"HARASSED" "He was a robust, brave man." "Not afraid of anything but it was a moonless night and the wind was blowing as if it were mad with the earth my grandfather put the cloak on, crossed himself and started to walk through those streets of God dark as mean intentions are." "And, suddenly, clap, clap he hears behind him the hoofs of some beasts many..." "Like six or seven approaching racing..." " And then?" " And then?" "My grandfather commended himself to the Virgin of the 7 Pains turned around and he saw the seven beasts..." "Seven mules... black... huge..." "taking fire out the street's stones." "And they were pulling a wagon full of souls dressed in white, groaning." "Ouch!" "Ouch!" "Because they were dead but could not go to heaven." "Mariantonia..." "If you know the story by heart, why do you ask me to tell it again?" "Let me make you up..." "A Spanish dancer without moles doesn't look truthful." "We appreciate absolute cooperation." "Dad...!" "Look at me!" "Come here..." "Turn around, pretty!" "Mariantonia, hurry up, you're gonna be late...!" "I'm coming, mom." "How pretty!" "Hurry up, you're gonna be late..." "God bless you..." "How handsome!" "God bless you, sweetie." "Some Colonel Villagra is the new prefect..." "Really?" "And who is he?" "He arrives on Monday." "It was time they remembered San Jorge." "Who knows?" "Why do you mean that?" "I don't tell you some things, so that you don't worry." "Cecilio, don't treat me like a child..." "It seems you know a secret and you don't let me know." " What is it you know?" " Don't worry." "I lost my virginity on a carnival Monday in my dear town of San Jorge, long ago in 1934." "I don't mean in a physical sense, which happened much later but a higher loss, when it assaults the innocence of the soul and a hopeless gap opens in your dignity which is the most valued treasure of any woman." "Nanny..." "Nanny Gregoria!" "Stay here, Juanchito." "I'm going for little Mariantonia." "Where are you going in such a hurry..." "Don't you know me?" "The little woman that I was could not understand the threat that was looming over our happiness when in the small streets of the town the devil appeared to me, for the first time." "Don't get scared... it's me!" "Since those days the echo of fear stayed with me a deep, primitive fear that invaded my nights with a long and heavy crash I could not accept that they were anxieties typical of childhood." "Something said to me that my nightmares were different that it had other roots, beyond an unhappy adolescent delirium." "Dad... mom...!" "What happen, my little?" "I was dreaming with Gregoria's stories of the dead and with the devil who is just outside." "The same nightmare..." "Come on, the devil doesn't exist." "Go to sleep with your guardian angel." "No..." "I want daddy to come with me." "It's coming...!" "It's almost here...!" "The seal is broken...!" "The last one... the worst of all!" "I just saw the beast get up from the depths of the sea...!" "The beast with seven heads and ten horns, and over its horns ten crowns and over its heads the name of blasphemy!" "And the beast looked like a leopard, and its mouth was like a bear's and its paws were like a lion's!" "It's coming...!" "It's almost here...!" "The time has come!" "Soon my terror infected the whole of San Jorge." "Then I understood how powerful can the intuition of a girl be when she feels threatened the happiness of those she loves." "Don't prick me with a pin!" "If you don't stay still, how do you want to fix it?" "Still are the dead in the cemetery!" "The Man arrives and not even the town's band is going to greet him..." "And the notables ones?" "Well, resting at home." "But that telegrapher is gonna pay for it..." "He told me he was coming in a week and here he is!" "My Colonel Villagra!" "I'm so hungry!" "And now, ladies and gentlemen..." "Mariantonia Araujo De Castro will perform..." ""Flutes are made with the bones of the dead"" "Marian..." "we better go to get some mangoes." "Don't call me Marian..." "My name is Mariantonia, in one word...!" "And don't interrupt..." "she'll perform again..." "Those are the timetables." "But if something comes up I'll take it, anytime..." "No need for explanations, Araujo..." " That's your name, right?" " Yes." "How you handle yourself, is your business..." "What I need is for you to cooperate with me." "Right, Pineda?" "Right so, my Colonel." "I always try that the post and telegraph office of San Jorge works