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Joy
quiet, ok? Because of us,
when you pass the périph,
you know what to do: you
read the meters, you settle
accounts, you know what
you have to do.” Rédoine
bends toward me and takes
my hand but I see nothing,
I have blood in my eye and
I can’t breathe. “You want
to make a phone call. You
want to make a complaint?”
When I understand that he is
referring to a phone, I see his
arm which is raising up, they
are all on me, they immobilize
me, and he smashes my knee,
his arm goes up and slams
down like a machine that
gets jammed, he bangs the
edge of the phone repeatedly
into the same spot and I howl
like an animal, and then I
hear the sound of a motor,
an acceleration and the
screeching of tires, they are
no longer there.
It doesn’t come right away
but it did finally come. I cry
and the sidewalk gets a taste
of blood. I cry and that does
a world of good.
12
In front of the cemetery
there’s a line of cars. The
doors open and people get
out, some of them are even
smiling. Most of them wear
sunglasses. Some haven’t
seen each other in a long
time and are happy to see
each other again, even for
a funeral. There are people,
a lot of people: all of mom’s
brothers and sisters, all of
her friends, colleagues, and
former students. It’s very
sunny; flowers are blooming
everywhere in the cemetery.
There are even some in the
space between the tombs,
small spots filled with lively
colored flowers that the