‘The bathroom, like almost all bathrooms, is at the back and to the left,’ she answered, without looking at me. She offered some orange peel to the young men, who were lounging like lazy cats, as if they’d grown up among panthers. On the way to the bathroom I saw, in the darkness, two rooms decorated in different styles. One Persian and one French. The bathroom was quite big, with antique furniture. A hand-painted screen surrounded the toilet. Even the soap I used to wash my hands seemed to have a story, a history. It had the scent of another era, as if a family had made the soap for Catalina just like they made them in her childhood in Italy.

Nina made a face at me, as if to say, ‘What are we doing here?’ Catalina was holding forth to her friend’s children and Tepepunk, and still avoiding the two of us. A woman who can’t stand the presence of other women, her behaviour seemed to suggest. But at the same time, she was talking to them as if she wanted the two of us to look at her and take her in, as if she were displaying her plumage: ‘Such a shame, boys, that you never saw New York in our day. Now that was nightlife, nothing like now. We’ve still got the apartment, you can go with your father whenever you like, but there’s no real nightlife any more. When I was there, you wouldn’t catch anyone getting up before noon. Anything interesting began at two in the morning.’

I looked at her tiny, well-manicured hands, her slender fingers, her discreet gold ring, as she began to weave names and stories together, addressing Tepepunk all the while. Federico Fellini, Coco Chanel, Picasso: ‘Like that magnificent paella Buñuel made at his house in Del Valle, not to mention the pasta my dear Federico taught me to make in Roma. Not many people know this, but Federico was an excellent cook, he could put any chef in this city to shame. And just think, his forte was still making films.’

Vico, the young men’s father, came in with a brown paper bag. ‘You won’t believe the wine I found, my dear,’ and then he said something in Italian as he wiped his shoes on the mat by the door. The rest of us moved into the dining room. The three of us exchanged glances, and made a whispered plan to go for a drink when we left.