Cronología de la muerte

Capítulo 44

Someone shouted. Could it be Mike Jordan? People knew him in a place like this? Some boys with their loincloths tucked in, looking like they were wearing athletic shorts, waved at them. Rupert tossed the ball over, and one of them caught it. The boy skillfully dribbled the ball, jumped up, and returned it to Rupert.

Another ball appeared, smaller and hollow, made of rattan. A boy in a brown loincloth tossed it lightly to another boy. The boy let the ball bounce over his head before tossing it to Rupert. Rupert caught it with his knee, bounced it a few times, and then passed it to his father. Murphy aimed his foot at the oncoming ball and immediately kicked it away.

Rupert picked up the ball and said, "Great! It's like a bouncy knitting ball."

He returned the ball to its owner, the boy in the brown loincloth. Mo Fei took out several hundred yuan and pointed to the ball. The boy handed him the ball, solemnly taking only two hundred yuan.

"Great!"

Rupert added that he and his father walked toward the farmers' market, which they had agreed to meet, while he bounced the ball on his knee.

The tent was like a colorful platter: golden and brown ginger, marigolds, curry, cumin, and parsley; red mango, red peppers, and tomatoes; green celery, cowpeas, cilantro, and cucumbers. Children stared longingly at the bright yellow jellies, while their mothers watched the vendor weigh rice, sugar, and noodles. I vaguely saw Walter and Benny standing at the entrance, looking relaxed and happy, and my other friends were waiting there too.

Benny turned to Murphy and said, “What I don’t understand now is how Walter can speak Lanna and English so fluently? Have you noticed that his English is even better than mine? He’s more American than I am.”

He meant that Walter had a British accent, which, in Benny's mind, sounded more sophisticated than an American Midwestern accent.

Walter was pleased to hear such a compliment and said, “Oh, but being American has little to do with being fluent in English.”

“You understand us,” Benny said, “so you are at least an American in name only.”

“Why this honor?” Wendy said angrily. “Not everyone wants to be an American.”

Although Benny was a little unhappy, he still smiled.

Walter smoothed things over by saying, "I'm glad you consider me one of your own."

On their way out, they walked past a group of koi fish and saw that their mouths were still moving.

"I thought they didn't kill living beings; it's a Buddhist country."

A pig was being slaughtered not far to the right, which Heidi happened to catch a glimpse of.

"They were very respectful when they slaughtered and fished, and when they scooped the fish ashore, they said they were saving them from drowning, but unfortunately..." he looked down like a penitent, "...but the fish were not saved."

How to save the fish from drowning?

Mr. Marseille and Mr. Berhali looked at each other and burst out laughing. Was he joking?

Heidi was speechless. Did those people really think they were doing a good deed? Why didn't they save other things! Look at these fish, panting, and the seller squatting next to them, smoking, not acting like a rescuer at all.

“It’s horrible,” she finally said. “It would have been better to just kill them instead of showing this so-called mercy.”

Mr. Marseille suddenly retorted: "This is nothing compared to what our country does in other countries."

"What are you talking about?" Mo Fei asked. "Saving people who don't need help, invading other countries, and causing them harm. Nominally helping them, but actually killing them. Just like the bad things we did in Vietnam!"

“That’s not the same thing,” Benny said. “Do we just stand by and do nothing during a racial conflict?”