perfectly." "I'm talking about another type of cooperation that the government usually appreciates..." "I want a report of all and everyone of the recipients and senders of telegrams." "Ah!" "And copies of the texts." "That's not gonna be possible." "The Postal Secret Law reads, in a restrictive way..." "Don't waste time with complex words, Araujo from now on, with or without Postal Secret Law, you do as I tell you..." "So that's how things work, come on..." "Please meet my wife, Colonel." "Florence Araujo." "Lady..." "My respects." "You have to believe me." "He's the same one!" "I don't know..." "Are you sure, Marian?" "Don't call me, Marian, I don't like it." "He's outside!" "He's the same one!" "Let's see..." "What are you gossiping about?" "She says the Devil is outside, talking to her dad." "That's a lie, nanny..." "I didn't say that, he made it up." "You did say it...!" "You did!" "Stop it, now!" "And you, Juanchito, go to the nook!" "Take something for Cecilio, that we have a visitor!" "Something like what?" "Coffee, or lemonade?" "Whatever you have ready..." "Quick, hurry up!" " And, what's wrong with you?" " Me?" "Nothing is wrong with me." "We started already." "I couldn't come out before..." "The whole town is in a mess and scared." "What did you find out?" "He visited first your neighbor, the telegraphist." "And I met many guards, prowling around town." "We have to be more careful than we have been before." "And your father asked my mother to embroider a new banner for the Town Hall." "This is what I wrote..." ""People of San Jorge." "The arrival of the murderer Villagra must not scare us..." "Now, more than ever, we must remain firm against the tyranny choking our people in blood and misery..." "United we shall prevail." "Death to the Tyranny...!" "Long live Freedom!"" "What do you think?" "Good!" "Let's not waste time," "let's copy it." "Juanchito, squint your eyes so you can see..." "The little soldiers are marching in he lost a leg!" "And Alice with the Queen of Hearts..." "Cut her head!" "I don't see anything!" "It was time the General took a decision..." "Let's see if once my Colonel Villagra makes his power felt the leaflets and the silly things against the government will go on." "Dad, I've to tell you something." "The moon is out..." "What a drag." "Can't you eat in peace in this house?" "You don't obey, ah?" "Ignacio, let me go, it's very cold." "Don't get involved in this, madam..." "Anastasio..." "Get the bucket!" "Leave him alone, dad." "He's not harming anybody." "Silence..." "I told him to get the bucket!" "So you still abuse my brother like this?" "He's not to blame." "You don't have the right..." "What right I don't have, Rodrigo?" "Get out...!" "Let me tell you that I'm not going back to the capital." "I'll stay here." "Shut up, you fucking nut!" "You wetted my flute!" "Again..." "Joaquin!" "I'm going for more!" "My flute, nooo... my flute!" "Do you hear me?" "I've told you not to stick your nose into your neighbor's life." "Fire and not water shall fall on their heads!" "Don't move from here." "Don Eusebio..." "Who?" "Telegram!" "Come in, Don Cecilio." "Giddap..." "Let's go!" "Dad...!" "It's me, What happen?" "There, back there goes the devil..." "In the wagon..." "No, Mariantonia, look well..." "There is nothing." "What happened to her?" "The power plant shut down and it scared her." "See?" "For disobeying;" "I told you not to move." " Goodnight." " Goodnight." "Down with the dictatorship!" "Miserable!" "There he comes...!" "Run!" "Leave me alone..." "It wasn't me!" "Now more than ever we must remain firm against the oppressor." "Down with the tyranny, long live freedom." "That's why you are abusing people in this way?" "Games are over in this town...!" "What's going on, Don Ignacio?" "Whoever picks up those subversive leaflets will get his due." "And jail for those who wrote them." "Those are my Colonel's orders!" "Down with the government!" "Like that..." "You're almost there..." "Raise a little bit..." "Now I can look for the burial." "And when I find it," "I'll give you the crown of the Queen of Hearts which is buried." "You know where?" "...in the power plant under the stones, next to the gold coins." "Get down from there!" "Come here, I wanna talk to you, sit here." "You've grown enough to understand what I'm gonna tell you..." "Listen carefully." "Nothing that you'll hear about Colonel Villagra shall you repeat..." "Not at the square, nor at the school." "Nowhere." "This