At the time his shift started, he was at his post and watched with his binoculars as a group of seven approached. The sun had already set and the valley was pure sand. It was very easy to shoot over them. It was seven men and they were all dressed in suits and ties as though they were on their way to a wedding, or a funeral.
One of them had a knife in his hand and passed it across his throat on seeing the soldier as though threatening to kill him.
The idiots. I could kill them all with my X59 before the cock crows. Of course cocks hadn’t crowed for centuries but the expression remained. He shot just over their heads and this time none of them fell. The boss would tell him off but he didn’t care. The seven suit- and- tie men went running back and disappeared quickly. The field was open. There was a truce in the war.
The soldier kept thinking about the theory and it even seemed logical. There wasn’t really any need for the unemployed. What difference was there between one kind of meat and another? Maybe it was even more humane to eat human flesh and no other animals. At least in this case it was humans against humans and if we already kill the unemployed, at least some use could be made of their flesh. It is good protein and no reason to let it go to waste. If a heart is used for a transplant what’s the problem with eating the rest and filling up with protein? Of course it’s not very pleasant to have it done to your beloved little sister or your girlfriend. But a mother-in-law. Now, anybody would eat a mother-in-law. The soldier recalled all the jokes his history professor used to tell about mothers-in-law such as: there are two animals that laugh, Homo sapiens, and mothers-in-law, and other raffish tales of that ilk. But now everything made sense. You could even eat the terrorists that he killed every day. They looked meaty. Perhaps they already did that. Then he was disgusted at what he had thought and was ashamed of himself. How could the human mind conceive of such a thing and think it logical? Well, more than you can imagine. You can even convince millions of persons to believe in any kind of logic, especially if it involves killing millions of persons, it always seems logical.
Two hours later a group of ten or twelve persons approached, men, women on camels and donkeys. They looked bored. The soldier didn’t do anything. They stopped where he always shot. But the soldier couldn’t shoot. He imagined eating them in a sandwich and couldn’t concentrate. The group waited there, expecting him to shoot for two or three long minutes. The soldier tried but was paralyzed. He was sure they would come to kill him and was afraid. But soon the group turned back and stopped advancing, disappearing at the end of the valley. The soldier was sweating when his cell rang.
.”Hey, who do you think you are that I should keep waiting for you like an idiot at the restaurant?”
It was his girlfriend on the other line.
“We agreed yesterday, don’t you remember?”
“Listen, do you hear me? They almost killed me. They could have killed me.”
“Yeah, tell that to the other girl. Why didn’t you come?”
“Well,”
“Come right now or I’m leaving.”
“We had agreed on today, right?”
“We agreed on Monday at eight and yesterday was Monday.”
“You’re the one who’s mistaken today is Monday. You’re hysterical”
“Today is Tuesday.”
“No, today is Monday and we agreed on today at eight at Pizzeria de la Papa.
“At Pizzeria de la Mama, you can’t even remember that.”
“Could be, so why didn’t you call me?”
“Because I forgot my cell, I’m so bright.”
“So today. We’re on for today?”
“We’ll see.”
“Well, I’ll wait for you and if you come, fine. If you don’t show I’ll forgive you for your insanities.”
“So they’re MY insanities.”
“I’ll expect you at eight. I’ve got a lot of trouble here.”
The group that had disappeared now returned with dozens of persons. Maybe fifty or more. They stopped in front of the soldier who was really going to shoot this time when they all turned around.
The little war soldier returned home at six and found Sandoval at the door. Before he could react in surprise he told him:
“You know, I’ve been thinking and I have remembered a lot of things. You may be right but even so, it doesn’t seem all that bad a thing.”
“Yeah, I want to see when two huge men with green eyes come running after you and you know if they catch you, in a few hours you’ll be in a fry pan or on a plate.”
“Well when you look at it that way, Jeez! But what are we going to do with all the unemployed. We have to do something with them, or the parasites, from the mystic groups that don’t want to do anything. Like the Miss Rajim who just want to dance in the streets, or the handicapped, the “differently- abled” as they call them now, and the children of parents in poverty? Something has to be done with all those people, and we may as well take advantage of them although from today on I’m a vegetarian. I’m not eating any more meat.”
“Then don’t tell anyone because it seems vegetarians’ flesh is tastier and more expensive.”
“I never thought about that.”
“I was thinking too, and my idea was to open a restaurant and write that we only sell animal meat so people will realize that in the other restaurants they sell human flesh.
“I don’t want to know anything more about meat. I’m in a hurry. I have a date with my girlfriend at the pizzeria. I’ll have a vegetarian pizza.”
“Can I go with you?”
“Sure man, why not?”
And seeing Sandoval smiling,
“Of course not. I’m, going to eat with my girlfriend. I don’t suppose you want to go to the bathroom and shit with me too?”
“Why not?”
“You’re crazy. Well what’s worse is that she’s furious and probably won’t go. So if you go with me and she shows up you book on out of there, deal? I’ll say you are a friend and we met up by accident. Come on in, go up and clean up a little. You look like shit.”
