Pablo spoke quietly, as though what he was saying was a big secret. He explained how his mother believed that he was in San Francisco staying with Jack. It was unlikely she would make contact, he said, but if she did, he wanted Jack to say he had just gone out for a walk, and then ring Pablo at this number to alert him to the fact that his mother was on the warpath. Pablo made wah-wah sounds like an Indian in a cowboy movie. When he had stopped laughing he said that maybe he should not burden Jack with inventing an alibi to keep his mother at bay, but Jack seemed to say that it was all right. Pablo said that he would phone him again soon.

He put down the phone and dialed his mother’s number. He told her that he was well, and he was thinking of staying on for another while, and he gave her Jack’s number. He listened patiently as his mother spoke. He made a sign to me as though he were conducting an orchestra. He listened some more, and then he told her that he would have to go. He put down the phone and lay back on the sofa.

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “At some stage I will have to talk to my family about being sick, and it will be difficult. Will you promise to help me through all of that?”

“Yes, I will,” I said. “I will promise that.”

I made lunch and watched him as he tried to eat.

“I hated the hospital,” he said. “It’s only now I realize how much I hated it. If I ever see another tray of food I will get sick. I hate all those doctors and all those corridors. I’d love to feel that I would never have to see them again, but there’s no chance.”

We walked down to the water and watched as two teenagers undid the ropes of a small sailing boat and tried to raise the sail.

“It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be them now,” Pablo said. “Being healthy and young like that, having it all ahead of you.”

“I like the dark one,” I said.

“Yes, so do I.”

We sat down on the quayside and watched them working at the sail. There was hardly any wind, but the sky was filling up with clouds. We looked out at the water and said nothing. I noticed that Pablo was shivering with the cold. We stood up and walked back toward the house.

“You’re going to stay for a while then?” I said.

“Yes, I am.” He leaned over and put his arm around me. “I’m going to stay for a while. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”