excerpt
She pulled back, disappointed. I expect she was dying to ask me
about my time away, and I was reluctant to be placed in a position of
telling her the truth.
“His hut is that one over there.”
Benjamin’s house was recently made, I could tell by the sweet
smell of humid earth and the green reeds coming out of the walls.
He was snoring soundly in his hammock. It took some shaking to
wake him. We were glad to see each other, but I had no time to
waste.
“What is going on between Losada and Infante?” I asked. As he
scrambled out of the hammock, he farted in passing. I had almost
forgotten he was like that.
“Ugly things. Losada is losing his grip, and Infante is like a
vulture, waiting for an animal to die. Not everyone has been happy
with the partition of land. Now the city is divided.”
“On what side are you?”
He shrugged.
“Reputation and money are earned slowly and lost quickly. I stick
by the man who brought us all this way and kept us safe.”
I nodded.
“Infante is a cheat,” he added, just for good measure.
“Would you do me a favour, my friend?”
“Tell me what I’m good for, padrecito.”
“Spread the word that tomorrow morning there will be Mass at
seven. Have you heard anything regarding the natives I brought
with me?”
He grimaced. “Yes. Infante is spreading panic. They are saying
that no white man will see the sun rise tomorrow, that they will
poison the water or fall upon us in the small hours of the night. And
can you blame them? Look what they did to Tamanoa.”
“I know. I buried his heart.”
He scratched his bushy beard, eyes riveted on the ground. “And
they are not to be feared, padrecito? I wouldn’t bet my money on that
rooster, if I were you.”
Libros Libertad 