Redemption

My Portero, who I can *never* understand, calls me down to talk over renting my parking space with the same guy from December. Cool. Now I'm not sure if he parked there in December without paying me, but he made it sound like I left before he could take advantage of it. So, I head downstairs. We shake hands. He really is a nice guy. But I'm ready. He starts talking to me quickly in Spanish -- knowing full well I know some of it but prefer English. Still, I understood him asking how long I would be here, because he wants to rent the space through the end of the year, though of course I can only rent it for as long as I'm around. Not being sure when my lease technically ends, I said through June.

He counted on his fingers. "Febrero, Marzo, Abril, Mayo, Junio. Entonces, 250 mil?" 

"Uh," I replied, "sesenta por cinco meses es tres cientos." (300 mil)

Suddenly he switches to English, "But you remember, you said if I pay you in advance it's only 50 mil." 

"Yes, but I thought that was only for one month. Normally it's 60 mil."

He looks down, rubs his neck, and then looks up at me to see if I'm serious. So I just wait a beat without saying anything. (Thank you, theater.)

"Okay," he says. "I'll call you Monday?" 

"Si," I reply, "lunes esta bien."

We shake hands. Parting ways I call out to the portero, "Hay un domicilio de Carulla en una hora, mas o menos." (There's a home delivery from the grocery store in an hour, more or less.) I wonder what he thought when I said that. :-)
Woo-hoo!