Masked ball

Every few seconds, while the drums carried on playing, the dancer would stop with his mask inches from the face of one or other of the tourists. When he got to her, she could see his eyes through the mask’s eyes and she could hear his breathing and smell coffee and rum on his breath and the heavy, dark, not completely unpleasant scent of his sweat. The whole thing was clearly an artifice aimed at separating the tourists from their money - as well as the grass skirt and the mask, he wore a Barcelona football shirt and a Casio watch. But, for those few face to face seconds, she felt that she was participating in something authentic.