Dialogue on a dialogue, from El Hasedor by Jorge Luis Borges

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Dialogue on a dialogue
From El Hacedor (1960) by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)

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A. Distracted while reasoning immortality, we got carried away and it grew dark without igniting the lamp. We would not see each other's faces. With indifference and indulgment, more convinced than fervor, the voice of Macedonio Fernandez repeated that the soul is immortal. It assured me that the death of the body is absolutely insignificant and that to die must be a null fact that can happen to a person. I was playing with the knife of Macedonio; I was opening and closing it. An accordion near was playing non stop the Cumparsita, that concertal nonsense that many people like, because they lied to them that she is old... I proposed Macedonio that we should commit suicide, so that we could discuss without hindrance.

Z (mocking) - But I suspect that in the end you did not follow through with the resolution.

A (already in the heat of mystical) - Frankly, I do not remember if we committed suicide that night.

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