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People who do not receive the morning sunlight,
Employees from noon to midnight,
basement of nearly everyone,
sun that untangles its hair in the bars of giant windows.
Thanks geography of Chuquiago Marka,
thanks for giving us light in the basements
even though it isn't much,
even though it fades when they enter…
In the editing room,
where the truth leaves at noon,
the hour when the decision-makers arrive,
time to begin kneading
the news-bread for the following morning.
Even the arrangement of the furniture
is coherent
with this factory of shadows in platonic caves.
the tables,
the journalists,
all are arranged without order,
as if someone had tossed them up,
it is noticeable,
the personal touch of the one who rules.
It is impossible to not feel the presence of his cologne,
especially today,
Holy Thursday,
since instead of vacationing in Miami,
or checking the bank accounts in Africa and Europe,
or sleeping with the prostitute monkey,
instead of those accustomed intentions,
he came to work.
and if that were not all,
he wears a new hair cut,
that of a German soldier,
and the gray has been disguised with black and youthful dye.
He is only missing the virtual horse,
and the laser whip
to proclaim himself
as the landlord of the national press.
More than the ruler,
he looks like the big monkey,
the most vociferous of the clan,
while the other monkeys fiddle in their rotating chairs,
and craftily,
without even looking at their computer monitors,
they type tomorrow's news
with the tip of their long tails.
And in this jungle of shredded newspapers
all seem to listen to him,
except for some
who crouched under anonymity,
and in spite of their fear,
continue stuttering some truths. |
|
Monolo.- |
What the fuck,
the same thing again. |
|
Ramona.- |
Be quiet,
he is going to hear you. |
|
Monolo.- |
But that fucker,
all he knows is to yell. |
|
Ramona.- |
It is his
damn job ... (smiles) |
|
Monolo.- |
You're right. (smiling)
It'd be worse if he were to write, no?
Have you seen his writing?
Have you seen his grammar and spelling? |
|
Ramona.- |
Yes,
he writes song without a 'g' (chuckles) |
|
Monolo.- |
And but with two 'ts' (both laugh in complicity) |
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The ass-kissers in turn, and the perennial ones
leap happily from tree to tree,
they offer bananas to the big monkey,
political branches and ropes to swing,
they say how well he looks with his new hair cut,
they have him leap from memory to memory,
they ask him about his sick heart,
about his wife who plays blind,
and about his sons
who in Miami
shave their bodies to not look so apish like their father.
On this morning broken by various primates,
the ass-kissers maintain the balance,
for they manage to pacify the beast.
Peace that lasts not long.
Peace that Abel looses when he crosses the hall.
Peace that hides when the ruler yells incoherently.
|
|
Ramona.- |
Oh no.... |
|
Monolo.- |
Now what?
Why are you so alarmed?
You're being a wolf-crier. |
|
Ramona.- |
Look,
look over there...! |
|
Monolo.- |
Look at what?
I see nothing, hear nothing, nothing has happened.
You don't seem like a journalist. |
|
Ramona.- |
But it is going to happen,
you'll see.
Poor Abel is going to get yelled at,
the boss is going to rattle him, insult him…
It's going to be bad,
you'll see. |
|
Monolo.- |
Why poor Abel, don't feel sorry for him
whatever happens to him will be his own fault.
Why can't he kiss the boss' ass a little? (silently mimicking)
"Good afternoon sir"
"Sir, how well you write"
"Where did you learn to write like that? Germany? The U.S.A.?"
"Sir, how well you run this company.
We are about to collapse but it is not your fault,
it's your enemies." |
|
Ramona.- |
"How nice your hair looks"
"Great headlines this week"
"Sir, we are beating the competition. It's great, really
great"
"That's the way, sir, that's the way" |
|
Monolo.- |
Ehhhh… (both laugh in unison)
Don't exaggerate.
To kiss ass you have to be an artist.
Look at Chaca, he is a master.
Chaca
should teach ass-kissing at Oxford or Stanford.
But Abel… no-siroo.
Too sincere.
(smiling) He's not cut to be a journalist. |
|
Ramona.- |
Don't laugh at him,
here no one grows as a journalist,
here one grows lips:
the one who kisses the boss' ass the best...
that is the one who wins |
|
Monolo.- |
You see?
You are giving into flattery.
I have told Abel,
but he doesn't understand,
he believes the work is what is important.
He'll go down.
What do you say? |
|
Ramona.- |
Yes.
He'll go down.
He'll get crucified, and he deserves it. |
|
Monolo.- |
(spreads his arms like Christ and makes a dumb face. Laughs quietly) |
|
Abel and the big monkey are facing each other, their snouts almost
touching.
The big monkey yells, screams, insults, huffs and puffs.
Abel lowers his head, says nothing, but he doesn't lower his eyes.
For more than forty minutes
the ruler distills his saliva.
Behind him
are five advisor chimps,
of the kind that
when they show their teeth they seem to smile,
of the kind that
specialize in feeding fires and celebrate when there are explosions
|
|
Ramona.- |
How awful man, how awful! |
|
Monolo.- |
Don't be so surprised.
There is more to come, you'll see.
He will be accused of some stupidity
and then bye, bye, without social benefits |
|
Ramona.- |
More to come?
But it has been forty minutes already! |
|
Monolo.- |
Yeah,
but the boss is still excited.
He has called him everything, but… (pausing)
there is still more. |
|
Ramona.- |
How awful!
He called him social misfit,
thief,
liar,
phony,
show-off, alienated,
and other insults that have nothing to do with work. |
|
Monolo.- |
Insults on the one hand
and the desire to screw him on the job on the other.
That is how things are.
Don't you see those two back there?
