Empty carts, churning the silence of the streets. Fading into the dark road of night. And shadows. The echo of shadows.

Father Renteria picked up the coins, one by one, and walked to the altar.

"These are Yours," he said. "He can afford to buy salvation. Only you know whether this is the price. As for me, Lord, I throw myself at your feet to ask for the justice or injustice that any of us may ask ...For my part, I hope you damn him to hell."

And he closed the chapel.

H

"I don't know, Juan Preciado. After so many years of never lifting up my head, I forgot about the sky. And even if I had looked up, what good would it have done? The sky is so high and my eyes so clouded that I was happy just knowing where the ground was. Besides, I lost all interest after padre Renteria told me I would never know glory. Or even

The day you went away I knew I would never see you again. You were

stained red by the late afternoon sun, by the dusk filling the sky with blood.

From the time I left the house of that woman who let me use her bed, the one — I told you - I'd seen dissolving in the liquid of her sweat, from that time on I'd felt cold. And the farther I walked, the colder I got, until my skin was all goose bumps. I wanted to turn back; I thought that if I went back I might find the warmth I'd left behind; but

He stopped talking then. He said there wasn't much point in saying things he couldn't hear, things that evaporated in the air, things he couldn't get the taste of.

None of us still living is in God's grace. We can't lift up our eyes, because they're filled with shame. And shame doesn't help.

She gave them everything she had. She even gave them sons. All of them. And took the infants to their fathers to be recognized. But none of them wanted to. Then she told them, 'In that case, I'll be the father as well, even though fate chose me to be the mother.'

Hope brought me here."

"Hope? You pay dear for that. My illusions made me live longer than I should have.