They went up two floors like old friends. First the soldier showered and dressed in civvies, then he dressed.
Sandoval thought nobody had ever helped him in his life and he had always helped all his friends, lovers, women, siblings, it must be Karma, he told himself. It can’t be that nobody in the whole world will help me when I always help everybody else.
“Hey you, it’s getting late, and I promised to be on time. Because she is telling me the date was supposed to be yesterday. Is today Monday or Tuesday?”
“Today is Thursday.”
“Well, come out now. You are higher than a kite.”
They got to the pizzeria just in time, at eight. The girlfriend had not arrived, and after waiting for three quarters of an hour they ordered two beers and a pizza for two.
“To snack on, and she’ll probably not even come. On the telephone she told me the date was yesterday. I don’t know, women are troublesome. She started to scream at me over the cell while I was shooting but you know what happened an hour later? I didn’t fire at a group of twenty people and they went back. Probably what they want to do is arrive at the sand and return.”
“And what for?”
“It’s probably a sacred valley, what do I know? Real strange. I couldn’t fire after what you told me yesterday. I imagined that their flesh arrived on my plate and I ate them and it disgusted me. I was paralyzed. I thought they would come to my post and lynch me. They could have done it but they remained standing there and later backed off. I don’t understand it.”
“They are afraid. They are used to being shot at but if you don’t, it is as if you had because they are afraid. Maybe they are the good guys and we are the bad guys.”
“You think so?”
“Could be.”
“But we could both be the bad guys. And the two worst. What they probably want is to eat our flesh. They probably were told it is the best in the world so that’s
why they want it.”
“Could be.”
“What I think is that we kill them because they kill us. And they kill us because we kill them. It’s as simple as that. And both began at the same time.”
“At the same time. I hadn’t thought of that. The war began in the same second. It must have been a long time ago,” said Sandoval.
“Before time. Because this has been going on forever.”
“And what we want is to eat each other’s hearts.”
“Something like that.”
“But in the city we are safe. Or that is what we think. We are safe in the city but we eat each other.”
“Clean work, organized. Under cover. Secret. A silence where we are all in agreement to eat and be eaten.”
The waiter didn’t much like it when they ordered pizza with pimientos and corn. He got the impression they were anarquists or Miss Rajim. He thought that but he didn’t say anything. If they give me a good tip, I keep quiet. That is what he thought. These guys will spend the day dancing and talking about peace.
Buy more pizzas. Drink more. Eating is healthy. Consuming is healthy, said the loudspeakers.
“So what is this about Miss Rajim?” asked Sandoval
“I don’t really know but they say they are dangerous. They do these gymnastic exercises that look like a dance and connect with the sun or one of their gods and it’s really dangerous because they also don’t want to work, or eat much.”
“So what’s dangerous about that?”
“It must be very dangerous because in the service they always talked about them and that we have to destroy them. They are the inside enemy, you know? Maybe that’s what we have been eating for so many years.”
“That’s no reason to eat them.”
At that moment, right at ten, the little soldier’s girlfriend came in.
“See how punctual I am! Ten on the dot.”
“But we said at eight! Fortunately I found a friend and we have been chatting but he’s leaving.”
“Oh no, no, no, let him stay, I really like your friend. What’s his name? Well I’ll ask him directly. What’s your name?”
The waiter came right away.
“I hope you’re going to consume a bit more now.”
“I’ll have one with lamb,” she said. “I’m starved, and red wine, ‘cause I’m in a good mood.”
“I’ll have a double cheese.”
“I’ll have one with corn,” said Sandoval.
“And to drink?”
“Bring a bottle of red wine so we can all three drink the same thing.”
“Yes, a bit of blood. That’s what red wine is and what we need.”
From the face of the soldier Sandoval realized he’d gone too far.
“My name is Sandoval,” he said, a bit wary, “I’ll eat my pizza, and I’m leaving.”
“No you’re ok. I don’t know why your friend is so anxious for you to leave.”
“It’s not me,” said the soldier, “He can stay as long as he likes.”
“And what do you do, Sandoval?”
“A little bit of everything but I want to be a writer. I’m thinking of writing a novel.”
“About what?”
“It’s a secret and I’d better not talk about it.”
“Come on now, don’t be so mysterious. Tell us a little something.”
“It’s a police novel. A woman disappears and nobody knows what happened to her.”
“Oh that’s a great idea! And original. I’ve never read anything like that. If you like, I’ll help you and I’ll tell you how women are. It looks to me like you don’t know much about women, or why they disappear. If you like we can meet one day and you can ask me questions.”
“Thank you, “said Sandoval who now didn’t know how to get out of it.
“Here the pizzas are very good. We already ate half of one while we were waiting for you. And the crust is very well done, crisp, the way I like it. Do you all come here much?”
“Well no, we usually go home to bed. Your friend works long hours in the service and he really likes his sleep.”
“Sweetie,” said the soldier, “You don’t need to tell our whole life story in fifteen seconds. Leave something for tomorrow.”
“So, do you like men?”
The pizzas arrived. She continued.
