The Priest by Monica La Porta Page A

and he
pushed the feeling away. Still, the thought of Rosie kept coming
back since he had been forced to leave the Temple. Even while
digging the trench, he thought of her and of her voice.
    “I’m going to ask. You stay here; it won’t
take long,” Leander said the last word already halfway between
their table and Arias’.
    Mauricio, having nothing to do now that he
had licked his plate clean, finally took a better look at the rest
of the cafeteria. There was some kind of excitement running through
the room like a subtle buzz. Leander was talking to Arias
animatedly. Mauricio kept his eyes on Leander until he came back
with an expression he couldn’t decipher.
    “So?”
    “The Presidential family is coming here.
Tomorrow, they’ll walk through the fields for the annual
inspection.” Leander sat down heavily and started toying with his
food.
    Mauricio, on the other hand, felt his
stomach tightening and his heart racing. But, she’s still there
at the Temple, isn’t she? he thought. “The whole family?” he
couldn’t help but ask.
    “I don’t know. Why would you care,
anyway?”
    “I don’t.”
    “The presence of the President is bad news
for the slaves. The women go crazy trying to demonstrate that this
farm works better than the others, and we are forced to work shift
after shift to clean the place. Last year was a nightmare. The
President had the brilliant idea of saying that she liked a
particular type of lavender Tarin didn’t produce. We worked for
three months to remove thousands of plants and replace them with
the one the President liked. The day of the annual inspection, the
chief guard showed her the fields with the new bushes, and do you
know what the bitch said?” Leander asked rhetorically.
    He just insulted the President. Out loud! Mauricio jumped on his seat and nervously looked
around waiting for the guards to beat Leander unconscious, but
nothing happened. Then he realized there weren’t any women guarding
the cafeteria. How could I miss that?
    “How could you miss what? And why are you
acting so weird?” Leander asked, following suit and turning right
and left to see what had worried Mauricio.
    “Did I say that out loud?” Mauricio looked
at the other man who nodded up at him. “There are no guards here.
How come there are no guards?”
    “This is the men’s cafeteria,” Leander said
with a matter-of-fact shrug; then when he saw Mauricio’ s puzzled
expression, he went on explaining, “They can barely stand our
presence, let alone our smell, and this place is too crowded with
men. They stay outside for the most part. After all, where we can
go?”
    “Ah, of course—”
    “Anyway, what was I saying before you
interrupted me?”
    “Something about the President and the
lavender fields?”
    “Oh, yes… So, the President said her healer
had recently suggested that she avoid lavender for a while, and do
you know why?”
    Mauricio didn’t think Leander was asking him
a real question and waited for the rest of the vent to come to its
conclusion.
    “Because the color purple didn’t match her
aura,” Leander finished with a punch on the table.
    Mauricio was taken aback by the man’s
strong, passionate reaction. What should I say back? His
life at the Temple had been so far removed from human contact that
he was unsure of what was expected of him. “That… sucks,” he
finally half-whispered.
    “That’s right. It sucked—”
    Mauricio almost sighed in relief. I got
that right. Although, his mind wasn’t completely sold on the
idea that the presidential visit was necessarily a bad thing. Maybe Rosie is coming as well.
    “—and big time it did. Who knows what other
whim of hers is going to destroy our peace?” Leander’s question was
answered immediately. A small army of guards ominously hovered just
outside the cafeteria. The room went silent and the tallest of the
guards stepped out.
    “Arias,” she called. The man stood up and
let himself be known to