"You speak English?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"Fifty for a fuck, thirty for sucking."

"How much for talking?"

You grin, manifesting your contempt at the very idea of talking with a customer.

"Same price. Fifty for fifteen minutes."

I’m standing on the sidewalk. You open the door to negotiate, and I can take a better look at you now. Black hair, little nose, beauty spot on the left cheek. You’re the one I am looking for. No shade of doubt. My baby.

"You’d rather suck my dick than talk with me, huh?!"

You laugh at that. A good sign, a sign that you’ll respond. I smile back at you. The girls in the street are semi-naked, but my babe wears a pair of trousers whose metallic tint glows in the night. My baby has style, always had.

"Where are you from?"

"Czechoslovakia."

"Good. I think I’ll buy some of your precious time."

You lock the door behind me and guide me in. I follow you through a maze of corridors and staircases. It is a sex building comprised of several houses. Every inch of it has been used in order to cram as many rooms as possible. A strong smell of sperm and cheap deodorants invade the hallways.

You bring me to a room on the second or third floor. The room is small. There is a bed next to the right wall, and a closet to the left. I take off my jacket, and put it on the bedside. I sit next to it, close to the door. There are no windows. I can almost reach the wall in front of me with the brace of my arm. You have to hop over to reach the end of the bed. You sit on the mattress, leaning your back against the outer corner.

"Do you mind if I turn off the lights?"

Did you understand? I reach out for the switch and turn the lights off. You mumble something in Czech, then you go silent. Our eyes soon grow accustomed to the dimness of the room. There is a faint radiance of neon lights permeating through the slits of the door. On the wall, our shadows are big and dark. Bigger and darker than our real selves.