Oh, Ramón, there are things about God that we don’t understand all at once, but why should we understand, sometimes a person spends his whole trying to understand himself, doesn’t he? Yes, Father, he does. What happens, Ramón, is that God sees a person in the context of his whole life, whereas that person, when something happens to him, only sees the thing that happened, but God sees the whole person, from all sides, never forget that, and He knows why He does what He does, you’ll see, sooner or later you’ll understand.
Back in his cell, Ramón started thinking over every moment of the last few days before the kidnapping. On the Thursday night he had told Soraya that they had come by and asked him to pay for the car and that he had decided to talk to the police in Villavicencio. She had told him not to do it. On the Friday, he had worked until seven, when Jacinto had called him on his cell phone and told him they were going to the Rey de la Pachanga. He had refused and had suggested an early beer at La Ceiba. There, he had told him that he was planning to go to Villavicencio early the next morning. He remembered they had been at a table on the balcony, nobody could have overheard them there. Could Sorayita, in her desire to resolve things, have possibly said something to somebody, without intending any harm? or had Jacinto gotten drunk after that and, when they asked after me, said I was going to get up early to go to Villavicencio? That by itself doesn’t mean anything. The paras knew he was going to report them. With this he fell asleep, although the light from the naked bulb was like a skewer in the brain.
The next day, they took him from his cell and interrogated him in the kitchen. He had heard moans earlier, and now he saw blood on the tiles. They must have been putting the screws on someone, he thought, and it made his hair stand on end. Let’s see now, Ramoncho, are you going to cooperate with us today? It wasn’t Dagoberto interrogating him, but one of his lieutenants. Tell Dagoberto I want to see him, I’d like to talk to him personally and sort things out. Ah, it looks like Ramoncho has seen reason, all right, call the chief.
An hour later, Dagoberto arrived. He was wearing a combat jacket and boots and carrying an Uzi. What’s up, Ramoncho, are we signing or what? I’ll sign if you tell me one thing, who told you I was going to Villavicencio to talk to the police? There was a silence. Dagoberto looked at his men and burst out laughing. Oh, this Ramoncho really is a scream! Setting conditions now, are we? Ramón remained impassive. I’ll sign the deeds to all three shops, he said, if you tell me who betrayed me. Dagoberto walked in a circle around him, like a fly turning around the light, and said, I’m going to confess something, Ramoncho, you know what? I like you, you’re a good guy, a bright guy, ready to do anything to find out who snitched on you, that’s what I call a man, damn it. I’m exactly the same, which is how I found out you were going to snitch on me to the police, you see? I did the same, Ramoncho, that makes us equal. Ramón looked at him, as impassive as ever. It isn’t the same because you were robbing me and I’m not robbing you, and because you’re a murderer and I’m a hardworking man, so it isn’t the same; tell me who informed on me and then kill me, but don’t say we’re equal. Dagoberto looked at him furiously. We aren’t equal, I’m not a snitch like you, and I don’t have to tell you anything. Around here, nobody so much as farts without my knowing it, do you hear? I know all about you. I know you used to bang your girlfriend in Room 312 of the Llano Grande because from there you can see the church in Cubarral and she likes the reflection of the dome, and you like that room, not because of the church but because the TV has a big screen that’s better for watching porn movies, like the ones with that Italian actress who acts as if she has gunpowder in her crotch, you see how well I know the lives of everyone around here? What you don’t know, Ramoncho, is that Soraya also went to the motel with another man, I’m not going to tell you who, because I’m not a snitch. Oh yes, life is just one big shithouse, nobody has any principles, there are nothing but bad people. I’ll give you another week to think it over, I’m in no hurry. And he walked out.
Back in his cell, he thought about what he had just heard. It was all lies, Soraya couldn’t have had someone else, when would she have had the time? When he was in the shop they talked all the time, and then he went to La Maporita in the evenings. Impossible. If this was a TV soap opera, he thought, then Soraya would definitely have been making out with Jacinto, but this isn’t TV, a pity, he said to himself, because it means I’m going to be pushing daisies soon, but before that I want to know, I really want to know! There’s nothing sadder than dying without knowing.
That night he went to Father Cubillos’s cell, but was unable to tell him anything because he found him feverish and delirious. The old man was seventy years old and seemed to have reached his limit. In that damp cell, his lungs must have been affected. Ramoncito, the Lord already has my service record in his hand and is looking through it now. He’s already taken the decision to free the two of us, yes: a while ago, as I was dozing, I seemed to hear Him, He came to see me and said, get ready, we’re going to get out of here, you and your neighbor, I’m going to free both of you, and then He showed me an image of Usiacurí; I think it was Usiacurí, but in reality it could have been any of those sad little towns in Colombia, the houses had been razed to the ground, the central square was a sea of ash and rubble, the church was like a burning torch, the general store had been turned to smoke, and He or somebody like Him was there, in a tunic, walking in the ruins of Usiacurí or Bellavista or even La Cascada, the name of the town doesn’t matter, He had His head covered and He was leading a group of friars who were praying in silence, walking toward a hill where there was a cross, the only one not yet burned, and they started climbing, treading on rubble and the charred bodies of peasants and children, and when they had almost reached the cross there was an explosion and bullets came flying out of the coffee plantations or the orange groves or somewhere, and they all fell, riddled with bullets, and there was nobody left, and then everything went black; and then I saw His hand, Ramoncito, saying to me, let’s go, I’m taking you out of here, and your neighbor too. You must both leave.
He was delirious, and Ramón said, Father Cubillos, you’re leaving here for eternal life, how I envy you, but the priest looked at him and said, we’re both going, He told me how, come closer, bend your ear to me, and I’ll explain, He’s going to help us.
After the explanation, the priest said: help me take out this piece of cloth that’s sewed into the cuffs of my pants, let’s see, can you find it? on it are the directions to a chapel on the outskirts of Barranquilla, the place is marked, and there’s a key, can you see it? Yes, father, here it is, a small key, yes, I have it. Then the priest said: take everything you see there, take out the case that’s there and throw away the key and take everything and go. You will find out what to do. What’s in that case is yours, He told me to tell you so you’d understand, do you see, this life is very confusing, Ramón.