La Casa de Papel (Palermo) // Translation

31. antes de (penultimate)

2017, 9 months before the Bank of Spain raid.

Villa 31, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Nona opens the door of her house and whoever is on the other side gives her a pleasant surprise. "Sergio!" the lady exclaims, touched and delighted to see him, and he enters the house.

"I'm so glad to see you, Nona," Sergio says as his cheeks are pressed by her. Sergio loved going to Argentina every year to visit the nanny who took care of him and Berlin when they were little. The affection Sergio feels for her is the same as he feels for his mother.

"Come on, sit down. You surprised me. I'll start cooking in a moment," the lady says, searching in the drawer with pots and taking out a packet of pasta. "And Andres?" she asks, noticing his absence.

"He couldn't come this year because they didn't give him vacation from work," he lies, not wanting to tell her that he just discovered his brother's illness. this news would kill her with disgust. Sergio distracts himself by looking out the window at the precarious area, the people who live there and the view thanks to the fact that he's on the third floor of some sort of building.

"How many days are you staying?" Nona asks while chopping onions and tomatoes.

"I'm staying until dark because I actually came to get some stuff for a project I'm working on," he explains, leaving out that it's about a robbery on the Bank of Spain.

"Very good, I'll prepare some cakes and a take away dinner for you", Sergio smiles. a few shots in the street make him get up from his chair. "Don't worry," Nona says, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "That's how things are done here." Sergio looks out the window and down the street from there. A young man with a girl hides behind a car and shoots at two other men who are hiding behind a pole. the people passing run away screaming while locking themselves in their homes. "Surely he is Chintya's husband." But the girl is the one who gets all of Sergio's attention.

"There's a girl," he now says, anxious, nervous, but somehow amazed.

"Indeed it is," Nona confirms, who cooks so normally, as if this Balasera were just Sergio's fantasy. "Get away from the window or a stray bullet will hit you."

"So this is normal?" he asks, because what's happening down there isn't extraterrestrial. Nothing that doesn't happen in a slum. but he cannot take his eyes off the girl.

"Yes. Cinthya's husband is always fixing things for the balasos. He's a soldier here for a narco. He also spends the dirty money he earns on more drugs. And on top of that he steals. I think he prefers to play the gunslinger.” Sergio watches the chase. this girl who shoots with great skill, hides and knows exactly when to come out and return the shots. The men escape in a car that makes a lot of noise. the girl and the young man emerge from their hiding place as if nothing had happened and trott off until they disappear around the corner.

"and you?" Sergio asks curiously and sits back down at the table.

"She hardly ever does that. Very rarely does she come out to defend him from gunfire. Just today was such a time,” she says, pouring the vegetables into the tomato sauce. "Even if they are both loved in the neighborhood. They are very young. They could have a decent life, study, work. For example, I regret that. They are my children's age, both a shame", Sergio remains thoughtful. and thinks. and thinks. This girl reminds him of Silene, whom he only met a week ago, but who she has already been able to recruit. and feels that he can do this Can't let go of potential Rotting in this neighborhood.

"How come these young people carry these guns?" he asks her, who is preparing napkins.

"I don't know, dear. But they even have machine guns. And you don't know how they use them. The drug world. These neighborhoods are no man's land. They think they own these streets. Every little problem will be solved by shooting. No matter where, when or who is there. If a stray bullet hits you, fuck you. Nobody will care. The police rarely come here. The ambulances aren't even coming here. Imagine that." Sergio listens to everything very carefully, as if he was studying.