她在一次舞會上遇到他。也挺漂亮的，年輕。說他在一家餐館工作，可她不記得是哪一家。傑拉爾多。就這些。綠色的褲子，星期六的襯衫。傑拉爾多。他告訴她的就這些。
她怎麼會知道她是最後一個見到他活著的人呢？一場事故，你不明白嗎？司機撞了人就跑掉了。瑪琳，各種各樣的舞會她都去。上城。搖石。使館。帕爾默。阿拉貢。噴泉。莊園。她喜歡跳舞。她知道怎麼跳昆比亞、薩爾薩，甚至還有蘭切拉 。而他只是一個和她跳舞的人。一個她那晚的偶遇。是這樣的。
事情就是這樣。她說了一遍又一遍。一次對醫院裡的人，兩次對警察。沒有地址。沒有姓名。口袋裡什麼都沒有。倒霉吧。
只是瑪琳無法解釋自己為什麼會在意，對一個她甚至不認識的人，一個小時又一個小時過去了。醫院的急救室。除了一個實習生在那裡忙，沒有人來。如果他沒失那麼多血，也許外科醫生會來，如果外科醫生來了，他們會知道去通知誰通知哪裡。
可這有什麼不一樣呢？他又不是她什麼人。他不是她的男朋友或類似男朋友的人。只是又一個不會講英語的墨西哥苦力 。又一個偷渡客 。你知道那些人。看上去總是自慚形穢的人。可凌晨三點她在那裡做什麼呢？和她的外套以及一些阿司匹林一起被送回家的瑪琳，她怎麼解釋呢？
她在一次舞會上遇到他。穿著綠色褲子和閃亮襯衫的傑拉爾多。參加舞會的傑拉爾多。
可這有什麼關係呢？
他們從未見過那個小廚房。他們從不知道他租的那套兩室公寓和幾間睡房。每周寄回家裡的薪水匯票，還有兌換的貨幣。他們怎麼知道呢？
他的名字叫傑拉爾多。他的家在另外一個國家。他留在身後的人在遠方，他們會奇怪，聳聳肩，又想起來。傑拉爾多，他去了北面……我們再也沒收到過他的信了。
She met him at a dance. Pretty too, and young. Said he worked in a restaurant, but she ''t remember whie. Geraldo. That''s all. Green pants and Saturday shirt. Geraldo. That''s what he told her.
And how was she to know she''d be the last oo see him alive. An act, don''t you know. Hit-and-run. Marin, she goes to all those dances. Uptown. Logan. Embassy. Palmer. Aragon. Fontana. The Manor. She likes to dance. She knows how to do cumbias and salsas and rancheras even. And he was just someone she danced with. Somebody she met that night. That''s right.
That''s the story. That''s what she said again and again. Oo the hospital people and twice to the polio address. No name. Nothing in his pockets. Ain''t it a shame.
Only Marin ''t explain why it mattered, the hours and hours, for somebody she didn''t even know. The hospital emergen. Nobody but an intern w all alone. And maybe if the surgeon would''ve e, maybe if he hadn''t lost so much blood, if the surgeon had only e, they would know who to notify and where.
But what difference does it make? He wasn''t anything to her. He wasn''t her boyfriend or anything like that. Just another brazer who didn''t speak English. Just another wetback. You know the kind. The ones who always look ashamed. And what was she doing out at three a.m.anyway? Marin who was sent home with her coat and some aspirin. How does she explain?
She met him at a dance. Geraldo in his shiny shirt and green pants. Geraldo going to a dance.
What does it matter?
They never saw the kitettes. They never knew about the two-room flats and sleeping rooms he rehe weekly money orders sent home, the currency exge. How could they?
His name was Geraldo. And his home is in another try. The ones he left behind are far away, will wonder, shrug, remember. Geraldo——he went north……we never heard from him again.