Tied to a post, in front of the firing squad, Juvencio Nava implores his son Justino to speak with the chief sergeant and prevent his death. "Go there. Tell them not to kill me!” He begs him over and over again.
Las Tunas.- When you get to that part of the story, you hear your wife's voice: “My love, excuse me; you have been late. Go and buy what we need for breakfast and then continue reading, please. Look, in this bag, I put the supply card and the money; in this other, you put the bread, and here is the bottle for the soda. Do not forget to bring the spray and wash your hands well, save the distance in the queue, take care of yourself, the COVID-19 does not forgive mistakes.”
You mark the page, keep the book, and mentally praise the greatness of the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo, the quality of El llano en llamas; and, especially, the story that now has you trapped. Then, you leave for the store not knowing that, there, you will witness a true drama.
You arrive, ask for the last in the line, take your place, and greet friends and acquaintances with nods and a "What's up?” tempered by the sanitary mask.
The queue is a long comment in total disharmony and almost on a single topic: the impact of the pandemic, the growing number of infected, and the death of Rigoberto and Elvira, inhabitants of your neighborhood, as a consequence of the disease.
You cast your eyes on the people and discover a spirited talker with his mask pulled up and his nose bared; further on, a woman secrets something to another, and that young man who has just bought goes out into the street, keeps several bills, takes a piece of bread from his bag and begins to nibble on it. So carelessness is amazing.
Already near from door, the voice of a lady reaches you clearly: “Hey, how are you going to dispatch me with the same hand that you use to collect and return the money! Look, I don't want bread, because it is surely infected!”
You leave the queue, take out your phone, dial the number of the Directorate of Inspection and Supervision and, while you wait for an answer, due to those coincidences in life, you remember Rulfo's story: “Justino, go there. Tell them not to kill me!"
