The next morning Slim went immediately to Joachín’s shop, which remained fully intact, and demonstrated a rage remarkable even for Slim.
Pim Comic Strip
How I came to write Pim
People often ask how I came to write Pim. It seems like a thousand years since I discovered Pim, or that Pim
discovered me. Thankfully I kept detailed notes and saved photos from that time. While I can’t swear to the
absolute accuracy of what you are about to read, I have done my best to capture the essence of how Pim entered my life.
To confirm that the missile had hit its target, Slim had flown into the city earlier that evening. While gazing upon the kind of squalor that can best be enjoyed from the window of a no-star hotel at 4 am, imagine Slim’s surprise when Joachín passed by, stooped and abject.
Lotería had not gone well. Joachín had lost everything including the family home and business. Too ashamed to face Gwyneth he wandered unknown streets of dubious barrios, the night a fitting blanket for his gaping soul.
By applying his recent mathematical proofs to the inscrutable dynamics of time and space, Clive too had found himself on the moon. And had convinced himself that’s what he’d meant to do.
The passengers of the missile had chosen to leave Gim pinned beneath it as they—at a safe distance—discussed the problem extricating their friend, a problem that had just solved itself.
The WDA did remember the location of the tiki bar, and there the four accidental refugees discussed their near anihilation. Over the hills the carrot finally detonated, as it was always meant to.
If you’re unfamiliar it, Lotería is a Mexican game akin to Bingo, only with a grid of pictographs rather than numbers. Joaquín once won 10,000 pesos at it and has been chasing the dragon ever since.
Just as the missile was landing on the moon Joachín was leaving the shop in Polanco to play Lotería—on which he’d all but bankrupted the company many times before— blessedly unaware that by blind chance his life and legacy had been spared.
On disembarking Pim and Bim discovered that Gim had been lying right where the missile was destined to land, and that Gim’s tail had been pierced through.
Due to an error in Slim’s calculations the missile landed not in Polanco but on the moon. The moon’s gravitational force being less than that of the Earth, none of the occupants were injured. The WDA was the first to poke his head out and assess the situation.
