HISTORIAS DEL BARRIO english Historias del barrio ENGLISH | Page 6

Then we would take them to our
neighbourhood. There were
plenty of señoritas there.
OK: here
señoritas.
OK. You follow.
Me señorita.
The Americans paid us in dollars.
The women, the putas, would give us
our share for bringing the sailors
to them. And they changed our dollars
for pesetas, too.
Sometimes, one of those women would
recognise us. But they never said
anything. We delivered their work
right to the doors of the clubs.
Most of my friends’ mothers
were or had been prostitutes.
So we had to choose the streets
and the clubs we took
the Americans to
carefully.
They got paid in
dollars, too, which
meant they earned
double.
That was a good
reason to keep quiet.
14