased with himself, adds a femininely eyelashed eye]: Watch this! [draws what seems to be a mustache] And this!
Suzanne: Very nice! But you are drawing me to be prettier than I am in real life.
Boy [picking up on the hint]: No, no! You have a beautiful nose!
Suzanne [blushes, while years of low self-esteem caused by having a larger-than-normal nose fly out the window]: Tee hee hee!
Boy [still drawing]: What’s your name?
Suzanne [answering eagerly, caught off guard by the flattery]: Suzanne.
Boy [has written “Suzanne” in Gothic lettering underneath the now-completed profile]: See?
Suzanne [inspects his palm]: Wow!
Boy: I’m a tattoo artist.
Suzanne [notices a small blue-inked tear tattooed by the outside corner of his right eye]: Do you have any tattoos?
Boy: Yes… [Suzanne looks at him expectantly] Do you want to see it?
[Suzanne nods, slightly embarrassed to have asked]
[Boy pulls up a pant leg to reveal a faded Chinese dragon taking up most of his right calf]
Suzanne [not impressed but pretending to be]: Oh! Where did you learn to draw like that?
Boy [admiring the drawing on his palm]: In prison. I was there for a long time. There was nothing else to do there!
Suzanne [suddenly remembering that tear tattoos are only done in prison and signify either the number of years one has been there or the number of men one has killed, she can’t remember which]: Um…er, that’s great that you have a hobby!
Boy [innocently]: But everything has changed now. [stands up straight and looks back toward the entrance to the diner] I’m working now, so I have to go. It was very nice to meet you. [Flashes his eyes coquettishly and extends his hand for Suzanne to shake]
Suzanne [relieved to see him go]: Nice to meet you, too!
[They shake hands, and the boy goes into the diner. Suzanne quickly finishes her breakfast, and tries to slip unnoticed back into the diner to throw away her trash. The boy sees her as she is leaving.]
Boy [follows Suzanne out the door]: It was very nice to meet you…[Suzanne continues down the sidewalk as he watches from behind] VERY nice…
Suzanne [too loudly, revealing her discomfort]: Nice to meet you too! [turns around to look at him one more time while walking away, pretends not to be uneasy] Thanks for drawing me!
[The boy smiles and flashes his eyes one more time before walking back into the diner. Suzanne turns her back on him and walks away quickly, pretending she didn’t see.]
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