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Back Loop Save as PDF
Chapters (33)
  1. Loop
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. A note on the text
  33. Copyright

I went for lunch with Ernesto. It was nice to see him. At one point he said that the most violent men are often short: ‘It makes sense, maybe in self-defence they turn into the bastards who push everyone else around. There’s Napoleon, who was the size of this salt cellar. Remember my brother’s boss? Another tyrant, he’s been one since primary school. And what about the cartel boss they caught yesterday, did you see on the news? The man’s a midget. Or our diminutive president, who always appears in cartoons in a suit three sizes too big. Being too tall has the opposite effect. That was one of my dad’s theories, he said people who are too tall bumble around like big dogs.’

Yesterday I realised I’m coming to the end of this Ideal notebook and went out to look for some more. Needless to say, I didn’t find any. In an old stationery shop in the Escandón I found a notebook from around the same time. The name of the brand is Atlántida. It has the figure of Atlas on it, along with the slogan ‘Guarantee and quality’; those words, in rounded text, form a world that the person is carrying on his back. One good thing about Ideal notebooks is that they don’t have slogans. Ideal things are ideal in the eye of the reader, like a mirror-word, a natural word that reflects us. In another, even older stationery shop, I found some notebooks that are similar to Ideal ones. I bought two. I wonder which one is the imitation of the other.

I had some mezcal with Philippe and Luis Felipe. Mario turned up; he was on his way to another table, but he sat with us for a while. According to him, the other, similar notebooks are older than the Ideals. ‘How do you know?’ ‘Because a man in a stationery shop in Roma told me,’ he answered. I described the conversation with the old lady in the stationer’s in Oaxaca. We swapped stories about things we’ve been told by people in stationery shops. I gave him one of the notebooks I had in my rucksack.

I also bought an old-style pen with a fine tip. This pen feels more comfortable to write with than the last one. Like a pair of made-to-measure shoes. I can run – see? And I can write more quickly, look how well I’m doing at this speed. I’m running. Oh, look, I’m messing up my hair. And I can write whatever I want without stopping because this nib suits the size of my writing. Oh, it’s amazing, I’ve found my ideal pen.

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