[...] I started watching TV again, where some guy was saying that he stood in possession, those were his words, stood in possession, like somebody talking about medieval history or politics, of the record for most expulsions from the United States. Do you know how many times he had entered the United States illegally? Three hundred and forty-five! And three hundred and forty-five times he had been arrested and deported to Mexico. All within a span of four years. I admit that suddenly my interest was piqued. I imagined him on my show. I imagined the questions I would ask. I began to think about how to get in touch with him, because there's no denying it was a very interesting story. The guy from Tijuana TV asked a key question: where did he get the money to pay the coyotes to take him to the other side? Because considering the frantic rate at which he was expelled it was clear there was no way he had time to work and save up money in the United States. His answer was breathtaking. He said at first he paid what they asked, but later, maybe after the tenth deportation, he bargained and asked for discounts, and after the fiftieth deportation the pollens and coyotes brought him along out of friendship, and after the hundredth they probably felt sorry for him, he thought. Now, he said to the Tijuana talk show host, they brought him as a good-luck charm, because his presence in some way relieved the stress for everyone else: if anyone was caught that someone would be him, not the others, at least if they knew to steer clear of him once they had crossed the border. Put it this way: he had become the marked card, the marked bill, as he said himself. Then the host, who was bad, asked him one stupid question and one good question. The stupid question was whether he planned to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. The man didn't even know what the fuck he was talking about, he'd never heard of the Guinness Book of World Records. The good question was whether he was going to keep trying. Trying what? asked the man. Trying to get across, said the host. God willing, the man said, so long as he was in good health he would never give up on the idea of living in the United States. Aren't you tired? asked the host. Don't you want to go back to your village or look for a job here in Tijuana? The guy smiled like he was embarrassed and said that once he had an idea in his head he couldn't get rid of it. [...]