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Major Paredes shrugged his shoulders, made a skeptical gesture. He opened a cupboard, took out an envelope and handed it to him. He thumbed distractedly through the papers, the photographs.

“All his movements, all his telephone conversations, ” Major Paredes said. “Nothing suspicious. He’s spending his time consoling himself through his fly, you can see. Besides the mistress in Breñ a, he’s taken on another one, in Santa Beatriz. ”

He laughed, muttered something, and he could see them for an instant: fat, fleshy, their teats hanging down, advancing one after the other with a perverse joy in their eyes. He put the papers and photographs back into the envelope and laid it on the desk.

“The two mistresses, the dice games at the Military Club, one or two drinking bouts a week, that’s his life, ” Major Paredes said. “The Uplander is a used-up man, believe me. ”

“But with a lot of friends in the army, lots of officers who owe him favors, ” he said, “I’ve got the nose of a hound dog. Stay with me, give me a little more time. ”

“All right, if you insist so much, I’ll have them watch him for a few days more, ” Major Paredes said. “But I know it’s a waste of time. ”

“Even though he’s retired and dumb, a general is a general, ” he said. “I mean he’s more dangerous than all the Apristas and redtails put together. ”

Hipó lito was a brute, yessir, but he had his feelings too, Ludovico and Ambrosio had found out that time in Porvenir. They still had some time and they were going to get a drink when Hipó lito appeared and took each one by the arm: he was inviting them to a snort. They’d gone to the dive on the Avenida Bolivia, Hipó lito ordered three short ones, took out his oval cigarettes and lighted the match with a trembling hand. You could see he was nervous, sir, he was laughing listlessly, running his tongue over his mouth like a thirsty animal, looking behind, and the depths of his eyes were dancing. Ludovico and Ambrosio looked at each other as if to say what ails this guy.

“You seem to be carrying some problem around, Hipó lito, ” Ambrosio said.

“Did you catch the clap in some whorehouse, brother? ” Ludovico asked.

He shook his head no, drained his glass, asked the Chinaman for another round. What was wrong, then, Hipó lito? He looked at them, blew smoke in their faces, he’d finally decided to let the cat out of the bag, sir: he was bothered by that whoopty-do in Porvenir. Ambrosio and Ludovico laughed. There was nothing to it, Hipó lito, the crazy old women would start running with the first whistle, it was the easiest work in the world, brother. Hipó lito drained the second glass and his eyes popped out. He wasn’t afraid, he knew what the word meant, but he’d never felt it, he’d been a boxer.

“Fuck off, you’re not going to start telling us about your fights again? ” Ludovico said.

“It’s something personal, ” Hipó lito said sorrowfully.

It was Ludovico’s turn to pay for another round, and the Chinaman, who’d seen that they were going along at full speed, left the bottle on the bar. Last night he couldn’t sleep because of that whoopty-do, you can imagine what it was like. Ambrosio and Ludovico looked at each other as if to say has he gone crazy? Talk to us straight out, Hipó lito, that’s why they were friends. He coughed, he was just about to but he changed his mind, sir, his voice got stuck in the end but he loosened it up: a family affair, something personal. And without further ado, he poured out a mournful story, sir. His mother made mats and had her stand in the Parada market, he’d grown up in Porvenir, lived there, if you could call that living. He’d washed and polished cars, run errands, unloaded trucks at the market, picking up pennies where best he could, sometimes sticking his hand in where he shouldn’t have.

“What do they call people from Porvenir? ” Ludovico interrupted him. “People from Lima are called Limans, people from Bajo el Puente are Bajopontines, what about people from Porvenir? ”

“You don’t give a shit about what I’m saying, ” Hipó lito had said furiously.

“By no means, brother. ” Ludovico patted him on the back. “That question just came to me all of a sudden. I’m sorry, go ahead. ”

That even though it had been some years since he’d been back there, here inside, and he touched his chest, sir, Porvenir was still home to him: besides, that’s where he’d started boxing. That a lot of the old women in Parada knew him, that some of them were going to recognize him, maybe.

