her.
“You’re taking care of two different
projects: cleaning and beautification. For cleaning, you know the
drill. For beautification, you’ll work with the garden architect to
create a design the President likes. Outside, there are two
thousand roses to plant, and it must be done before dawn. Collect a
group of forty slaves and meet me back at the entry.” The guard
turned around and the other women left with her.
As soon as the guards were gone from the
room, the men started talking. Arias let them comment on the new
orders for few minutes, probably while he was taking his time to
decide who was going to work with him on the nocturnal project, and
then raised one hand. Mauricio was surprised to see that Arias
didn’t have to raise his voice at all. Every mouth in the room
stopped talking at the same time.
“As soon as I call your name, step forward.”
Arias followed with a list of names that didn’t mean anything to
Mauricio, until he called Leander and then Mauricio.
“Go take your bathroom break and come back
here. We leave in ten minutes,” Arias said and walked toward the
restrooms without waiting to see if anyone was following.
Mauricio did like everybody else and was
back in the cafeteria a few minutes later. He wasn’t surprised that
Arias had chosen him among the hundreds of slaves in that room. He
was the newest addition to the group, and he was also young, like
everybody else among the conscripted. Arias was the only one
clearly not in his twenties. Leander wasn’t happy about the whole
situation and couldn’t keep his annoyance to himself.
Mauricio, on the other hand, wasn’t really
mad. Rosie could be here tomorrow , he kept thinking. And,
I’m going to see what a rose looks like and how it smells. His
mind went back and forth between the desire to be in Rosie’s
presence again and his curiosity about the flowers.
“You’ll see; this is the lavender disaster
all over again. We’ll skip a good night's sleep and we’ll freeze to
death for nothing,” Leander said, his voice growing dangerously
loud.
I ate too much and my skin feels too
warm; some fresh air isn’t going to hurt. “There’s nothing you
can do anyway.” He gave Leander a shrug and waited quietly while
the entry guards recalibrated their collars to let them out of the
building.
After a short walk, more roses than he could
have imagined were waiting to be planted. One of the guards who had
escorted them outside opened the back door of a big van, and the
smell reached Mauricio’s nose with a punch. Wow, it’s intense.
Rosie was right.
“Be careful when you touch the stems. I
don’t want any of you slacking off tomorrow on account of a few
cuts,” the garden architect said. She turned out to be a woman with
a mousy face and squeaky voice who ordered them around the whole
night.
Soon enough, Mauricio’s thoughts took a
different direction. His fingers distractedly brushed a thorny rose
stem. Ouch, that stings! This isn’t fun anymore and it’s
cold and my skin is itching even where the sun doesn’t
shine.
In the middle of the night, Arias went
around with pen and paper. “Whoever needs a restroom break better
put his name on the list. It’s the last break.”
Mauricio raised his hand and noticed it was
shaking.
“You go ahead,” Arias said after taking a
good look at him.
“Thanks.” He got up on wobbling legs. Some
of the men complained they needed to go urgently, too. He hurried
through the process and was back in no time. He went down on his
knees and cried, “OW! That hurts like a—” He stopped before it was
too late; the garden architect raised her head from the
blueprints.
“Take off your jacket, fold it in two, and
place it under your knees,” Leander whispered and pointed at his
makeshift cushion.
Mauricio followed Leander’s suggestion; it
helped with the pain, but brought him near the point of freezing,
although his skin was now on fire. Leander’s ointment was the only
reason he
“You’re taking care of two different
projects: cleaning and beautification. For cleaning, you know the
drill. For beautification, you’ll work with the garden architect to
create a design the President likes. Outside, there are two
thousand roses to plant, and it must be done before dawn. Collect a
group of forty slaves and meet me back at the entry.” The guard
turned around and the other women left with her.
As soon as the guards were gone from the
room, the men started talking. Arias let them comment on the new
orders for few minutes, probably while he was taking his time to
decide who was going to work with him on the nocturnal project, and
then raised one hand. Mauricio was surprised to see that Arias
didn’t have to raise his voice at all. Every mouth in the room
stopped talking at the same time.
“As soon as I call your name, step forward.”
Arias followed with a list of names that didn’t mean anything to
Mauricio, until he called Leander and then Mauricio.
“Go take your bathroom break and come back
here. We leave in ten minutes,” Arias said and walked toward the
restrooms without waiting to see if anyone was following.
Mauricio did like everybody else and was
back in the cafeteria a few minutes later. He wasn’t surprised that
Arias had chosen him among the hundreds of slaves in that room. He
was the newest addition to the group, and he was also young, like
everybody else among the conscripted. Arias was the only one
clearly not in his twenties. Leander wasn’t happy about the whole
situation and couldn’t keep his annoyance to himself.
Mauricio, on the other hand, wasn’t really
mad. Rosie could be here tomorrow , he kept thinking. And,
I’m going to see what a rose looks like and how it smells. His
mind went back and forth between the desire to be in Rosie’s
presence again and his curiosity about the flowers.
“You’ll see; this is the lavender disaster
all over again. We’ll skip a good night's sleep and we’ll freeze to
death for nothing,” Leander said, his voice growing dangerously
loud.
I ate too much and my skin feels too
warm; some fresh air isn’t going to hurt. “There’s nothing you
can do anyway.” He gave Leander a shrug and waited quietly while
the entry guards recalibrated their collars to let them out of the
building.
After a short walk, more roses than he could
have imagined were waiting to be planted. One of the guards who had
escorted them outside opened the back door of a big van, and the
smell reached Mauricio’s nose with a punch. Wow, it’s intense.
Rosie was right.
“Be careful when you touch the stems. I
don’t want any of you slacking off tomorrow on account of a few
cuts,” the garden architect said. She turned out to be a woman with
a mousy face and squeaky voice who ordered them around the whole
night.
Soon enough, Mauricio’s thoughts took a
different direction. His fingers distractedly brushed a thorny rose
stem. Ouch, that stings! This isn’t fun anymore and it’s
cold and my skin is itching even where the sun doesn’t
shine.
In the middle of the night, Arias went
around with pen and paper. “Whoever needs a restroom break better
put his name on the list. It’s the last break.”
Mauricio raised his hand and noticed it was
shaking.
“You go ahead,” Arias said after taking a
good look at him.
“Thanks.” He got up on wobbling legs. Some
of the men complained they needed to go urgently, too. He hurried
through the process and was back in no time. He went down on his
knees and cried, “OW! That hurts like a—” He stopped before it was
too late; the garden architect raised her head from the
blueprints.
“Take off your jacket, fold it in two, and
place it under your knees,” Leander whispered and pointed at his
makeshift cushion.
Mauricio followed Leander’s suggestion; it
helped with the pain, but brought him near the point of freezing,
although his skin was now on fire. Leander’s ointment was the only
reason he
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