I saw the car as it crossed the Elmira Bridge. Long before it started coming up Round Hill. I knew immediately it was them. I ran upstairs to warn McCabe. We still had time to escape through the farmland in back. I hesitated in front of her door, my arm raised, about to knock. I can’t remember exactly what went through my mind. It was such a long time ago. Maybe I thought her wealth would protect her. I do remember turning around, and hiding in the cellar. From there, I saw McCabe being taken out of the house with her arms handcuffed behind her back. Her head was covered in blood. They had beaten her up brutally, as they always do when they first get you. They would torture her. One State Security henchman kicked her in the back. She fell face down on the snow. Then all three kicked her and stomped on her until they fell on their knees, breathless and exhausted. No sound came out of her. They remained there for a few seconds, kneeling around the majestic fallen figure as in adoration. Then they slowly dragged her to their car, leaving a red trail in the snow.
The house was searched many times over the next few weeks. They never found me. The closest they got was when one of them shone a light under the Judge’s bed. I flattened myself inside a crack. What’s that thing?” he said.
About the Author
Ana Simo is the author of a dozen plays, a short feature film, and countless articles. A New Yorker most of her life, she was born and raised in Cuba. Forced to leave the island during the political/homophobic witch-hunts of the late 1960s, she first immigrated to France, where she studied with Roland Barthes and participated in early women’s and gay/lesbian rights groups. In New York next, she co-founded Medusa’s Revenge theatre, the direct action group the Lesbian Avengers, the national cable program Dyke TV, and the groundbreaking The Gully online magazine, offering queer views on everything. Heartland is her first novel.
About the Publisher
Restless Books is an independent, nonprofit publisher devoted to championing essential voices from around the world, whose stories speak to us across linguistic and cultural borders. We seek extraordinary international literature that feeds our restlessness: our hunger for new perspectives, passion for other cultures and languages, and eagerness to explore beyond the confines of the familiar. Our books—fiction, narrative nonfiction, journalism, memoirs, travel writing, and young people’s literature—offer readers an expanded understanding of a changing world.
Visit us at www.restlessbooks.com.
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Ana Simo
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted without the prior written permission of the publisher.
First Restless Books paperback edition January 2018
Paperback ISBN: 9781632061508
eISBN: 9781632061515
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017944633
Cover design by Na Kim
Typesetting and eBook by Tetragon, London
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