“Oh, now I get it, ” Ludovico said. “There’s no reason for you to get upset, who’s going to recognize you after so many years? Besides, they won’t even see your face, the lighting in Porvenir is awful, the punks keep throwing stones at the street lights and breaking them. There’s nothing to worry about, Hipó lito. ”

He’d stood there thinking, licking his lips like a cat. The Chinaman brought salt and a lemon, Ludovico salted the tip of his tongue and squeezed half of the lemon into his mouth, drained his glass and exclaimed that the drink had gone up in quality. He’d started talking about something else, but Hipó lito silent, looking at the floor, the bar, thinking.

“No, ” he’d said suddenly. “I’m not bothered by somebody recognizing me. I’m bothered by the whole idea of the whoopty-do. ”

“But why, man? ” Ludovico said. “Isn’t it better to put a scare into old women than students, for example? All they do is holler and jump, Hipó lito. Noise can’t hurt anyone. ”

“What if I have to swat one of the ones who fed me when I was a kid? ” Hipó lito had said, pounding on the table, all worked up, sir.

Ambrosio and Ludovico as if saying here comes the crybaby stuff again. But man, brother, if they fed you then they’re good people, religious, law-abiding women, do you think they’d get mixed up in political fights? But Hipó lito. He wouldn’t be convinced, he was shaking his head as if you can’t convince me.

“I’m doing this today, but I don’t like it, ” he said finally.

“Do you think anybody likes it? ” Ludovico asked.

“I do, ” said Ambrosio, laughing. “It’s like a rest for me, an adventure. ”

“That’s because you only come along once in a while, ” Ludovico said. “You’ve got a great life as the big boss’s chauffeur and this is just a game for you. Wait till you get your head split open by a stone, the way it happened to me once. ”

“Then let’s hear you tell us that you still like it, ” Hipó lito had said.

Lucky for him nothing ever happened to him, sir.

How dared he? On her days off when she didn’t go to see her aunt in Limoncillo or Señ ora Rosario in Mirones, she would go out with Anduvia and Marí a, two maids in the neighborhood. Because he’d helped her get that job, did he think she’d forgotten? They’d take walks, go to the movies, one Sunday they’d gone to the Coliseo to see the folk dancing. Just because you chatted with him did he think you’d forgiven him already? Sometimes she went out with Carlota, but not too often, because Sí mula wanted her to have her home before dark. You shouldn’t have treated him so well, dummy. When they left, Sí mula would drive them crazy with her instructions, and when they got back with her questions. She was really going to stand him up on Sunday, coming here all the way from Miraflores in vain, oh, she was going to get one up on him. Poor Carlota, Sí mula wouldn’t let her stick so much as her nose out onto the street, she worked hard to frighten her about men. All week long she was thinking he’s going to be waiting for you, sometimes it sent her into a rage that made her tremble, sometimes into laughter. But he probably wouldn’t come, she’d told him not in your wildest dream and he’d say to himself why should I go. On Saturday she pressed the shiny blue dress that Señ ora Hortensia had given her, where are you going tomorrow? Carlota asked her, to her aunt’s. She looked in the mirror and insulted herself: you’re already thinking about going, dummy. No, she wouldn’t go. That Sunday, for the first time, she put on the high-heeled shoes she’d just bought and the bracelet she’d won in a raffle. Before leaving she put a little lipstick on.

She cleared the table quickly, ate practically no lunch, went up to the mistress’s room to look at herself in the full-length mirror. She went straight to the Bertoloto Hotel, passed it, and on Costanera she felt fury and a tingling in her body: there he was at the streetcar stop, waving. She thought go back, she thought you won’t speak to him. He had a brown suit, white shirt and red tie on and was wearing a handkerchief in his jacket pocket.

