Excerpt

“Rosario”

One problem with intelligence is that when it’s thinking about something it thinks it’s knowing something. And if it’s mistaken and learns the difference then it starts thinking about it the new way and thinks it’s knowing something.

When I was living in a little village in New Mexico where most of the people were Mexican and interrelated there was a mas I’ll call Rosario Rodriguez.

The thing about Rosario was, he was a crook. He was also a really good plasterer and brick-layer if you were strong enough to make him come through.

Everybody knew he was a crook.