The Priest Read online

  “I remember my first day outside,” Leander said, after several minutes of silence.

  Mauricio was glad he was given some time to contemplate the scenery. “It’s magnificent,” he murmured. He hated that his voice betrayed his inner turmoil. He was in awe.

  “Yes.” Leander nodded and looked away.

  Mauricio raised his head toward the sky, closed his eyes and let the sun caress his skin.

  “I should’ve given you a hat,” Leander commented. “You are going to be tomato red by the end of today.”

  “I don’t care,” Mauricio thought out loud.

  “You don’t care now,” Leander replied softly, but he didn’t add anything else to the subject.

  “What do we do today?” Mauricio asked with interest.

  “You’ll help dig a trench, and I’ll help remove the soil from the digging.”

  They had reached the end of the sea of grass, and before them was a vast expanse of brown land covered in rectangles and squares in different shades of yellow, green, and purple. The view stretched to the horizon and Mauricio saw that the fields went on for miles and miles and a blue ribbon cut the land in two. Mauricio squinted against the sun’s glare and noticed that beyond the river, the colors of the fields changed to a palette of oranges, reds, and greens.

  “At Tarin, we take care of this side of the field. The other farms are responsible for the orchards on the other side of the river,” Leander explained.

  “What does Tarin produce?” Mauricio was filling his eyes with the peaceful sight.

  “We provide the raw ingredients for cosmetic products. The yellow is our mimosa tree production. The green is made up of several aromatic herbs like sage, lemongrass, rosemary, mint, and thyme. The purple is lavender of thirty different varieties. Tarin got the perfumed bunch.” Leander indicated each different square or rectangle with his outstretched hand.

  “Where is the trench?” Mauricio asked, since he didn’t see anybody digging anything in the vicinity.

  “By the river.” Leander pointed a finger toward a speck of activity happening far away from them.

  “It is going to take the whole day just to reach them!” Mauricio liked the idea of walking, but doubted that it was productive.

  “We are waiting for our ride.” Leander aimed at another dark speck moving through the fields.

  The car, very similar to the van that had brought Mauricio to Tarin, reached them in less than a minute. This time, Mauricio knew what was going to happen and his stomach didn’t put up a fight. The field workers’ van had windows on both sides, and Mauricio stuck his nose to one and looked outside the entire ride. When the van stopped to let them out, he was surprised that they had already arrived at their destination. It had looked so far away from the trail.

  “I’ll introduce you to the digging crew now.” Leander accompanied Mauricio toward a group of men intent on excavating a large amount of soil from a big, rectangular hole in the ground.

  Mauricio could hear the men joking about something he didn’t understand, and he would have stepped back if Leander wasn’t already there, pushing him forward.

  “Guys, this is Mauricio. Mauricio, these are your mates.” Leander smiled at Mauricio and then left to reach his crew.

  “Hey!” Mauricio called after Leander, who paused and turned around.

  “Do you need anything?” Leander asked with a frown.

  “Thanks, for earlier.”

  “Sure.” Leander shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

  Mauricio jumped inside the hole to meet his crew. He was greeted by several voices talking all at the same time.

  “I’m your boss here. I’m Grey; now take the shovel and start helping.” The loudest of the lot threw him a tool and attacked the soil with his own to show Mauricio what was expected from him.

  “Nice to meet you. All of you,” he said, turning his head right and left to encompass the whole crew of scruffy-looking men with his greeting.

  “Likewise,” the closest to him answered with a toothless smile.

  “See if you are equally happy tonight when we’re done,” another said and laughed. But it wasn’t an unpleasant laugh. It wasn’t the scornful laugh that was the guards’ trademark.

  Mauricio grabbed the shovel with two hands. It’s heavy! Then he took a good look at what the other men were doing and tried to imitate them. And it isn’t as simple as they make it look. It took him several minutes to catch up with the others, but Mauricio was satisfied with the result when he started digging in time with the song the crew was singing. Did they just say… that? I can’t believe they said that out loud. He was so surprised by the double entendres and the overall boldness of the lyrics that he forgot what he was doing.

  “Are you okay?” one of the men asked, his eyes pointing at Mauricio’s hand.