“I was praying you wouldn’t stand me up, ” Ambrosio said. “I’m glad you came. ”

“I came to get the streetcar, ” she said, indignant, turning away from him. “I’m going to my aunt’s. ”

“Fine, ” Ambrosio said. “Let’s ride downtown together. ”

“I was forgetting one detail, ” Major Paredes said. “Espina’s been seeing a lot of your friend Zavala. ”

“That doesn’t mean anything, ” he said. “They’ve been friends for years. Espina got his laboratory the concession to supply the army commissaries. ”

“There are a few things about that big shot that I don’t like, ” Major Paredes said. “I keep an eye on him from time to time. He’s had meetings with Apristas. ”

“Thanks to those important Apristas he learns lots of things and thanks to him I learn about them, ” he said. “Zavala’s no problem. You’re wasting your time on him. ”

“I’ve never been convinced of the loyalty of that big shot, ” Major Paredes said. “He’s with the government in order to do business. Strictly a matter of convenience. ”

“We’re all with the government out of convenience; the important thing is for it to be convenient for people like Zavala to be with the government. ” He smiled. “Can we take a look at the Cajamarca business? ”

Major Paredes nodded. He picked up one of the three telephones and gave an order. He was thoughtful for a moment.

“At first I thought you were only posing as a cynic, ” he said then. “Now I’m convinced you really are. You don’t believe in anything or anybody, Cayo. ”

“I’m not paid to believe, I’m paid to do my job. ” He smiled again. “And I’m doing a good job, right? ”

“If you’re only in this out of convenience, how come you haven’t accepted other offers a thousand times better than what the President has offered you? ” Major Paredes laughed. “You see, you are a cynic, but not as much as you’d like to think you are. ”

He stopped smiling and looked at Major Paredes wistfully.

“Maybe because your uncle gave me an opportunity that no one else gave me, ” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe because I haven’t found anyone who can serve your uncle in this job the way I can. Or maybe because I like the work, I don’t know. ”

“The President is concerned about your health and so am I, ” Major Paredes said. “In three years you’ve aged ten. How’s your ulcer? ”

“Healed over, ” he said. “I don’t have to drink milk anymore, thank God. ”

He reached for his cigarettes on the desk, lighted one and had a coughing attack.

“How many do you smoke a day? ” Major Paredes asked.

“Two or three packs, ” he said. “But dark tobacco, not that crap you smoke. ”

“I don’t know what’s going to do you in first. ” Major Paredes laughed. “Tobacco, the ulcer, amphetamines, the Apristas, or some resentful army officer like the Uplander. Or your harem. ”

He gave a touch of a smile. There was a knock on the door, the captain with the little mustache came in with a file folder: the photostats were ready, Major. Paredes spread the map out on the desk: red and blue marks at certain intersections, a thick black line that zigzagged along many streets and came to an end in a square. They leaned over the map for some time. Danger points, Major Paredes was saying, troop concentrations, the route of the movement, the bridge to be inaugurated. He was taking notes in a small book, smoking, asking questions in his monotonous voice. They went back to their chairs.

“Tomorrow I’m traveling to Cajamarca with Captain Rí os to take a last look at the security precautions, ” Major Paredes said. “There’s no problem on our side, security will function like clockwork. What about your people? ”

“I’m not worried about security, ” he said. “I’m worried about something else. ”

“His reception? ” Major Paredes asked. “Do you think they’ll do something unpleasant? ”

“The senator and the deputies have promised to fill the square, ” he said. “But promises like that, you know. This afternoon I’m going to meet with the reception committee. I had them come to Lima. ”

“Those uplanders would be ungrateful shits not to receive him with open arms, ” Major Paredes said. “He’s building them a road, a bridge. Who ever remembered there even was a Cajamarca before that? ”

“Cajamarca’s always been an Aprista hotbed, ” he said. “We’ve done some cleaning up, but something unforeseen could happen. ”

