TE19 Iberian Adventure

Sara Mesa

They agree to subject me to closer monitoring, not in order to control me, but for my own good. Only and exclusively for my own good, the Booty says. When she says it, she fixes me with a watery stare. The Advisor commits fully to the plan.

Close monitoring is one of his specialties, it seems.

I see that they don’t consider this surveillance a punishment.

It is what it is, there’s nothing I can do.

I consent.

•

The First Day

The New Kid is there, at the start of the day. He’s not “Héctor” yet, but will be soon. He sits in the back row and speaks to no one. And there, at the front of the room, Ignacio’s defenseless neck.

He can feel the New Kid’s gaze. It makes him happy and he yearns for the pricking it provokes.

The others horse around, trying to get the New Kid’s attention. He looks like a leader and they have to earn it.

Instead, he stares through a filter of hazy morning light. A mel¬ancholy light that conceals both the athletic fields and his 78