WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.990 align:middle line:84% So I guess I'll just read through the last section, which 00:00:03.990 --> 00:00:04.980 align:middle line:90% is-- 00:00:04.980 --> 00:00:08.160 align:middle line:84% I'm sure you can barely remember this but our man is-- 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:11.235 align:middle line:84% he's having problems with his girlfriend. 00:00:11.235 --> 00:00:14.508 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:14.508 --> 00:00:17.710 align:middle line:90% 00:00:17.710 --> 00:00:22.180 align:middle line:84% So let me just read a part so that you 00:00:22.180 --> 00:00:24.040 align:middle line:84% could get these characters who end up 00:00:24.040 --> 00:00:25.420 align:middle line:90% making our ending happening. 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:29.500 align:middle line:84% I was-- the other side of story to this story 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:31.510 align:middle line:90% was when I was in Santo Domingo. 00:00:31.510 --> 00:00:34.010 align:middle line:90% When I was a student. 00:00:34.010 --> 00:00:37.000 align:middle line:84% I hadn't gotten my passport straightened out 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:39.910 align:middle line:84% until general amnesty came down, and I finally 00:00:39.910 --> 00:00:41.500 align:middle line:84% got my passport straightened out. 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:44.350 align:middle line:84% And that year when my passport came through they 00:00:44.350 --> 00:00:48.550 align:middle line:84% were advertising at Cornell for interpreters 00:00:48.550 --> 00:00:51.860 align:middle line:90% with dentistry background. 00:00:51.860 --> 00:00:55.210 align:middle line:84% And so I like signed up for a dentistry mission. 00:00:55.210 --> 00:00:58.240 align:middle line:84% And I said that I had a dentistry background, 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:00.280 align:middle line:84% that I was a med student and stuff, 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:03.110 align:middle line:84% and because I just wanted to go to Santo Domingo for free. 00:01:03.110 --> 00:01:05.080 align:middle line:84% And so we got on the plane and I told them 00:01:05.080 --> 00:01:07.150 align:middle line:84% I didn't know nothing about dentistry, 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:11.150 align:middle line:84% which was-- they were pissed but I was on the plane. 00:01:11.150 --> 00:01:12.826 align:middle line:90% And so I spent-- 00:01:12.826 --> 00:01:15.598 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:15.598 --> 00:01:19.420 align:middle line:84% I spent like four weeks in the Campo of Santo Domingo 00:01:19.420 --> 00:01:21.280 align:middle line:90% being a dental assistant. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:22.330 align:middle line:90% We were just seeing-- 00:01:22.330 --> 00:01:26.350 align:middle line:84% we were seeing poor kids and I learned so much 00:01:26.350 --> 00:01:27.100 align:middle line:90% about dentistry. 00:01:27.100 --> 00:01:30.310 align:middle line:84% And we saw like 1,600 kids in five days. 00:01:30.310 --> 00:01:33.640 align:middle line:84% And we pulled like 2,400 molars and stuff. 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:35.620 align:middle line:84% And part of that came from this experience. 00:01:35.620 --> 00:01:38.800 align:middle line:84% So I kept wanting to write about the dentistry trip. 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:41.110 align:middle line:84% And the vice president of Santo Domingo 00:01:41.110 --> 00:01:45.287 align:middle line:84% kept showing up to get his picture taken with us. 00:01:45.287 --> 00:01:46.120 align:middle line:90% And I kept writing-- 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:48.412 align:middle line:84% wanting to write about the dentistry and the only thing 00:01:48.412 --> 00:01:50.050 align:middle line:84% that remained was the vice president 00:01:50.050 --> 00:01:53.140 align:middle line:84% because all the dentistry came off corny. 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.720 align:middle line:90% So this is this section. 00:01:55.720 --> 00:01:58.690 align:middle line:84% This is after his girlfriend decides to break out on him. 00:01:58.690 --> 00:02:02.560 align:middle line:84% "That night I loiter around the pool and the local bar, 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:04.240 align:middle line:90% Club Cacique. 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:06.640 align:middle line:90% Magda is nowhere to be found. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.990 align:middle line:84% I meet a Dominicana from West New York though, fly of course. 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:14.560 align:middle line:84% Riqueño, with the most outrageous perm on this side 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:15.640 align:middle line:90% of Dyckman. 00:02:15.640 --> 00:02:17.650 align:middle line:84% Lucy's her name, and she's hanging out 00:02:17.650 --> 00:02:19.600 align:middle line:84% with three of her teenage cousins. 00:02:19.600 --> 00:02:22.450 align:middle line:84% When she removes her robe to dive into the pool 00:02:22.450 --> 00:02:25.580 align:middle line:84% I see a spider web of scars across her stomach. 