Rosa and Marcos sit on the ground, right in front of Juli’s grave. It’s been quite a while since they last cried. They don’t know when they stopped crying and started talking calmly. The sun is already setting, and the shadows are beginning to lengthen, but there’s still some sunlight left.
“Everything we have is here. Do you want to... leave it all behind?!” Rosa asks, genuinely surprised.
“The moment they stole our livestock, this place started to lose its purpose.”
“But we’ll start over again; we did it once before,” Rosa says, trying to sound encouraging.
“I don’t have the strength to rebuild all this, Rosa.”
She looks at him silently, waiting for him to continue.
“I don’t have the strength, nor the will... I want us to head north.”
“But to the north? To do what?”
Marcos looks at her but doesn’t respond.
“Between the two of us, we can start again, Marcos. Here we’re safe, and we’ve never lacked anything...” she insists.
“If it were a safe place, Juli wouldn’t have gotten hurt chasing the bastards who stole our livestock! And as for lacking... Yes, we have lacked, Rosa, yes... We lacked a damn box of antibiotics!”
Marcos raises his voice. Rosa feels hurt, but she doesn’t want to argue. She wants to convince Marcos that it doesn’t make sense to leave everything behind.
“Do you think if we leave, we’ll be safer? Do you think there’s a place where they’ll give you medicine whenever you need it?”
He remains silent, listening to her.
“No! Nowhere will give us anything, Marcos. The world is as it is!”
