Tom had gone to Marc Priminger's house in East-Forty-fifth Street-he still had the keys-to pick up a couple of things he had forgotten, and he had gone at an hour when he had thought Marc wouldn't be there, but Marc had come in with his new housemate, Joel, a thin drip of a young man who worked for a publishing house, and Marc had put on one of his suave 'Please-do-just-as-you-like' acts for Joel's benefit, though if Joel hadn't been there Marc would have cursed him out in language that even a Portuguese sailor wouldn't have used.
Marc Primingerren etxera ere joan zen Tom, Ekialde-Berrogeita Bosgarrenean-artean giltzak berarekin zituen-han ahaztutako gauza pare baten bila. Marc kanpoan izango zen ordu bat aukeratu zuen bere ustez, baina Marc bere pisulagun berriarekin, Joelekin, azaldu zen, argitaletxe batean lan egiten zuen gazte erkina, eta Marcek bere saio leun haietako bat, "Egizu-arren-gogoak-ematen-dizuna", eskaini zuen Joelentzat, Joel han izan ez balitz portugaldar marinel batek ere erabiliko ez zukeen hizkuntzaz madarikatuko bazuen ere.