“It’s all right, UFOs are as harmless as the stars,” he soothed her, “and plus, you’re with me.” Her mother had told her to behave with Fede, because the Argentines were going to help them. Josefa didn’t want to make her mother look bad, or to disobey her. Lately her mother had been scolding her a lot, and she didn’t want to get into any more trouble. She didn’t want to disappoint her anymore.

“Can I bring my shovel?” asked Josefa, still a bit unsure. It wasn’t a toy plastic shovel, but a real one, a metal one her mother used for gardening and that Josefa had begged to borrow, to bring with her on vacation. An adult tool. Josefa’s dream was to become an adult quickly, wake up one day and realize that she was a grown-up and could do all the things adults did, or that she thought adults did, like use a metal shovel and not a plastic one.

“Sure,” said Fede, smiling. “You never know when it might come in handy.”

Josefa pointed him to where it was. He pulled the covers off her, picked up the shovel from the nightstand, and knelt down, holding it horizontally in his hands as if he were offering her a sword. Josefa took it, laughing, and held it tightly. “See, I’m a real knight-errant,” said Fede, and he wrapped her in a blanket and picked her up, feeling his way in the darkness.

At that early morning hour the beach was deserted. Fede said that if they were going to see a UFO they’d have to get as far away as possible from civilization. He crossed the rock bed that edged the cabins to reach a small deposit of sand. Cradled in his arms like that, Josefa could see part of Fede’s profile against a starry background. Still holding her he sat down in the sand, then tilted his head back to look at the sky.

Several minutes passed and Fede stayed in the same position, thoughtful and silent, maintaining a certain gravity, as if to add scientific authority to the matter. If it hadn’t been for the cold, Josefa would have fallen asleep.

“Look,” said Fede suddenly. He pointed up, and his index finger followed a luminous ball as it slowly crossed the sky. Josefa clutched the shovel more tightly and brought it to her chest and started to tremble, although not out of fear of the UFO, but because she was cold.