“The President thinks the trip will be a success, ” Major Paredes said. “He says you’ve assured him there’ll be forty thousand people at the rally and no trouble. ”

“There will be, and there won’t be any trouble, ” he said. “But those are the things that are aging me. Not the ulcers or the tobacco. ”

They’d paid the Chinaman, gone out, and when they got to the courtyard the meeting had already begun, sir. Mr. Lozano looked angrily at them and pointed to the clock. There were some fifty there, all dressed in civilian clothes, some were laughing like idiots and what a stink. This one on the regular list, this one a hired hand like me, the other one from the list, Ludovico was pointing them out, and a police major was talking, potbellied, half-stuttering, who kept repeating “so that. ” So that there were assault guards on the outskirts, so th-th-that there were patrol cars too, so that the c-c-cavalry was hidden in some garages and c-c-corrals. Ludovico and Ambrosio looked at each other as if to say c-c-comical, sir, but Hipó lito kept a funeral face. And then Mr. Lozano came forward, all very quiet to listen to him.

“But the idea is that the police won’t have to intervene, ” he’d said. “It’s something Mr. Bermú dez has asked about especially. And there isn’t to be any shooting either. ”

“He’s bringing in the big boss because you’re here, ” Ludovico had said to Ambrosio. “So you’ll go back and tell him. ”

“So that that’s why they didn’t issue pistols, just c-c-clubs and other h-h-hand weapons. ”

A sound of stomachs, throats, feet had arisen, they were all protesting but without opening their mouths, sir. Quiet, the Major said, but the one who settled things in an intelligent way was Mr. Lozano.

“You’re a first-class bunch and you don’t need bullets to break up a handful of crazy women. If things get rough the assault guards will go into action. ” Very smart, he made a joke: “Anybody who’s afraid raise your hand. ” Nobody. And he: “Fine, because otherwise you’d have to give your drinks back. ” Laughter. And he: “Carry on with your instructions, Major. ”

“So th-th-that understood, and before you get your weapons take a good look at each other’s f-f-faces so that you won’t be hitting each other by m-m-mistake. ”

They had laughed, out of politeness, not because his joke was funny, and where the weapons were they had to sign a receipt. They gave them clubs, brass knuckles and bicycle chains. They returned to the courtyard, mingled with each other, some were already so bashed they could barely speak. Ambrosio got them into conversation, where they were from, if they’d been chosen by lot. No, sir, they were all volunteers. Happy to get a few extra soles, but some were scared at what might happen to them. They were smoking, fooling around, pretending to hit each other with the clubs. That’s the way they were until around six o’clock when the Major came to tell them that the bus is here. On the square in Porvenir half of them stayed with Ludovico and Ambrosio, in the center, by the swings. Hipó lito had taken the others over near the movie theater. Broken down into groups of three, four, they’d gone into the amusement park. Ambrosio and Ludovico looked at the flying seats, wild for lifting up women’s skirts, right? No, sir, you couldn’t see a thing, there wasn’t enough light. The others were buying Italian ices, mashed yams, a couple of them had brought their flasks and were taking their drinks beside the Ferris wheel. It smells as if Lozano had been given a bum steer, Ludovico had said. They’d been there a half hour already and not a sign of anything.

On the streetcar they sat together and Ambrosio paid her fare. She was so furious for having come that she didn’t even look at him. Why are you so mad, Ambrosio was saying. Her face close to the window, Amalia was looking at the Avenida Brasil, the cars, the Beverly theater. Women have good hearts and bad memories, Ambrosio was saying, but you’re just the opposite, Amalia. That day when they’d met on the street and he told her I know of a place in San Miguel where they were looking for a maid, hadn’t they had a nice chat? She the Police Hospital, the Magdalena Vieja oval. And the other day at the service entrance, hadn’t they had a nice chat? The Salesian School, the Plaza Bolognesi. Was there another man in your life now, Amalia? And at that moment two women got on, sat down opposite them, they looked like bad sorts and they began to look at Ambrosio fresh as you like. What was wrong with their going out together once like good friends? Laughing at him, looks and flirting, and suddenly, without realizing it, her mouth said right out, looking at the two women, not at him: all right, where shall we go? Ambrosio looked at her with surprise, scratched his head and laughed: what a woman. They went to Rí mac, because Ambrosio had to see a friend. They found him in a little restaurant on the Calle Chiclayo, eating chicken and rice.

