A boy sat down at the table next to hers. He was older, maybe a grad student, and he wasn't writing. He was drawing. With a fine-tipped black pen, he was illustrating a fantastical city on his own cover page—towers that bent like trees, buses with wings.
He looked up, unbothered. "Sure it is. It's for my architecture thesis. The cover should tell you what's inside before you read a single word." He pointed to her blank screen. "What's inside yours?" portada de un trabajo de universidad
She had spent three days researching the economic impact of the Buenos Aires subway fare hikes. She had read seventeen academic papers, built complex graphs, and written over four thousand words. But this—this blank white square—felt like an insurmountable wall. A boy sat down at the table next to hers
Below it, in a smaller font, she added a dedication: Para papá. With a fine-tipped black pen, he was illustrating