No One Writes To The Colonel

Damaso, a 20-year-old man returns at dawn to the small room he shares with his wife, Ana, who is six months pregnant. Damaso finds Ana sitting on their bed, fully clothed. Damaso realizes that Ana has been "waiting for him every minute through the whole night" (77). As they embrace, Ana tells Damaso she fell asleep waiting for him and dreamed he came back "drenched with blood" (77).

Damaso pushes Ana back onto the bed, places a red kerchief in her lap, then goes out to their patio to urinate. Ana unties it to find three billiard balls, "dull and very worn from use" (77). When Damaso returns, Ana asks him what good the balls are. Damaso stashes the billiard balls in a trunk and the couple lies down in bed. Damaso tells Ana there was "nothing else" (78) in the pool hall except for "twenty-five cents in the drawer" (78). Ana tells Damaso he shouldn't have taken anything.

Damaso, sobering up, tells Ana there was "an enormous white cat" (79) in the pool hall. Then, "conscious of the risks" (79), Damaso tells Ana about "the details of his adventure" (79). Ana responds that it was "crazy" (79) and Damaso says it wasn't bad for a first attempt.