Cloudburst: An Anthology of Hispanic Canadian Short Stories

Black Serpent

Óscar Armando Tobar 277 Black Serpent The Cherokee van drove cautiously without stopping. It crossed countryside and towns, like a worm moving over the motionless back of an enormous black serpent. That small republic was a world of contrasts and traditions, anchored like a box of surprises in the continental belt of Latin America. To the south, the waves rolled across the sea, and to the north a multitude of peaks and volcanoes emerged from the earth, the sound of cries brought overland by the wind. At a “Y” formed by the dark serpent and a neighbouring unpaved road, near a silver-coloured bridge, the van was joined by an olive-green Jeep. The two vehicles drove in single file, heading in the same direction. The van carried five malodorous figures, difficult to recognize through the closed tinted windows. It was said, later, that one of them was José María, Chema, a man of few words with a peasant farmer’s features, a cold, hard look, dark, deep-set eyes, large, pronounced cheekbones, a wide nose like a seasoned boxer’s, meaty lips, dark, straight hair, and an olive complexion. Of solid stature and medium build, he was between twenty and thirty years old. He couldn’t go twenty-four hours without talking about fights. He was tougher than his own teeth. A memory surged up from his mental inventory of the day he was recruited into the army. It had been on a Sunday afternoon, after a soccer game. The procession of spectators of all ages returned home, with most of the men, each drunker than the other, walking behind the women. Stationed at both ends of the main street were the town’s commissioner and his men, endowed with civil authority. Each of the ex-soldier reservists was hiding a rope with a lasso at the end. They waited for the women to pass, then ran toward the group of men. The cry of “They’re recruiting!” multiplied through the streets as they fled. Cloudburst 278 They tripped over each other and jumped over fences in search of a place to hide. Days later, in the regiment, some refused to complete their military service because it wasn’t mandatory. As a result, half the peasants were whipped with a bull pizzle. It was a centuries-old military tradition, in which a bull’s urinary apparatus was collected and the end was split into two or three strips, which were covered in salt, stretched and twisted as much as possible, and then dried out in the open for a couple of weeks; this produced a strong, sharp whip. To them, this whip symbolized the “macho,” the “bull” and the “man.” These initial tactics at the beginning of a man’s military career instilled submission, fear, courage and hate in him. The process represented a deformed, masochistic interpretation of the symbolism found in Masonic lodges. Many years later, Chema returned to headquarters. This time, it was as an officer in the National Guard and member of the “Special Task Force.” No one wore a uniform in the complex. They were all soldiers from different military forces. The mournful night enveloped the city as they reached the first houses. The top floors of headquarters peered out above them. At a signal from their lights, the doors opened. The two vehicles were instructed to park at the edge of a soccer field inside the complex. Asergeantbroughtthemtoasmallroominabasement,and locked them in. There they found cigarettes, easily digestible food and raw meat to grill, but no way to communicate with the outside. No one knew anyone outside of their sector of operations. These officers all had special privileges, such as better benefits within the forces, and, most importantly, absolute immunity. Minutes later, a lieutenant came in and formed them into three groups. He called each of the men by a false name (Carte Blanche, Teófilo, Rubber Face, Cristóbal, Tiger, The Kid . . .), code names given for security purposes. Each of them had been chosen for his ability to take precise orders and for his discretion and espionage skills, criteria set by the Óscar Armando Tobar 279 team of top-level psychologists and advisors from the Ministry of Defence, who had interviewed hundreds of candidates. Each group was brought separately to a different room to receive their specific instructions. It was a long, intense wait before they finally heard steps in...