Those two are looking
for a way to accuse him of negligence and other labor faults. |
|
Ramona.- |
Of course, those two will benefit from screwing Abel,
besides, they friends of the boss. |
|
Monolo.- |
Precisely, with more of a reason, man.
Now they shred him and be done |
|
Ramona.- |
But Abel has not bit the bait,
he has kept his composure,
he has not even raised his voice,
he presented his report,
he has maintained the work ethic
and has ignored the insults. |
|
Monolo.- |
(laughing) That is no guarantee,
he is only delaying his crucifixion |
|
Ramona.- |
Don't say that. |
|
Monolo.- |
That is the way it is man.
With the lawyers,
the powerful ones rule
and the experience with crooked deals,
and all that,
(smiling) poor little Abel, his cross is waiting. |
|
Ramona.- |
(humorously) Tomorrow's headlines:
"Holy Thursday: Crucifixion and sheep" |
|
Monolo.- |
"Holy Thursday: sheep turning a blind eye" (laughs) |
|
Ramona.- |
Shut up dummy!
You are going to get us yelled at too. |
|
But those precautions were no longer necessary,
for the tone of enraged face went up another octave
thanks to the big monkey,
who came out of a five-minute stupor,
to stand up
and beat his own chest like Tarzan.
Then,
making short and soft leaps,
moved his snout closer to Abel's.
Then,
slowly raised his lips to show his teeth.
Then,
opened his jaws to the maximum
and burped from the primate depth.
Abel felt the chains of his self-control
breaking with the fetidness of that breath,
and had no other choice
but to explode with a fierce grunt.
Abel had responded with firmness.
The big monkey and his advisers could not break him.
And that didn't matter,
for now everything was different.
|
|
Monolo.- |
Did you see how the boss calculates before making some damage?
Did you see?
Did you notice how he was silent for a moment
and then,
with such calmness,
he walked up to Abel and said
"you are the son of a whore" |
|
Ramona.- |
Of course I saw it!
And I liked the way Abel responded:
"the whore is your mother"
And even that he said it in a respectful tone. |
|
Monolo.- |
(laughing) And that is because Abel is respectful only to his
friends.
(both laugh) And I also liked
the dumb face Abel made before he responded.
And the boss' surprised face...
No one had ever responded to him that way.
Here everyone just swallows it. |
|
Ramona.- |
You too swallow it, don't be so tough.
In the last two years
he has called you son of a whore about three times.
And also to Tota,
to Mauri,
to Luchita,
to Ojotas, ... |
|
Monolo.- |
And what do you want me to do,
to let myself be crucified so stupidly?
Haven't you heard the boss has talked to the lawyer?
(pauses) He asked to make something up,
because he wants Abel to leave without social benefits,
without severance pay;
to ask for everything in his office
but to not sign an inventory,
so later
he can accuse him of theft.
Haven't you heard?
For this company there is no law that holds.
Don't you know they don't pay taxes?
They've been evading for more than six years.
They don't even pay to the government; do you think they'd pay me?
After they fire me?
No!
No way.
They would not give me even my salary.
And they can mess things up for me
so I cannot get a job anywhere else,
they can publish notices about me on the paper
and condemn me to civil death.
Just like they did to mister Arroyos.
No,
I will not risk it,
I have a family to feed. |
|
Ramona.- |
So do I,
and Abel too.
We all have families. |
|
Monolo.- |
Let' see
if you have the nerve to respond to him. |
|
Ramona.- |
Naw...!
How could I.
Impossible,
now I don't have the nerve.
Maybe later, who knows,
maybe some day I'll do it. |
|
Monolo.- |
(pointing) Look, look!
Abel is coming out of the office. |
|
Ramona.- |
Perhaps he is going to pick up the memo.
Or perhaps the lawyer has called him to frame him. |
|
Monolo.- |
(pointing) Look, look! Chaca is calling you. |
|
Ramona.- |
(walks up to Chaca, converses, returns with a sheet of paper)
Chaca has asked me to have you sign this. (pauses)
Let's read it... |
|
Monolo.- |
Oh, my! Now what do we do? |
|
Ramona.- |
(shrugging) I don't know man,
Chaca has told me
that if we don't sign it
we will have to face the consequences. |
|
Monolo.- |
But how are we to sign something that is not true?
How can we say that Abel is the aggressor,
and that he is a bad employee and a bad co-worker?
That is unethical,
it is not of journalists. |
|
Ramona.- |
Oh Monolo, Monolo.
I know you are going to sign it,
just like everyone else who has been a witness. (pauses)
Chaca has asked me to have every one sign,
even
those who were not present. |
|
Monolo.- |
Are you going to sign? (looking in her eyes) |
|
Ramona.- |
I think so. (pauses, then doubtfully)
Why?
Are you thinking of not signing? (pauses)
Will you face the consequences? |
|
Monolo.- |
If you are willing then so am I. |
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Abel knew he had been crucified.
He remembered it was Holy Thursday.
He left the cage in the basement not saying
goodbye to the living nor to the dead.
While waiting for the firing memo,
he let his lungs get used to the scent of freedom,
and dreamt of working
with higher primates.
The lawyer woke him up with the memo.
Abel returned all the artifacts from the cage,
then the lawman gave him the paper.
Abel read it,
and knowing he was being falsely accused
he refused to sign it.
When he walked away
the lawyer said:
I am going to accuse you of theft,
remember I did not give you a signed inventory list...! |
|
Ramona.- |
Man,
they kicked Abel out
without paying him his salary, without social benefits, without
anything.
They didn't even let him take his personal belongings. |
|
Monolo.- |
And what did you expect?
That they would reward him?
Or did you want to hear how they would greet each other tomorrow? |