man is dangerous and I'm scared." "You forgot to mention the Zeppelin, you old shoe." "The teacher didn't talk about it, you grasshopper with umbrella." "You could have looked for it in the Encyclopedia, you worm with a skirt." "Games with your hands..." "end in tears, you lizard with a hat." "You are college boy Pineda, right?" "The new school teacher." "Yes..." "Don't you study at the university, in the capital?" "I'm just standing in..." "When are you going back there?" "Not yet, my mother is a little sick..." "And this nice looking girl is Araujo." "My regards to your dad and mom." "Let's go!" "Pimp!" "Ma... rian... to... nia." "Good!" "Now, go to your duties, tomorrow we'll go on." "Dad..." "What's a pimp?" "It's a man of evil doings, and also one of the names of the devil." "And, the worst insult you can tell a man." "Come here..." "Where did you hear it?" "A man told it to another at the square." "Don't you ever repeat it." "It's an obscenity." "It doesn't sound well in the mouth of a decent girl." "Forbidden." "What happened?" "Twenty four hours in jail for picking up leaflets..." "Things are getting worse..." "A man was taken away and..." "What do you want, sir?" "A charity, for God's sake." "Something to eat, beautiful lady." "Lucas, at your service..." "You're new around here..." "I come from the coast, there things are bad, people don't even give alms." "Wasn't Colonel Villagra the Prefect there?" "No..." "You just on what you are going to eat." "Excuse me." "See you later." "If there are more rebels, they're well hidden after the ones we got last week picking up fliers." "Yes there are, Lucas." "And your job is to find them." "If they sent me over here and I brought you, it's because a few assholes are meeting in the streets to fuck with the government..." "So that... be on the look...!" "I want you to watch the telegrapher and his wife..." "Specially her, I want you to follow her and be careful with not being respectful..." "And the rest of your people, aren't they ever coming?" "Look, Lucas." "I'm waiting for a very important visit nothing less than the Governor..." "We have to double the surveillance." "We have to keep order and peace." "So I warn you..." "I need that people." "The chief's always thinking up problems..." "Really..." "We were so good at the beach and now he decides to come to these woods!" "What's going on?" "I want some..." "We're still far from that shitty town..." "With this cold and without a drink..." "Wait, don't leave me alone..." "Hey, don't leave me!" "It smells like a dark storm!" "Look..." "Down the river is San Jorge...!" "What does the telegram say?" "Why don't you let me read it?" "Where are you going?" "What are you hiding, Cecilio..." "Why don't you tell me?" "I'll be right back." "Mrs. Florence..." " They sent you this." " Who?" "A guard... from the prefecture." "Nanny, don't leave me alone." "Do you realize what you're doing?" "You're playing with fire..." "You're getting me into a big problem...!" "This is a very delicate matter." "I assure you this isn't going to happen again." "Give me..." "Open it quick..." "and your papers?" "Anyway, it doesn't say clearly here what you think..." "If you want to change things with naive codes, that's your business." "But I don't want you to use my telegraph to conspire..." "I'm a telegrapher, I have a family and I don't meddle in politics." "At your service, Colonel..." "What's your hurry, Florence." "Please sit down." "One can see you're a decent woman..." "I waited for your husband to be away and sent the servants outside..." "You're a respectable lady and I don't want to cause you problems..." "I hope so." "Take it easy!" "Don't put on that face..." "I didn't send for you for what you think..." "What I want to ask you is to advise your husband..." "I don't know what you're talking about." "The people who thought I was naive have a few feet of dust above them..." "Besides, you're a very beautiful and decent woman to be visiting prisoners or what's worst..." "to be dressed in black." "So tell your husband to stop the game with the telegrams..." "You got it wrong with us, Colonel Villagra." "The one who is wrong is you, for not accepting my friendship..." "But there is no hurry, we'll see each other sooner than you think." "And you, where were you?" "Come in, I'll tell you..." "Stop there, damn...!" "What's wrong, captain?" " Let him loose." " What do you want?" "What is this, captain?" "!" "Search