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:29.080 align:middle line:84% And she tells me in Spanish, "I have family in La Romana 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:30.790 align:middle line:90% but I refuse to stay with them. 00:02:30.790 --> 00:02:31.840 align:middle line:90% No way. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:34.990 align:middle line:84% My uncle won't let any of us out of the house after dark. 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:37.000 align:middle line:84% So I'd rather go broke and stay here 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.130 align:middle line:90% to be locked in that prison." 00:02:39.130 --> 00:02:42.910 align:middle line:84% I also meet these two older rich dudes drinking cognac 00:02:42.910 --> 00:02:45.100 align:middle line:84% at the bar who introduced themselves 00:02:45.100 --> 00:02:48.940 align:middle line:84% as the vice president and Barbaro, his bodyguard. 00:02:48.940 --> 00:02:52.670 align:middle line:84% I must have the footprint of fresh disaster on my face. 00:02:52.670 --> 00:02:55.630 align:middle line:84% They listen to my troubles like there are a couple of gobbles 00:02:55.630 --> 00:02:57.400 align:middle line:90% and I'm talking murder. 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:58.630 align:middle line:90% They commiserate. 00:02:58.630 --> 00:03:00.820 align:middle line:84% It's 1,000 degrees out and the mosquitoes 00:03:00.820 --> 00:03:03.340 align:middle line:84% hum like they're about to inherit the Earth. 00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:06.250 align:middle line:84% But both these cats are wearing expensive suits 00:03:06.250 --> 00:03:10.450 align:middle line:84% and Barbaro is even sporting a purple ascot. 00:03:10.450 --> 00:03:13.450 align:middle line:84% Once a soldier tried to saw open his neck 00:03:13.450 --> 00:03:15.310 align:middle line:90% and now he covers the scar. 00:03:15.310 --> 00:03:18.130 align:middle line:90% "I am a modest man," he says. 00:03:18.130 --> 00:03:21.100 align:middle line:84% I go off to phone the room, no Magda. 00:03:21.100 --> 00:03:23.960 align:middle line:84% I check the reception, no messages. 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:26.380 align:middle line:84% So I return to the bar and smile. 00:03:26.380 --> 00:03:29.770 align:middle line:84% The vice president is a young brother in his late 30s, 00:03:29.770 --> 00:03:32.500 align:middle line:90% pretty cool for a chupabarrio. 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:37.270 align:middle line:84% He advises me to find another woman, make her bella y negra. 00:03:37.270 --> 00:03:40.060 align:middle line:90% And I think Cassandra. 00:03:40.060 --> 00:03:42.910 align:middle line:84% The vice president waves his hand and shots of rum 00:03:42.910 --> 00:03:46.240 align:middle line:84% appear so fast you'd think it's science fiction. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:49.390 align:middle line:84% "Jealousy is the best way to jump start a relationship," 00:03:49.390 --> 00:03:50.980 align:middle line:90% the vice president says. 00:03:50.980 --> 00:03:53.800 align:middle line:84% I learned that when I was at University. 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:57.220 align:middle line:84% "You dance with another woman, dance merengue with her 00:03:57.220 --> 00:04:00.670 align:middle line:84% and see if your jeva is not roused to action." 00:04:00.670 --> 00:04:03.400 align:middle line:90% "You mean roused to violence." 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.560 align:middle line:90% "She hit you?" he said. 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:08.170 align:middle line:84% "When I first told her she chopped me-- 00:04:08.170 --> 00:04:10.450 align:middle line:84% she smacked me right across the chops." 00:04:10.450 --> 00:04:13.750 align:middle line:84% "Pero, hermano, why did you tell her?" 00:04:13.750 --> 00:04:15.190 align:middle line:90% Barbaro wants to know. 00:04:15.190 --> 00:04:17.560 align:middle line:90% "Why didn't you just deny it." 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:20.529 align:middle line:84% "Compadre, she received a letter. 00:04:20.529 --> 00:04:22.480 align:middle line:90% It had evidence." 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:25.390 align:middle line:84% The vice president smiles fantastically. 00:04:25.390 --> 00:04:27.850 align:middle line:84% And I can see why he's a vice president. 00:04:27.850 --> 00:04:31.990 align:middle line:84% Later when I get home, I tell my mother about this whole mess 00:04:31.990 --> 00:04:33.850 align:middle line:84% and she'll tell me what this brother is 00:04:33.850 --> 00:04:35.560 align:middle line:90% the vice president of. 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:38.860 align:middle line:84% "They only hit you," he says, "when they care. 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:39.400 align:middle line:90% Amen." 00:04:39.400 --> 00:04:41.060 align:middle line:90% Barbaro murmured. 00:04:41.060 --> 00:04:42.500 align:middle line:90% Amen." 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:43.000 align:middle line:90%