“Let me introduce you to my girl friend, Ludovico, ” Ambrosio said.

“That’s not so, ” Amalia said. “We’re just friends. ”

“Sit down, ” Ludovico said. “Have a beer with me. ”

“Ludovico and I worked together for Don Cayo, Amalia, ” Ambrosio said. “I drove the car and he took care of him. Rough nights, right, Ludovico? ”

There were only men in the restaurant, some of them looked awful, and Amalia felt uncomfortable. What are you doing here, she thought, why are you so stupid. They were watching her out of the corner of their eyes but they weren’t saying anything. They were probably afraid of the two big men with her, because Ludovico was as tall and as strong as Ambrosio. Except so ugly, his face pockmarked and gaps in his teeth. The two of them were talking between themselves, asking about friends, and she was bored. But suddenly Ludovico pounded on the table: that’s it, they were going to the Acho bullring, he’d get them in. He got them in, not through the public entrance but through an alley, and the policemen greeted Ludovico like an old friend. They sat down in the Shade, high up, but since there weren’t many people, when the second bull came out they went down to the fourth row. There were three bullfighters, but the star was Santa Cruz, it was odd to see a black man dressed as a bullfighter. You’re rooting for him because he’s your blood brother, Ludovico teased Ambrosio, and he, without being annoyed, yes and besides he’s got guts. He did: he spun around, knelt down, turned his back on the bull. She’d only seen bullfights in the movies and she closed her eyes, she shrieked when the bull knocked down an apprentice, the picadors are savages she said, but with Santa Cruz’s last bull she waved her handkerchief too, like Ambrosio, and asked them to give him an ear. She was happy leaving Acho, at least she’d seen something new. It was so silly wasting her day off helping Señ ora Rosario hang clothes, listening to her aunt complain about her boarders, or walking all over with Anduvia and Marí a with noplace to go. They had some dark chicha at the entrance to Acho and Ludovico said good-bye. They walked toward the Paseo de Aguas.

“Did you like the bullfight? ” Ambrosio asked.

“Yes, ” Amalia said. “But it’s awfully cruel for the animals, isn’t it? ”

“If you liked it, we can come back another time, ” Ambrosio said.

She was going to answer him not in your wildest dream but she had second thoughts and closed her mouth and thought stupid girl. It occurred to her that it had been more than three years, almost four, since she’d gone out with Ambrosio, and suddenly she felt sad. What do you want to do now? Ambrosio asked. Go to her aunt’s in Limoncillo. What could he have been doing all those years? You can go another time, Ambrosio said, let’s go to the movies instead. They went to one in Rí mac, to see a pirate picture, and in the darkness she felt her eyes filling with tears. Were you remembering when you used to go to the movies with Trinidad, stupid girl? When you used to live in Mirones and you spent days, months without doing anything, not talking, not even thinking? No, she was remembering from before that, the Sundays they saw each other in Surquillo, and the nights they got together secretly in the little room next to the garage and what happened. She felt rage again, if he touches me I’ll scratch his eyes out, I’ll kill him. But Ambrosio didn’t even try, and when they went out he invited her to have a snack. They walked along to the Plaza de Armas, talking about everything except before. Only when they were waiting for the streetcar did he take her arm: I’m not what you think I am, Amalia. And you’re not what you think you are either, Queta said, you’re what you do, that poor Amalia makes me feel sorry. Let me go or I’ll scream, Amalia said, and Ambrosio let go of her. But they weren’t fighting, Amalia, I’m only asking you to forget what happened. It’s been such a long time, Amalia. The streetcar came, they rode to San Miguel in silence. They got off at the stop by the Canonesas School and it had grown dark. You had another man, the textile worker, Ambrosio said, I haven’t had another woman. And a while later, getting to the corner of the house, with a resentful voice: you’ve made me suffer a lot, Amalia. She didn’t answer him, she started to run. At the door of the house, she turned to look: he’d stayed on the corner, half hidden in the shadows of the little branchless trees. She went into the house, making an effort not to let herself be sentimental, furious at feeling sentimental.