it...!" "Goodnight..." "What's going on here?" "There is a complaint against this citizen..." " Take him away!" " Let him loose!" "Take him away!" " Let him free!" " That's not mine, Colonel...!" "Take him away!" "Let me alone... don't touch me!" "Let go off me!" "I've nothing to do with that...!" "Colonel, this is an injustice..." "An injustice!" "This is a trap..." "Your trap, Colonel!" "I told you, that we were going to meet again." "Evil has many forms and often flashy costumes but sometimes it appears pure, naked, to hit you hard with a mallet..." "Your splendor fades in an instant you see your family become frayed like and old rag and the infamy of a single man defeats the virtue of so many honorable people." "Assholes..." "I live surrounded by assholes all over...!" "When God said, "Be the assholes created", you led the parade, Pineda." "I'm sorry, but you're offending me..." "You don't get a damn offended Pineda!" "I can't believe it!" "Such a dull man, your neighbor for so many years." "Hadn't it been for my spies, I wouldn't have found out about Araujo..." "I need to send the tele..." "What did you say, my Colonel?" "...That I need to send a telegram and now I don't have a telegrapher." "Mrs. Florence knows the Morse code, she could help." "What are you looking at, ah?" "What?" "Leave the office..." "And take that shit." "I don't believe in that nonsense..." "Nice, a bit of sun..." "I think I'll never get out of here..." "In a few days you'll spend the afternoons in the backyard." "Don't try to fool with me." "I remember when your brother and you were kids..." "I discovered your mischief by the face you put on." "My poor Joaquin, always trying to imitate you..." "And you were the leader of all mischief." "But dad always punished him..." "Rodrigo, your father never understood well what it means to have a child with that problem..." "That doesn't excuse him, mom." "Son..." "When I'm no longer here..." "you'll take care of your brother?" "Don't let Pineda treat him like that..." "So rudely." "He doesn't understand." "And you, don't take more risks..." "You don't fool me..." "You're meddling with dangerous things." "Son..." "Why don't you go back to the capital finish your studies and then come back here?" "Here my mother sends you this sweet and asks how you are..." "And that she's coming tomorrow to see you." "And..." "Thank you." "Rodrigo, take the dessert to the kitchen with her." "I'll show you the birds." "Yesterday they laid some eggs." "Your mother's gonna die, right?" "Yes..." "There is no remedy for what she's got." "Sit here." "My father's gonna die too." "No..." "Who said that?" "A friend from school told me that her dad said that from that place jail... you don't get out alive..." "That's not true, your dad will soon be back." "My mother doesn't think so." "Come..." "Rodrigo..." "What did my father do?" "My princess, your father did nothing wrong." "Your father is a great man and they took him away for being brave." "It was that devil, right?" "I don't want to die..." "We all are going to die." "It scares me." "You don't have to be scared, look..." "To die is to lie on a pile of flowers... with our Sunday clothes, and not getting up to go to work on Monday." "It's not ugly, nor bad." "It's just like this..." "Life and death are inseparable companions." "Don't tell me that." "I don't want to sleep over flowers." ""People of San Jorge, don't be afraid..." "The power of the tyrant Villagra is not eternal..." "He will soon go down..." "Villagra, you coward..." "you're going to pay for them all!" "Down with the Colonel and his government!" "Down with the government..." "Out with the satrap!" "We'll kick you out..." "You'll blow in pieces, swine!" "Out of our town, miserable!"" "In the darkest hour life always provided crevices." "San Jorge rebelled..." "and with it our diminished innocence." "Furtive fingers spun a weak network to face that wicked man." "And freedom, that mysterious word, wandered secretly all around." "There..." "Get ready..." "Aim Fire!" "Now lit the big candle and bring me the flowers." "Hurry up, it's almost four o'clock, it's too late!" "And now, what do we do?" "Put your little pillow under my head..." "No..." "What do you want it for, you're dead?" "I'm dead but I'm uncomfortable..." "Give me the little pillow!" "Now, cover the casket..." "And now, kneel down and pray to me." "God save you, Queen and Mother, Mother of Mercy." " Juancho..." "I died!" " Life and sweetness, and our