“It’s a case of denial,” Jack said. “It’s a textbook case, I’m not sure what book, but all I know is that any shrink would make you feel you’ve got to give it up, let someone else have it.”

“Could we talk about someone else, please?” I asked.

“You mean, could we play get the guest rather than hump the host?” Jack asked.

“Something like that.”

The main waiter at our table who looked Paraguayan flirted with us and smiled at us every time he passed.

“Ask him if he’s married,” Jack said. “Tell him I have the hots for him.”

When he took our dessert order, Pablo asked him if he was married. He told us that he had two children. A few moments later he returned with a photograph of a small-faced smiling wife and two young girls.

“It’s such a waste, a guy like that being married,” Jack said. Each time the waiter walked by the table he smiled at us more and more.

“I think he’s queer,” Mart said. “I think that’s why he’s smiling.”

“Is there anywhere we could go?” Mart asked. “A gay bar where we wouldn’t get beaten up?”

“And guys like our waiter could be standing against the wall?” Jack added.

“There’s one bar,” I said. “I haven’t been there for a long time, but everyone is frightened. They stare straight ahead as though someone is going to tell everyone their big secret.”

“There are two bathhouses,” Pablo added.

“Bathhouses? Are you serious?” Jack asked. “Can we go?”

“You can go,” I said, “but I don’t want to go, and I don’t want Pablo to go.”

“Come on, let’s go. It’s our last night. What about it, Mart?”

“I’ll go,” Mart said. “I’ll wear my T-shirt so no one can see my line. Yeah, let’s go. Will there be people there?”

“Yeah, this is probably a good time,” Pablo said.

“Pablo, you want to come. I know you want to come,” Mart said.

Pablo looked at me. I shook my head.

“I’ll walk up to the door with you,” I said.

“Will you not come with us?” Pablo asked.

“Who said you’re going?” I asked him.

“Come on, we’re all going,” Mart said.

“Let’s pay the bill and I’ll walk you to the door. I’ll get a taxi home and you can use the car,” I said to Pablo. We left the waiter a large tip.

It was a warm evening and everyone looked beautiful on the street. I realized that Jack and Mart had not seen enough of Buenos Aires in the hours around midnight when deeply suntanned people dress up and saunter in the street, when Argentinians look spectacular. I was about to say that the next time they came they could stay in my apartment and wander around here every night, but I realized that you could not talk to Mart about a next time. I wondered what Jack would be like on his own, without a companion, but he would probably not want to come back here because it would remind him of Mart.