At that instant Carlos Vicente Senior, who as I told you was present but not participating in the family scene, got up abruptly from his armchair, his eyes inflamed with rage, and kicked Bichi violently in the back near the kidneys, a blow so sudden and ferocious that it knocked the boy down, making him stumble first against the television, which also fell; we all felt our hearts leap in our chests and for a few seconds we weren’t able to react, paralyzed by the horror of what had just happened, and then we watched Carlos Vicente Senior approach Carlos Vicente Junior, who was still facedown on the ground, and kick him a few more times in the legs as he mimicked him, Oh my goodness what an adorable little thing, Oh my goodness what an adorable little thing, Talk like a man, for God’s sake, not a queer!
THEN CAME THE DAY of the Father’s great wrath, says Agustina, and the younger brother was the scapegoat, Per sua culpa, per sua culpa, per sua maxima culpa he’s on the floor and the Father is kicking him, how many times did I warn you, my sweet pale-skinned brother, my little lost boy, not to do anything to annoy the Father, Talk like a man! he ordered you and as he said it he turned into a powerful beast looming over you, you, a child lying beaten on the floor, and my powers eluded me, they weren’t able to protect you, they couldn’t reach you, Talk like a man, he ordered you and his wrath was just and terrible and it filled the house, then he fell back of his own accord, the Father stunned by his own strength and the cruelty of the punishment, And the younger brother got up, says Agustina, and his face, or what could be seen of his face hidden behind a tangle of black curls, blazed with a strange light, Were you crying, Bichi, or begging for forgiveness? No, you weren’t crying, you weren’t trying to say anything, you weren’t speaking out at last in the man’s voice that the Father had demanded, you just got up, awkwardly because your back was hurt, pressing one hand to the spot of the Great Blow and picking up the machine.
What machine, Agustina, Aguilar asks her, The machine that had been broken, Do you mean the television? Yes, that’s what I mean, And what did your brother do with it, He put it back in its place, And why do you think he did that, He did it out of pride, says Agustina and her voice changes, she begins to talk to herself again, pontificating so that it seems as if all her nouns are capitalized, as if she’s addressing people who aren’t actually there, It was your pride that made you pick up the machine, you wanted to show the Father that he hadn’t cowed you, didn’t you? the rest of us watched you from the depths of despair, Come on, Agustina, says Aguilar, don’t talk like you’re preaching a sermon, let’s just have a conversation, the two of us, Leave me alone, Aguilar, let me continue with my sermon, because it’s important for you to know that now the Father is just staring and puffing and panting from his Great Exertion, if you interrupt me I won’t be able to tell you that the Father is exhausted after performing the sacred duty of punishing his son, now he’s no longer in the spotlight and has lost his leading role because it’s the younger brother, the Lamb, who is moving among the pillars of salt.
Tell me the name of the lamb and the names of the pillars of salt, says Aguilar, The Lamb is called Bichi, his name is Carlos Vicente like my father but we call him Bichi, and the pillars of salt are Eugenia, Joaco, Agustina, Aminta, and Sofía, Who is Sofía? Sofía is my aunt Sofi, Your father’s sister or your mother’s sister? Not my father’s sister, my mother’s sister, and it’s my little brother, the one we call Bichi, who gets up from the floor and, despite his hurt back, he bends down and lifts the full weight of the machine, Hadn’t we agreed that it was the television? All right, the television, which is now a broken machine, and he puts it back where it was although the screen is smashed, Do you remember what you and your brother were watching on television before your father got angry? What stupid questions you ask, Aguilar, we were watching He-Man and She-Ra, we’d fought over the channel for a while and finally settled on He-Man and She-Ra, and then we were happy, actually it is nice to remember, I wonder whether Bichi remembers, too, because a few minutes later there came the blow and the television crashed to the floor, sparking inside because it was still plugged in, it was Bichi who unplugged it.
You were moving slowly, Bichi Bichito, says Agustina, and you stood very tall, taller than my older brother, much taller than the Father and you looked at all of us, one by one, letting your gaze linger on each of us, and I fell to my knees to beg forgiveness with my inner voice and to summon my powers, which after the Event wouldn’t come to me, and Bichi half turned, his hand holding his hurt back again, and with the other hand he finally pushed his hair out of his face so we could see that he wasn’t crying and he went walking out very slowly, I’d seen you cry so many times, Bichi Bichito, after the Father hit you, but not this time, this time you were the unscathed victim who walks away after the sacrifice, What sacrifice are you talking about, asks Aguilar, your father kicking him? If you already know, why do you ask, Agustina says, I can still see Bichi as if the picture of him is stamped on my brain, What was he wearing? asks Aguilar, Our ceremonial robes, I heard otherwise, that he was in his pajamas, That’s true, says Agustina and her voice lightens and grows steadier, he was still in his pajamas but he looked incredibly tall to me, so that I thought he wasn’t going to fit through the door, and his hair, which was a mess, was the only fierce thing about him, the rest of him was moving slowly, without the slightest hesitation or uncertainty, and since from where we were you could see the big stone staircase that curves up to the second floor, we were able to watch how you climbed step by step, little brother, stopping for a moment to arch your back and close your eyes slightly before immediately beginning the Ascent again, then I tried to follow you and was stopped short by a shout from the Father, Leave him alone, maybe he’ll learn something this time, he ordered and Agustina obeyed, she stayed where she was, on her knees, Your Will is my command, Father, don’t unleash your wrath on me, too; now that the Lamb who had angered the Father was gone, the Father could sit down again and return to his chess game with the older brother, picking up where he’d left off to carry out the Punishment.