Hope..." "Mom..." "Mom..." "Fire!" "Help..." "Mom..." "Fire!" "Oh, my God..." "What's this?" "How is she, nanny?" "Ah, Mrs. Florence, the fever doesn't go away..." "My child!" "I've been very nervous for some days..." "Please forgive me for having scolded you..." "I'm too afraid of fire!" "Mariantonia, my child!" "Mariantonia!" "Mariantonia!" "Nanny, her fever is too high." "Thank you." "You're blessed with grace, Florence..." "I have a proposition for you..." "Excused - me!" "Gregoria, what are you doing here?" "I've been looking for you..." "Nothing, Mrs. Florence Do you need something?" "What do you have there, nanny?" "Nothing..." "Why do you talk to me like that?" "What are you hiding from me?" "Why hadn't you told me that?" "What for, Mrs. Florence..." "if here you can't even buy shoes." "My mother was not prepared for so much pain." "Since a child, her life was organized to enjoy a home, in peace and happiness." "Why did destiny play this fateful card on her?" "She tried to keep, to the last, her integrity..." "And even in the act itself of breaking down," "I remember her with a pride untimely by then." "Mariantonia!" "Come in..." "What a nice surprise...!" "Please come in, Florence." "Please sit down." "I come to talk about my husband..." "If necessary, we will both kneel down." "It's not necessary, Florence." "If we are going to talk, I prefer that the child leaves." "Go out, my dear, wait for me outside..." "Sit down..." "My husband was never an enemy of the government." "But with the time he's been in jail, he may be one..." "Why did you ask the child out, are you ashamed?" "Because she shouldn't see her mother cry..." "And so that you and I could talk more freely." "Cecilio is innocent and you know it." "We found this in your husband's desk..." "Please... what does it say?" "These are instructions in code that you surely can understand... and that alter public order..." "The addressee... the Spaniard... someone called Germán, fled before I got this evidence." "But he's been arrested..." "And, the accomplices?" "Guess who got the telegram typed and delivered it behind my back, disobeying my instructions." "Guess who..." "Wait, Florence." "I'm not in a hurry..." "But your husband is in a very mean jail..." "Too far away..." "You must feel very lonely..." "Be afraid... perhaps?" "Why don't you sit down and we reach an agreement?" "Accept my proposal..." "Why don't you take care of the telegraph?" "In thay way you help me..." "You'll feel safer... you'll be so." "I'll give you one hundred..." "for everything." "But they are old..." "they are worth much more!" "If the lady doesn't agree, then ask the Colonel." "How much could I understand in those awful days...?" "Girls were not informed, like today, about life." "In solitude, one had to imagine about facts." "...and the same as the people from the town," "I was becoming impotent and mute." "No, I do not agree..." "Let's study it better, that plan may not work." "I think it's too risky, Carmen Inés, there will be a lot of surveillance." "Villagra suspects we are gonna do something now." "Mrs. Florence has the telegraph again, but we will not rely on that on the contrary, you have to be careful..." "Anyway, it's an opportunity that we can't lose..." "The Governor of the state and Villagra together, here in San Jorge..." "If it comes out well, the news will reach everywhere." "We'll make ourselves felt." "And we'll have won." "And where will we place it..." "in the square or in the precinct?" "Of all the options, the electric plant is the perfect place." "Since the arrest of the Spaniard, we lost contact with the city." "And then... what do we do?" "That shouldn't stop us." "It's your turn." "You decide." "Did you check everything... in detail..." "is everything checked out?" "Take it out carefully..." "Here it is..." "This is the fracture point." "Resistance took very disturbing forms..." "How much time we've got to check it out?" "Exactly half an hour." "Without understanding much," "I knew that he and his friends were doing the same as myself." "And I was afraid for him..." "for Rodrigo... my first love." "Let them go..." "And then?" "The snotty girl saw us..." "She's gonna tell her mother." "We're sunk!" "Do you understand me well, Mariantonia?" "More or less..." "What I'm asking you is very important." "People will find it strange..." "A big man talking to you through the window... as if you were his girl." "Carmen Inés is your