Fede knew a lot of things, she thought. Just like Mauricio. Although they knew different things. What Mauricio knew mostly had to do with superhero stories. She liked Fede, same as Mauricio. But Mauricio didn’t hug her like Fede did. In fact, Mauricio almost never hugged her, what he did was take her arms and make her hit herself in the face with her own hands while he asked her, “Why are you hitting yourself?” or attack her with tickles until she couldn’t take it anymore. And one time, she hadn’t been able to stand it and she’d peed her pants, and Mauricio had laughed for like two hours, until she’d started crying from shame. Then he told her to go to the bathroom and take off her wet underwear so he could wash them and dry them with the hair dryer, and that’s what happened, and when her mother came to pick her up that night, Mauricio didn’t say anything, he didn’t tell on her for peeing her pants.

“I’d love to study astronomy. I graduate from high school this year, but I’m not doing so well. And astronomy is a really hard major, I wouldn’t have the head for it,” admitted Fede, a little gloomily. “And, well, it looks like we’re not going to see UFOs today.”

Josefa giggled at his accent, so Argentine and exaggerated.

“What’re you laughing at? You laughing at me, midget?” said Fede, teasing. “Let’s see, stand up, let’s just see how tall you are. I bet you don’t even come up to my knees.”

Josefa laughed again, and Fede threw his cigarette into the sand.

“Litter bug!” she said, growing more confident.

“What do you mean, litter bug? Who’re you calling a litter bug?” He let her tumble from his arms into the sand, took the shovel away from her, and stuck it into the sand behind him. Then he took Josefa under the armpits and stood her up in front of him.

“Let’s see, let me look at you,” he said, bringing his hand to his chin as if in doubt. He pulled off the blanket that covered her.

“Do you like me?” he asked her, his hand still on his chin, his eyes half closed.

Josefa looked down at the sand and nodded.

“How much do you like me? From here to the moon?”

She nodded again. She thought Fede was the cutest boy on the face of the earth, as cute as the leading men on TV, or her father in old photos from when he was young.

“I like you from here to Pluto,” he said, and he lifted her face with his hand so she would look him in the eyes. “There and back.”

“What about Paola?”

“Paola? Who’s Paola?”

“From cabin nine.”