A room somewhere in Paraguay. An old man between 60 and 70, is sitting in on a bench left to the entrance. A single table-mirror-stool-combination in the right corner is the only sign that this room actually serves a purpose. A couple of combs, brushes and scissors are lined up on the table.
A young man enters the room from the dusty reddish road. His right hand tightly holds a little yellow book, his middle finger marks a page. It takes a while until his eyes are adjusted to the dark room. Finally he notices the man next to him. He opens his book.
‘Hola¡ Quiero cartarne el pelo¿’
He is looking expectantly at the man. Looks again into his book and starts to repeat the sentence.
‘Si, Si,’ the old man stops him and points at the stool in front of the mirror.
The finger of the hand flips through the pages. ‘Quando estas¿’
‘Diez¡’
The young man nods and sits down, his hand keeping the book always available.
‘…’ He doesn’t understand a word the old man just said to him.
‘Ahm…’ he looks into his book. ‘Algo más carto… por favor.’
‘Si, si,’ the old man replies. He adds another long sentence, the only word that are understood are medium and poco. The young man nods anyway.
The scissor starts working, cutting off a little bit from here and there. The two men stay silent for a while. Eventually the old man starts to add the finishing touches and the young man opens his book.
‘Por favor, algo más carto. Detrás¡’ He points at the hair above his neck.
‘No,’ the old man replies.
‘What? Ahm…’ He checks the book again, but comes to the same result. ‘Algo más carto, por favor¡¡’
‘No, no, no¡¡¡’ The old man starts to explain in many, very Spanish words. The young man doesn’t understand one of them.
‘Ahm… but… ok… mhm,’ he finally accepts his fate.
The old man continues his work, now talking and talking, in Spanish and Guaranie. Now and then the young man understands a word or two and tries to answer. But he really has no idea what the old man is talking about. This goes on for another ten minutes.
Eventually old man removes the towel around the young man’s neck, who gets up, pays and steps on the street.
‘Muchas gracias. Adios¡’
‘Adios¡’
The End.