girl..." "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody that I saw you and I'm not gonna let Juanchito talk, almost dead ant." "You are my girl..." "And let's see if you grow up, my brave princess." "Citizen..." "Excellency, Mr. Governor..." "What happens?" "It's me, Don." "Ignacio!" "What's this man doing here?" "The Colonel sent me." "Keep this for me." "I don't like you to come here." "And I don't like coming." "Mother had fallen in a deep and dirty well, ; and I had to help her escape." "Days later, in the square," "I heard a sentence that vaguely defined what I was feeling..." ""Resist..."" "How do I look?" "You're very handsome!" "Welcome, my general." "What a mess is that, Villagra?" "How do you dare receiving me with an incomplete uniform?" "I want, your Excellency, Mr. Governor and your honorable wife present to you and to our admired Prefect, Colonel Villagra my excuses for not having been as brief as prudence advises but the emotion for finding myself in such a distinguished company may excuse my excessive zeal." "And college boy Pineda?" "And in representation of the future of the country the girl Mariantonia Araujo De Castro, a virtuous fifth grade student will dedicate to you a welcoming poem." "Work, young man, work ceaselessly the honest front which in sweat gets wet..." "Never flushes before another front." "Nor surrenders servile to whom offends it..." "It is a door of light, an open book, Go through it, boy, and surely..." "The ignorant lives in a desert..." "Where water is scarce, the air impure..." "A grain stops his insecure foot..." "He walks unsteady, lives dead..." "Study and when grown up you will be..." "Neither the vulgar toy of passions Nor the servile slave of tyrants!" "Mariantonia!" "Villagra, murderer..." "Out of here!" "Death to tyranny!" " Juancho, wait for me here...!" " Mom don't go!" "Don't move from here..." "Obey!" "Colonel Villagra, damn you..." "Where are you hiding?" "Get off me, Villagra, are you dumb?" "!" "Get out of my sight!" "In my country, history does not advance in a straight line." "After each period of certainty there follows fear, with its black hood." "And we always have the sensation of arriving to the same place, that any heroism is useless, before the stubborn barbarity." "Mr. Governor, allow me..." "Let us forget this incident..." "My Colonel and myself have a reception for you..." "Your Colonel?" "Your Colonel will soon have news from me and from the higher authority..." "I will personally report about the two inept individuals we have here in San Jorge." "Toast with me, chief..." "for your generosity...!" "For not having taken it out with us and above all with me..." "I tried to warn you, Colonel, but you were so busy..." "And as of those hooded men..." "Right, boys, we'll find those sons of bitches and drag them through the streets of San Jorge, tied to their beasts?" ""..." "I can not tolerate the lack of respect to my authority that the events at San Jorge represent as a result of your negligence and slackness"." "Signed..." "General in chief, President of the Republic." "What's wrong with you?" "Hug me..." "Hard!" "You don't know what that is..." "You've never felt it..." "What?" "Power... the loss of power..." "What are you talking about?" "You feel so poor, so abandoned..." "It's like entering into darkness..." "It's like the fear you feel when death arrives..." "If I lose power you will not leave me, will you?" "I love you very much." " Kiss her...!" " No, dad..." "You have to say goodbye to her." "Kiss her!" "I don't want to!" "Don't force him..." "Leave him alone!" "Stay away from this!" "She's very cold..." "Let me loose, I can walk by myself!" "Get up... girl!" "Joaquin...!" "We all are gonna die..." "Did you hear me?" "Come on..." "Play something with your flute..." "You're leaving..." "Yes, but I'll be back soon..." "No." "You are leaving forever..." "like my dad." "I swear I'll come back..." "To the backyard...!" "There he is..." "Let's go... he's running away!" "Run, Rodrigo...!" "If don Cecilio is still alive..." "he'll find out about your adventures...!" "Shameless..." "I'll take care of that!" "Nanny, today it's two years they took Cecilio away I'm so confused..." "I don't feel safe anymore..." "They don't love me, nor respect me..." "I feel I've lost my strength." "They say that, to protect us, memory clears, from time to time, its dirtiest caves..." "From that time I could vanish many sorrow... but others marked my heart with