“What about that lodge of officers in Cuzco? ” he asked.

“As soon as the lists are presented to congress, Colonel Idiá quez is going to get his promotion, ” Major Paredes said. “As a general he won’t be able to stay on in Cuzco, and without him the ring will break up. They haven’t done anything yet; they meet, they talk. ”

“It isn’t enough just getting Idiá quez out of there, ” he said. “What about the commandant, and the little captains? I don’t understand why they haven’t been broken up yet. The Minister of War assured me that the transfers would start this week. ”

“I’ve spoken to him ten times, showed him the reports ten times, ” Major Paredes said. “Since it’s a question of officers with prestige, he wants to drag his feet. ”

“The President has got to intervene, then, ” he said. “After his trip to Cajamarca, the first order of business is breaking up that little ring. Are they being watched closely? ”

“You can imagine, ” Major Paredes said. “I even know what they have for dinner. ”

“When we least expect it somebody is going to lay a million soles on the table in front of them and we’ll have a revolution on our hands, ” he said. “They’ve got to be broken up and sent to faraway garrisons as soon as possible. ”

“Idiá quez owes the government a lot of favors, ” Major Paredes said. “The President is always getting tremendously disappointed by people. It’s going to hurt him when he finds out that Idiá quez is stirring up officers against him. ”

“It would hurt him more if he found out they’d risen in revolt, ” he said; he stood up, took some papers out of his briefcase and handed them to Major Paredes. “Take a look at these and see if you’ve got any files on the people there. ”

Paredes accompanied him to the door, held him back by the arm when he was about to leave.

“And that news from Argentina this morning, how did it get by you? ”

“It didn’t get by me, ” he said. “Apristas stoning a Peruvian embassy is a good piece of news. I talked to the President and he agreed that it should be printed. ”

“Well, yes, ” Major Paredes said. “The officers here who read it were indignant. ”

“You see how I think of everything? ” he said. “See you tomorrow. ”

But in a little while Hipó lito had come over to them, his face very sad, sir: there they were, with their signs and everything. They’d come in by one of the corners of the square, and the men approached like curious bystanders. Four of them were carrying a sign with red letters, behind came a small group, the ringleaders Ludovico had said, who made the others holler, and the others were half a block long. The people from the amusement park had also come close to look at them. They were shouting, especially those in front, and it couldn’t be understood, and there were old women, young women, children, but no men, just as Mr. Lozano said, Hipó lito had said. A lot of braids, a lot of full skirts, a lot of hats. These people believe in the procession, Ludovico had said: there were three who were holding their hands as if they were praying, sir. Some two hundred or three hundred or four hundred and they finally all came into the square.

“Bread and butter, you see? ” Ludovico had said.

“Stale bread and rancid butter, maybe, ” said Hipó lito.

