Chapt 3

Will you stay?" the young woman asked, opening the right door of the pickup to leave. -- I like your car. It looks like it's imported.

--Maybe. I think so. It all depends on which side he wakes up tomorrow.

-It is. It's got the steering wheel on the left side," said the young lady before she left, "I'm at the end of the road. It's not very advisable to visit me; if you can go without being seen, you can share a cup of coffee with me.

--I know you want to ask. There are times when they sell me products...they help me under the table...other times they put the screws to them...-- the young woman finished, referring to the vendors.

--A two-story house,"-- he said to no one as he watched the rickety pickup disappear over the horizon.

He rolled and saw the houses. It was no doubt a mockery. They were ruins. The fourth house was the one in the best condition. It was on the left side. In the same canal. Two stories. Wooden, with a courtyard corridor around the house on both floors. Roofed in the front. He liked it . He saw Fordson tractors, absolutely rusted, abandoned farm implements. A barn with no roof. It had no doors. No light, no water.

Just a rocking chair on the left side on the empty door lintel.

--The rocking chair. -- he said, dusting it off.

He sat down. It was the ultimate. Suddenly the 14 hours of the long stretch overcame him. Tomorrow he would have breakfast with what he had bought for himself at the store. In his profession he had become accustomed to sleeping in every unimaginable position. That's why sleeping in a rocking chair was the ultimate.

He woke up the next day. He saw a gleaming Chevrolet Apache pickup. Five men. One of them opened the right door of the Cadillac , extracted the knick-knacks and began to eat them with another, both sitting on the hood of the car , with their feet on the bumper .

The third one looked like a Pole. Some retired wrestler. Another one, staring awkwardly at him from a hat, leaning against the railing, next to himself and the boss. A skinny, acne-marked face, a short-sleeved white shirt, pretending to be an office worker.

Between sarcasm and attention they watched him.

The skinny man pointed to the Cadillac.

--Isn't it a magnificent car for a somewhat neglected house? Who gave you permission to be here?

-- I bought some things at the GFL market and filled up at the GFL gas station. The clerks told me.

--Fat Lucy and good old Mummy, fixing people's lives.

--I'll just pass a broom and be on my way.

--No. No need. We're always short of customers. Much obliged for your purchase. What's your business around here?.

--I'm a retired, , divorce survivor. -I'm trying to balance my blood pressure. I'm trying to balance my blood pressure.

The men laughed. It was the laughter of hyenas.

--So. Saved the car? -- said the man, looking at the magnificent sedan.

--It was hers. -- he indicated, looking as if he had won the lottery.

Everyone laughed again.

--If you need a job. We can help you,"-- said the man, holding out a card.

--Thank you. I think I can still work. Good money is always needed.

--Think about it. We need people for everything. Just pick a business and show the card. They'll give you a job.

--Thank you, Mr. GFL.

--I'm not Gurar. You'll meet him,"-- said the man, not swallowing his face.

. They both understood. The sixth sense of criminals never fails.

The men left in the Chevrolet Apache, but not before leaving the empty containers of knick-knacks on the seat of the Cadillac and taking the Coca Colas with them.

--I think I'll have that coffee," Sanchez said to no one, watching the men in the pickup as they drove off into the distance.

II

--I don't have water or electricity,--" the young woman informed Sanchez. She was always told that people with Hispanic surnames were dancers, lovers, liars and attractive... Well, this was a nice gentleman, solid, not so tall, with very strong hands and absolutely calm... coldly calm....

He had arrived very early,,, scanning the house, it was very big . 4 floors, a gigantic door. Silos, barns, ruined warehouses. Cars, pick ups, trucks, all rusted, piled up in the sun. Apparently nothing in that house worked. However, inside it was quite comfortable.

--A few hours from here there is a very nice town. I bet a young woman who has survived this way can get a good performance there. I don't understand the need to suffer so much here. Alone by herself," --Zacharias said, receiving a spectacular cup of coffee and milk.

--I learned to make fire with wood. -She reported, looking at him. --I've also learned to make soap with leaves, I've planted some corn and I've got some chickens hidden around. At least I eat eggs.

--I received a visit. From your friends, I think,--u he said, handing the card to the young woman.

She read.

---- "Mapanare" Roston. It's his chief assassin. He's a lowlife. He tried to rape me when I was 13.

--How do you manage to be safe here?

--I am not safe. He wants my inheritance. These 50,000 hectares. That's why he murdered my parents, my uncles, my brothers. Almost all of our employees and he threatens anyone who wants to help me.

--It's a large tract of land of no use. For the moment I don't see how I can win.

--It wasn't always like this. Here we planted quinoa, bledo, jatropha curcas, dandelion, aloe, sorghum, soybeans, jaka, quinoa, cactus, sisal, and we made use of the spurge.

We extracted camel milk, raised ostriches, wild boars crossed with pigs. We gave work to more than 300 people.

--How did you lose everything?

--My parents were working people. They believed in the law.

--The other one bought judges and police. I know something about that.

--That's how it was. GFL overpaid. He raised an army and tithed to us. I was 12 when it was all over.

--Why don't you kill her.

--He needs my signature. Forcing me to sell without paying me. By killing me, there are no heirs.

--I see. You've gone a little overboard. He doesn't want to have to explain himself too much. It would be lovely for the press to know about this and more.

In the center of the hacienda there is an immense well of water. You can see what the area is like: arid, bad soil, it hardly ever rains. Whoever has the water has everything. Additionally it is believed that there is a diamond bulla. That is the reason.

--Why didn't they give him the water?

--My father offered him the water in perpetuity. For free. He didn't want it. He wants total control.

-GFL Water and GFL Diamonds. -GFL Diamonds. Doesn't sound bad.

--It's my heritage. I have endured many years without giving up.

--I'm very sorry, Miss Lane, that Superman didn't appear in this girl's village," --he said without the slightest tone of mockery.

--Here,"-- replied the young woman, giving him two huge rubies in exchange for the food and yesterday's Diesel.

--Then the mine is true. You know where it is.

--I have ideas. I can't do it alone. There aren't many people who want to work with me now.

--I know you didn't ask for my help; I'm just an old man in his sixties with a genuinely bad life. I can't help you. I understand it's not very good for my health in this town. I'll leave immediately.

--I'm sorry you were bullied because of me.

--It wasn't your fault. It would have been worse to put me in these airs for a while and discover the atmosphere sooner or later. I am in time.

She accompanied him. He left the rubies on the railing.

He said goodbye. That was not what was planned. He would go somewhere else. This town had its own particular hell. Too bad for the girl. It was a war he couldn't win.

He took the road and half a mile down the road he passed a Ford Victoria Police car. Two minutes later he heard the wail of the siren and saw in the rearview mirror the red light with the change of lights.

He stopped and the patrol car overtook him on his right side, braking abruptly, closing the way. From it descended a man, ostentatious, tall, with mustaches, and a wide Texan hat.

The man looked at him and said, "Turn off the engine.

- The man looked at him and said,

-- "Turn off the engine. Please turn off the engine. Come on down. -- he said, taking two steps back and placing his hand on the butt of the Colt 45 in his holster.

He did so, without deigning to look at the policeman.

--I hate for any "ape" to come to my town and think he is Lorenzo Lamas with the idea of finding an Esther Williams here. You don't look like Dezi Arnal either.

He did not answer anything to the policeman. He simply turned his face toward the voice, staring at it.

--I also detest any idiot who thinks he can go around rubbing everyone's nose in a Cadillac with the stops broken,"-- he said, pulling out his baton and smashing the car's left stop sign,-- "Worse yet, let him see my face and think he can drive around with both stops broken.