their sword of fire." "Come..." "My princess...!" "Nanny Gregoria made you a cake..." "They cut it all." "But I made these small merengues for you that are complete." "Please don't cry anymore." "Go on, my child, leave..." "Don't cry anymore..." "I've something to tell you..." "Where was my guardian angel all this time?" "You're my guardian angel, right?" "For my disgrace, things have changed while I've been in jail." "The telegraph works, right?" "My pals are subjected to worse tortures than me others, are brutally executed... and I always ask myself the same question." "Why am I treated with certain consideration?" "Here everything in known, Florence..." "Nothing is hidden and you can trust no one." "Do you know?" "In these times the only thing that matters is surviving..." "Here, come, Mariantonia...!" "Rodrigo, is it you?" "!" "My princess, what are you doing here?" "What happen?" "Let her go..." "Leave her..." "Don't touch her!" "Guards..." "Captain..." "Where is everybody, damn it...!" ""A... tten... tion..." "San..." "Jorge..." "Urgent..." What is this?" "Here..." "San..." "Jor... ge..." "I copy." "A... tten... tion..." "Co..." "lo... nel..." "Villagra..." "Period..." "Se... riously... ill..." "Co... mman... der... in chief..." "Take... pre... cau... tions..." "Pu... blic... safety..." "Respect, damn you!" "What the hell is happening, Chacón?" "!" "Carnival Monday, Colonel..." "These people go crazy." "Long live Freedom!" "Good afternoon." "I have a surprise for you." "And I have another..." "Ready, my child, how beautiful." "Put the bonnet on Juanchito... outside." "Florence, close your eyes..." "Look, love, now open them." "How did you get them?" "That doesn't matter..." "Please... keep looking." "Do you like it?" "It's my wedding gift." "I want to ask you to marry me." "Don't worry, I got today your divorce papers." "But I didn't ask for one." "I haven't signed anything." "Cecilio signed everything..." "That's enough." "He is already out of the country." "He left to Curacao." "I also have news for you..." "Read..." "Why didn't you tell me?" "Tell me, why did you hide this from me?" "Children..." "let's go quickly to the backyard..." "Run!" "I'm talking to you damn it!" "And, what's that people doing outside?" "I told them..." "You told them what?" "Everybody is celebrating..." "Celebrating what, damn it?" "That your admired General in Chief died last night." "That's a lie..." "It didn't say that..." "The telegram said that my general was very ill...!" "The one announcing his death came later..." "I swore vengeance." "You and all like you will be hung from the lamppost." "It doesn't matter." "I don't care what you've done." "Let me go!" "Quiet..." "I forgive you..." "You betrayed me... but I forgive you..." "I don't care, run away with me!" "Don't fool yourself... you love me..." "stay with me!" "I rather be killed...!" "First dead!" "Then you're gonna die, you bitch!" "Let her go...!" "Sooner or later, abuse and dishonor come to face dignity..." "That other carnival Monday, San Jorge lived its most luminous day..." "Fearless, people got out from their homes and, as a wave, put things again in place..." "The swine remained naked in his whole misery and I learned ...that no humiliation is eternal when one appreciates freedom." "It would take my mother the rest of her life to forget her harassed existence." "Dad's generous understanding would not be sufficient he never mentioned the subject not even leaving town, shortly after could avoid the cruel gossiping of neighbors..." "For years, the life of both of them would continue to be serene flat, horizontal until years later mother decided to redeem her conviction... just after I left them to search for my own destiny." "As for myself, I was becoming a big girl... with help from nature and what I lived in those awful years." "Rodrigo..." "I He appeared the same festive night and against all my dreams we never did more than a subtle fluttering of innocence." "San Jorge did live its rebirth with special happiness..." "It was unforgettable for all of us!" "I never returned to the space of my childhood..." "But I remember it each carnival Monday, with greater force in times of new nightmares." "Because we fooled ourselves believing that that dawn was final..." "Since then, nightmares visit us with painstaking frequency although we always manage to wake up..." "That is why I do not have any doubts..." "The one we suffer today, we'll also get lid of!"