Waiting to be woken

Andrés called me this morning to say yesterday he had been seconds away from slapping Renan's face apart, "what saved him was the fact he was at his home. Were it mine the little insolent asshole would leave without one or two of his teeth, I swear. It was going to get tight for him."

"Andrés, you have to disregard these things sometimes. There is something in him that stayed from that ceremony, I'm sure. You need to understand this lest you treat him just as an arrogant because he says those things to you. If you can see what he can't, then be wiser than he has been."

"Holy shit, Ms. Grisam, I can't even talk to him anymore, it's only arrogance and nothing else. Does he think he's superior just because he's mean to animals? Just because he says openly he likes to see them suffer?"

"Look Andrés, I can't speak much on the phone, but I guess he's in a competition with someone. A competition to entitle the winner to the crown of King of Savagery."

"Competition with whom?"

"I'm less than sure if he himself knows who he is competing with. But he wishes to show us he is the guy. And what he is going to do to convince us of that is what worries me."

I heard Renan's voice in the background. He was coming my way. I said goodbye to Andrés and hung up. Renan walked closer to me and asked me who it was.

"Andrés", I said carelessly.

"What did the prick want?" he gave me a sullen look as he asked me.

"He was mad at you for what you said to him yesterday. Now did you really have to say all that?"

"Yes I did. I had to prove him and everybody else that he was just a fucking loser. And I did, before everyone that was here, I unmasked our crappy great leader. His leadership is over. Now everyone knows he is just a worm stuck in a bunch of shit. And they'll save the best of their saliva to spit on his face at the right time."

"You can't be being serious with…"

"Yes, I am. I have been furious with him since the first meeting we had as Taurinos' Ancient Society, remember? I don't know why you defend him, he was so insolent with you at the same meeting. Then he also wanted to stop me from filming in the arena."

"But we were disrupting the meeting too, Renan, don't be so full of animosity."

"It's not animosity. It's rancor", he said smiling, "no problem, this will pass when I see him floored and not able to get off the floor again."

He was smiling (Renan has a beautiful smile that conceals many of his ill intentions) but I knew behind the smile there was no joke. He seemed possessed by a real feeling of revenge against Andrés. A real alastor. I can't figure out why so much rancor. It just doesn't seem to be only for the fact Andrés had ordered him around or banned filming in the sanctuary. It feels like an overreaction. Children developing feelings like rancor at this age are like children being born already with 32 teeth.

End of the afternoon and I'm at master Danilo's. He looks at me interested when I speak about Renan and Andrés' quarrel. He confirmed the fight of the two at school, but told me he learned about it by sheer chance. Of course it is such a small town, but kids' fights usually don't go far beyond the school walls.

"I understand what you say about something staying from the ceremony. Yes, it must have brought out something that was there, just waiting to be woken. One of you Taurinos must have made an impression in him that won't fade away easily. And it was probably the plump one himself. Now he wants to compete, show at once who's the fiercest among you Taurinos."

I laughed, commenting I never cease to find funny the fact he only refers to Andrés as the plump one. Looking carefully, none of the seven kids including late Arthur, were even slim. All of them slightly overweight, strong… as bulls. As Andrés himself. Master Danilo once told me he only called Andrés plump, none of the others.

Technical ecstasy | The age of consent

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