“We get in the middle of them and divide them up, ” Ludovico had said. “We’ll keep the head and you can have the tail. ”

“I hope the lash of the tail is softer than the butt of the head, ” Hipó lito said, trying to make a joke, sir, but it didn’t come off. He pulled up his collar and went to round up his group. The women went around the square and they had followed them, from behind and separately. When they were by the Ferris wheel, Hipó lito had appeared again: I’ve got second thoughts, I want to leave. I like you a lot but I like myself more, Ludovico had said. I’m warning you I’ll screw you, you faggot. That slap in the face had lifted his morale, sir: he gave a furious look, shot off. They’d got their people together, had stirred them up with words and had sneaked into the demonstration. The women were gathered together by the Ferris wheel, the ones with the sign were facing the others. All of a sudden one of the leaders climbed up onto a platform and began to make a speech. More people had crowded together, they were jammed in there, the music from the wheel had stopped, but you couldn’t hear what she was talking about. The men had been working in, clapping, the stupid women are making way for us, Ludovico said, and on the other side Hipó lito’s people were sneaking in too. They were clapping, embracing, good fine bravo, some of the women were looking at them funny but others come in come in, shook hands with them, we’re not alone. Ambrosio and Ludovico had looked at each other as if saying let’s not get separated in this mess, buddy. They’d already cut them in two, they were jammed into them just like a wedge, right in the middle. They’d taken out their taunts, their whistling, Hipó lito his megaphone, down with the troublemaker! long live General Odrí a! down with the enemies of the people! the truncheons, the whips, long live Odrí a! A terrible mess, sir. Troublemakers, the woman on the platform was howling, but the noise swallowed up her voice and around Ambrosio the women were shrieking and shoving. Get out of here, Ludovico was telling them, you’ve been tricked, go back home, and at that moment a hand had suddenly grabbed him and it felt like she was pulling off a strip of my neck, Ludovico had told Ambrosio afterwards, sir. That’s when the clubs and chains had come into play, the whacks and punches, and that’s when a million women had begun to bellow and kick. Ambrosio and Ludovico were together, one would slip and the other would help him up, one would fall and the other would lift him. The hens had turned into fighting cocks, Ludovico had said, dumb old Hipó lito was right. Because they really did defend themselves, sir. They’d knock them down and they’d stay on the ground there, like dead, but from the ground they grabbed them by the feet and pulled them down. They kept on kicking, jumping, curses rang out like shotgun blasts. There are only a few of us, one of them had said, bring in the assault guards, but Ludovico, God damn it, no! They rushed them again and made them fall back, the fence around the wheel fell down and a pile of crazy women too. Some of them dragged themselves off and now instead of long live Odrí a the men were shouting fuckyourmothers, whores, at them, and finally the head of the column had been broken up into small groups and it was easy to chase them. From two, from three they would pick one and beat up on her, then another and beat up on her, and Ambrosio and Ludovico even joked about their sweaty faces. That was when the shot rang out, sir, goddamnyourfuckinghide the one who fired, Ludovico had said. It wasn’t there, but in back. The tail had been all together and wiggling, sir. They went to help and broke it up. Somebody named Soldevilla had shot, ten of them had me cornered, they were going to scratch my eyes out, he hadn’t killed anybody, he’d shot into the air. But Ludovico got worked up all the same: who the fuck gave you a revolver? And Soldevilla: this weapon doesn’t belong to the platoon, it belongs to me. You’ve fucked yourself up just the same, Ludovico had said, I’m making a report and you’ve lost your bonus. The amusement park was deserted, the fellows who ran the Ferris wheel, the whip, the rocket were trembling in their huts, the same as the gypsy women in their tents. They took count and one of them was missing, sir. They’d found him asleep beside a damned woman who was crying. Several of them got mad, what have you done, you whore, and they landed on her. His name was Iglesias, he was from Ayacucho, his mouth was busted, he got up like a sleepwalker, what, what. O. K., Ludovico had said to the ones who were beating up on the woman, it’s all over. They had taken the bus by the bar and nobody was talking, dead tired. When they got out they’d begun to smoke, look at each other’s faces, it hurts me here, my wife will never believe that I got this scratch as an accident at work. Fine, very good, Mr. Lozano had said, you did your job, now go fix yourselves up. That was the kind of job it was, more or less, sir.