Along the Plantain Carts
You gave up.
Pardon?
Velez knew what you meant. You backed off. For a governor’s race out in the provinces. Children in the yard. No blood, no interest. You are writing about him, Velez, yes?
No.
Right. Come. What are you writing?
The new bible.
What is this?
You’ll have to read. You’re not a Velez supporter?
No. I attend rallies to study my opponents.
Who are your opponents?
People who hold rallies.
Don’t listen to him, the cook says.
You understand Velez wants farming decisions made by the national government. So the lawyers have a single nerve center to corrupt. Watch. With every issue Velez will claim provinces should make their own decisions. But with farms, as we’re tricked into calling these things without bootprints, the provinces need guidance from above. Here. Eat with me. The plantains, no?
The spicy mayonnaise.
Yes! Cojudo, I tell you! Just sell the sauce. Forget stupid plantains. You’d be living on the hill in a year.
The cook waves him away.
What is the more destructive invention: the elevator or the air conditioner?
What?
I’m testing your politics. Which?
The elevator.
Why?
I don’t know. It concentrates need.
The air conditioner puts bodies where they can’t live. Tell me about this new bible.
It’s a novel.
Where does it begin?
Behind a pair of glasses.
Am I in it?
Yes.
As me?
Not by name.
Will you unpeople me as a Velez supporter would? I am a pragmatic radical. But a Velez supporter will call me an anarchist so he can ignore my humanity. Disqualify a person from a system of values and you can treat them how you like.
I try to do better than that.
You can’t. Tell me. What is the more important writing: novels or poetry? Do we speak with the black of the page or the white?
Can I say recipes?
For cooking?
We’re talking importance.
You joke but maybe I should add scripts. Look into our forest. You see the trees are our novels, the fungus our poetry, the animals our scripts. Cojudo! Get this man more plantains. He is running low on sugar!
The cook sprays water on the grill.