  “Just having fun listening to your songs. Why?” Am I doing something wrong? he thought at first, but then looked down, following the other man’s gaze, and saw what had prompted the question. “Oh… crap,” he said, cradling his bleeding hand. “I don’t know how this happened.”

  “The shovel handle.” The man showed him the tool Mauricio had thrown on the ground at the sight of his blood.

  “Right—”

  Grey came close to Mauricio and gave a perfunctory check at the injured part. “You’ll toughen up; don’t worry. In a week, tops, you’ll have hard calluses to protect your soft skin. You’ll look like the rest of us in no time.” He then took a handful of green grass from the patch stretching out at the excavation’s edge. “Chew the mint and then apply it on your hand. The day past tomorrow, you won’t remember you cut yourself.”

  Mauricio took the handful of what Grey had called mint and chewed on it, as asked. He liked the taste of the mint; it cleansed his mouth, and the smell of the chewed mush went through his nose and straight to his lungs. He gingerly put the mint on the cut skin of his hand. At first, he felt a pang of pain, but after a moment, he felt better.

  “It works every time,” Grey commented proudly.

  “Thanks,” Mauricio said while turning the hand sideways, still trying to keep the chewed mint on it.

  “Now, back to work. If you can’t hold the shovel—”

  “No, I’m fine. I can work. I promise.” Heavens forbid I get introduced to another living soul today... Trying to remember all the names was becoming increasingly harder. I never thought to admit something like this… but I just discovered I don’t dislike being alone that much. Maybe he was already too old to get acquainted with humanity.

  “Okay, but you can’t slack; otherwise, I'll have to ask Arias to get you reassigned somewhere else.”

  “I won’t give you any reason to consult Arias on my behalf.” Mauricio tried his best formal speech, and it worked. Grey didn’t threaten him a second time and let him work with his crew for the whole shift.

  When, at the end of the day, the van came back to pick him up, Mauricio could barely think, intent on nursing little wounds and a nasty scratch. Leander had reserved a seat for him, and Mauricio was touched by the gesture.

  “You’re red after the whole day under the sun without protection,” Leander commented as soon as Mauricio sat down beside him.

  “Is that why my skin’s so itchy?” Mauricio wanted to scratch himself, but Leander stopped his hands with a laugh.

  “I told you so! Maybe there’s something here for irritated skin.” He rummaged inside the multitude of pockets on his jacket. “You never know when even the silliest things will come in handy,” he said, pulling out a small container. While showing Mauricio the tiny jar, he said, “It’s an ointment; put it on your face later. Otherwise, you won’t be sleeping tonight.”

  “Thanks, again.” Mauricio took the jar and absentmindedly played with the lid.

  It seemed to Mauricio that the trip back took even less time than it had in the morning. He enjoyed the short walk on the brick trail and breathed in the aromatic scent created by twisting several blades of gras
s between his fingers. He reached the cafeteria and got in line with Leander and the rest of the passengers of the van. They were the last ones to arrive, but Mauricio was relieved to see that there was some food left. Leander waved at Arias, who was sitting at a table with some other men. Mauricio waved too.

  “There’s some commotion tonight,” Leander said, once seated at an empty table with his tray full of food.

  Mauricio gave a distracted look around, but he didn’t know what passed for normal around here. He was more interested in eating what he had put on his plate while it was still warm. At the Temple, though he had regular meals, his food was already cold when it reached his cell. He had never eaten with other people until his breakfast here, and he had all the intentions of enjoying his dinner now. He didn’t care to hear about commotions or problems in general.

  “Yes, there’s definitely something going on.” Leander wasn’t eating. He had his fork dangling from his right hand and was looking, no, staring, at Arias.

  Mauricio finished his food and regretted immediately not having taken more. The kitchen had closed soon after they had arrived, and now he was craving another helping of potatoes. He had never thought that potatoes, while still hot from the oven, could be so soft and tasty. Mauricio thought of only one thing he wanted more than a good meal, but it was impossible 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 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 wasn’t howling at the moon.

  “What are you doing?” The garden architect loomed over him, whip at the ready. “I didn’t call a break, or did I?” She kicked the ointment jar out of his hand and said, “Consider yourself lucky I can’t waste my time punishing you.”