"When was that?"
"Let's see—about four years ago, now."
"Where are they?"
"Oakland. Sergio, Consuela, and Esperanza. What a crew."
"And their mother?"
"Gorgeous. Constanza. I met her on a bus in Guayaquil."
"Guayaquil?"
"I was just back from the Galapagos. Remember, we talked about going there sometime."
"Blue-footed boobys," Arthur said.
"Exactly," Penn said. "And the tortoises. Amazing! I was in the money. I took a couple of months to go down and check out some of the places we lived when I was a kid. My Spanish came back. Had a good time. Anyway, I was on a city bus when Constanza got on with the kids. The bus was full, so I gave her my seat. The kids were crawling all over her. She had that long black hair, you know, red cheeks, bright eyes, one of those solid bodies for the ages—we started joking around, made a date to meet at a park the next day. Have you been there?"