Extract from One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
August 24th 2006 00:56
Jose Arcadio Segundo did not speak until he had finished drinking his coffee.
"There must have been three thousand of them," he murmured.
"What?"
"The dead," he clarified. "It must have been all of the people who were at the station."
The woman measured him with a pitying look. "There haven't been any dead here," she said. "Since the time of your uncle, the colonel, nothing has happened in Macondo." In the three kitchens where Jose Arcadio Segundo stopped before reaching home they told him the same thing: "There weren't any dead." He went through the small square by the station and he saw the fritter stands piled one on top of the other and he could find no trace of the massacre. The streets were deserted under the persistent rain and the houses locked up with no trace of life inside. The only human note was the first tolling of the bells for mass. He knocked at the door at Colonel Gavilan's house. A pregnant woman whom he had seen several times closed the door in his face. "He left," she said, frightened. "He went back to his own country."
… The official version, repeated a thousand times and mangled out all over the country by every means of communication the government found at hand, was finally accepted: there were no dead, the satisfied workers had gone back to their families…
[Later in the story, soldiers come searching for Jose Arcadio Segundo. They examine the house minutely, room by room.]
At Melquiades' room, which was locked up again with the padlock, Santa Sofia de la Piedad tried one last hope. "No one has lived in that room for a century," she said. The officer had it opened and flashed the beam of the lantern over it, and Aureliano Segundo and Santa Sofia de la Piedad saw the Arab eyes of Jose Arcadio Segundo at the moment when the ray of light passed over his face… But the officer continued examining the room with the lantern and showed no sign of interest until he discovered the seventy-two chamberpots piled up in the cupboards. Then he turned on the light. Jose Arcadio Segundo was sitting on the edge of the cot, ready to go, more solemn and pensive than ever… But the officer was only interested in the chamberpots… He paused with his glance on the space where Aurelian Segundo and Santa Sofia de la Piedad were still seeing Jose Arcadio Segundo and the latter also realized that the soldier was looking at him without seeing him. Then he turned out the light and closed the door.
"There must have been three thousand of them," he murmured.
"What?"
"The dead," he clarified. "It must have been all of the people who were at the station."
The woman measured him with a pitying look. "There haven't been any dead here," she said. "Since the time of your uncle, the colonel, nothing has happened in Macondo." In the three kitchens where Jose Arcadio Segundo stopped before reaching home they told him the same thing: "There weren't any dead." He went through the small square by the station and he saw the fritter stands piled one on top of the other and he could find no trace of the massacre. The streets were deserted under the persistent rain and the houses locked up with no trace of life inside. The only human note was the first tolling of the bells for mass. He knocked at the door at Colonel Gavilan's house. A pregnant woman whom he had seen several times closed the door in his face. "He left," she said, frightened. "He went back to his own country."
… The official version, repeated a thousand times and mangled out all over the country by every means of communication the government found at hand, was finally accepted: there were no dead, the satisfied workers had gone back to their families…
***
[Later in the story, soldiers come searching for Jose Arcadio Segundo. They examine the house minutely, room by room.]
At Melquiades' room, which was locked up again with the padlock, Santa Sofia de la Piedad tried one last hope. "No one has lived in that room for a century," she said. The officer had it opened and flashed the beam of the lantern over it, and Aureliano Segundo and Santa Sofia de la Piedad saw the Arab eyes of Jose Arcadio Segundo at the moment when the ray of light passed over his face… But the officer continued examining the room with the lantern and showed no sign of interest until he discovered the seventy-two chamberpots piled up in the cupboards. Then he turned on the light. Jose Arcadio Segundo was sitting on the edge of the cot, ready to go, more solemn and pensive than ever… But the officer was only interested in the chamberpots… He paused with his glance on the space where Aurelian Segundo and Santa Sofia de la Piedad were still seeing Jose Arcadio Segundo and the latter also realized that the soldier was looking at him without seeing him. Then he turned out the light and closed the door.
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Incidentally, sorry about including so many quotes and extracts. I don't know what Orble policy is on these. They're all supposed to be in preparation for a post I'm working on for tomorrow.