“Men, women, or both. It is well-known that writers like anything. What about if we three...”
“Girl you are driving me crazy. Go back to your village, now. First you tell me that we’ll meet one day, then it’s the other. And then you come two hours late and say you are on time. Are you stupid, or what?”
“Sandoval grabbed half the pizza in his hand and left hurriedly, saying he had forgotten he had an appointment and was already late.
“I’ve got to go.”
“Wait a minute,” she said as Sandoval left the restaurant, passing by the cashier and paying the whole bill with his ConZume credit card.
“See. You scare everybody away.”
“And you are nothing, a tin soldier, and a shit who doesn’t even know how to talk to a woman, even less figure out what she wants, so I’m leaving.”
“That’s better.”
The soldier asked for the bill and the waiter made the list and charged him a second time. Before he paid, the soldier’s girlfriend was on the street following Sandoval. By feminine intuition or by luck she took the right street and found him on the stairs of a building quietly eating his pizza.
The other Sandra
“My name is Sandra.”
“And I’m the three kings.”
“Sandra is a common name.”
“Everything is normal unless your name is Sandra.”
“And I dropped your friend. What there was is over. He’s an idiot who doesn’t know anything. I’m going with you.”
“Look. I live in the third passageway and I can’t go home. Or, I think it’s dangerous. If you like, I’ll go stay at your house.”
Sandoval and Sandra walked two blocks and arrived as Sandra’s home. Sandra might have been joking or just playing with him, but Sandoval fell on the sofa and was out like a light... He slept twelve hours straight.
When he woke up Sandra was sitting across from him. In the living room there was only the sofa where Sandoval had slept, which could be opened up as a hideabed, something that nobody took time to do, and the chair where Sandra was sitting which came from the miniscule kitchen at the end of the living room. The kitchen was next to the bathroom and in the confines of the home, about thirty meters square, there was room for one bedroom with a double bed and a wardrobe.
“I’m sorry I was so tired and a little tipsy because yesterday I drank beer and wine. That’s a bad combination and it hit me hard. And in the last four days I’ve slept less than six hours.”
“Well that’s your loss.”
“Yes, it’s always my loss. But at least I’m still alive, and nobody gave me a bite to eat.
“What have you been dreaming? Do you want some coffee? If you want I’ll bring you a coffee and then I have to go to work.”
“Yes, a coffee. What kind of work do you do?”
“I’m a manicurist but I also write stories.”
“A manicurist? Isn’t that a job for transvestites? Or transsexuals?”
“Hee hee, could be, could be. Yesterday you fell asleep.” She smiled. “So now you’ll just have to wait to find out. If you come back tonight. Today I get off at eight.”
“I think I’m going to take the train to see what is happening at home or with the other Sandra. She doesn’t answer my calls and her parents hang up on me.”
“Have a good trip. Women are like that. They leave.”
“Sometimes they do. And sometimes they are eaten.”
And suddenly he realized he was very hungry and had the urge to eat her. To kill Sandra and eat her. The thought confused him and after thinking: does everybody do that or do we all do that he started thinking of other thin
gs, little green birds, trees, cypresses, pines, anything.
“I like pine trees.”
“Well, you don’t have to scream.”
“I wasn’t yelling.”
“Well you lost your voice. It must be because you just woke up.”
Sandra came back with the coffee and two pieces of toast with olive oil, or something similar, green like trees, and birds.
Sandoval devoured the toast and thanked her. And for the first time, on taking the first sip of coffee he noticed her. Brown hair, two legs, two hands, two breasts, a trunk, face, dark brown eyes, nothing green. Well she was a woman. Young, and thought herself pretty, which made her lovelier that she really was. He liked the way she walked, a bit coquettishly, almost dancing, with her head slightly forward. He watched her leave, say good bye; I’ll leave you some keys. I hope to see you this evening, kiss, kiss, in the air. Sandoval had no time to respond.
Danger
Sandoval took the circular, which took him to the commuter train. The city had a circular train in each passageway and four commuter trains that travelled directly from each passageway to La Catedral mall. In an hour he arrived home and went up to the twelfth floor where he lived. He walked fast because he feared the worst. As he saw the door to his floor he walked faster. There was a paper plastered on it which said “Danger do not enter. Anyone who has been in this home during the last three months must report to health officials to be vaccinated.” Just below, it said “Buy and buy more.”
Sandoval decided not to stop and to continue walking along the corridor to the other elevator when an old lady neighbor opened the door and rapidly said in a desperate manner: “They took her. I think she was already dead,” and closed the door.
On leaving the elevator, someone called out “Hey, aren’t you...” but he played deaf and hurried to the train to return to the passageway just before the cemetery. He stayed in the station for a long time drinking wine and trying to call friends who wouldn’t answer his calls. Sandra’s parents didn’t answer either. Once they did and on hearing his voice they hung up. Something told him they thought it had been he who had killed Sandra but the official version was that she had died of a virus or a microbe. He read all the newspapers of the day and they didn’t say anything.
The Cathedral Mall Page 5
