by Brock Booher
The cameraman stepped into the eating area and began panning his camera around the facility. Sofía Encuentro was discussing something with Isak and Señor Goulet. Julio, like all the other Caritas students, had his eyes glued on the celebrity. She seemed so much smaller in real life. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Angelica leave her computer and head for the front door. Her departure puzzled him, but nobody else seemed to notice her exit.
After a short discussion, Isak took control again. “Students, please continue with your lessons. We will be touring the facility with Señora Encuentro and her cameraman this morning. Please continue with your lessons and try to ignore us,” he said with a chuckle, “if you can.”
Julio turned back to his computer and slipped back on the headphones. Before he could get back to his homework, Graciela tapped him on the shoulder. He pulled back an earpiece and looked at her. He had never seen her so excited.
“Did you know that she grew up in La Victoria? Her mother died in childbirth, and her father died in a mining accident. She was raised by her grandmother. Her real name isn’t Encuentro. It’s Espina, but she changed her name to Encuentro so she could use it in her catch phrase.”
“Why do know so much about her?” asked Julio.
“Because I want to be a reporter someday,” swooned Graciela. She turned to stare at her idol incarnate.
Julio smiled and went back to his lesson. It was hard to concentrate with a celebrity news reporter and her cameraman looking over his shoulder, not to mention Isak, Isabela, Doctor Kozyar, and Señor Goulet. He didn’t make much progress until the gaggle slipped through the back door and left them in peace.
When Carmen announced that lunch was ready, Sofía Encuentro and her cameraman were in position. Carmen wore her usual dirty apron, but Julio noticed that she had straightened her hair and was careful not to show her missing front tooth. Julio glanced up at the camera as he followed Graciela through the line and then to a table.
“Do you think she’ll interview us?” asked Graciela as she sat down. She still had her headphones around her neck.
Julio shrugged. He was nervous that they would interview him and he would have nothing to say. Since he hadn’t told his brother about Caritas, he was also worried that Raúl would see him on television and start asking questions. At least Raúl would have to come home to ask the questions. He tried not to worry. It was bad for digestion.
“Excuse me,” said the smooth voice of Sofía Encuentro, “Can I ask you a few questions?”
Julio looked up, hoping she was talking to Graciela, but Sofía Encuentro, the larger-than-life figure plastered on half the busses in Lima, was talking to him. Without waiting for an answer, she sat down beside Graciela, and her cameraman zoomed in on Julio. Graciela fidgeted in her seat. Isak and Señor Goulet hovered in the background.
“What’s your name?” asked Sofía. Her strong voice seemed mismatched with such a small person. Her diction was perfect.
Julio swallowed and put down his fork. “Julio Camino,” he answered. He decided not to present himself with his full name to avoid sounding precocious. He squinted into the bright light from the camera. He noticed Señor Goulet looking over the cameraman’s shoulder.
“Isak told me that you were the newest member. How long have you been involved with Caritas?” asked Sofía.
“Three weeks,” answered Julio with a smile.
“How did you hear about Caritas, and how did you get involved?”
Julio smiled at the camera and tried to hide his panic. He didn’t want everyone in Lima to know he joined Caritas because he was picked up for stealing. “Isak offered to buy me some food one night when I was hungry and then offered me the opportunity to join.”
“Were you in the habit of accepting free food from strange foreigners?” Her black eyes seemed to detect that he wasn’t telling the whole story.
Julio’s face flushed. “When you live on the streets without parents, you do what you have to do.”
“If you didn’t have parents, why didn’t you go to one of the government-sponsored orphanages or relocation barrios?”
“I didn’t want to . . .” Julio didn’t finish the sentence. She had trapped him.
“Didn’t want to what?” persisted Sofía Encuentro.
Julio looked down at his plate. “I wanted the freedom to live where I wanted to.”
“So you didn’t want to live in free housing provided by your own government, but you let yourself get chipped by a foreigner after you just met him?”
Julio glared back at the newswoman’s searching black eyes. “It wasn’t like that,” he said more forcefully than he intended. He stared into the bright light over the camera and took a deep breath. “Isak left me his card and asked me to come see him if I wanted to change my life. A couple of days later, I visited Caritas for the first time. I was skeptical and nervous, but I saw street children, like me, being fed, being taught, and being treated like they mattered. I was tired of being hungry. I was tired of begging in the streets. I was tired of feeling like nobody cared about my future.” Julio raised his head and stared into the camera. “Caritas gave me hope. Caritas gave me opportunity. Caritas changed my life.”
Sofía Encuentro smiled and continued, “I’m glad to hear that you are happy with the program, but how is this program different from the relocation programs provided by our own government?”
Julio wanted to tell the world how much he hated President Navarro for taking his father, but he kept calm. “The government programs require you to live in the housing provided. Caritas encourages you to achieve independence and doesn’t force you to live in a controlled barrio.”
“But you have to be chipped in order to participate in Caritas?”
Julio nodded and said, “I was nervous about getting chipped.” He held up his left hand. “But with the Caritas charity chip installed, the power to succeed is literally in my hand.” The stolen phrase from Isak sounded great for the camera, and he could see Señor Goulet’s big white teeth smiling behind the cameraman.
“Are you aware that two participants of Caritas have died in the last eighteen months since the program started?” asked Sofía Encuentro.
Julio stared at the camera with his mouth open. Graciela coughed and kicked him under the table. He faked a smile and shook his head. “No, that must have been before I got here.”
Sofía Encuentro turned her attention to Graciela, and the cameraman changed positions to focus on Graciela. “Obviously you have been involved with Caritas a bit longer. What do you know about the two deaths?”
Graciela slipped her headphones from her neck and put them in her lap. She glanced at Julio and then looked at the pressing newswoman. “You are an orphan from La Victoria yourself. Have you forgotten how dangerous the streets can be?”
Sofía Encuentro shifted in her seat and glanced up at the camera. “I remember, but that doesn’t answer my question. What do you know about the deaths of,” she looked down at her notes, “Ariano Reynosa or Joselín Barajas?”
“We don’t know that Joselín is dead,” answered Graciela. “She is listed as a missing person.” She looked down at her plate of unfinished food. “Ariano, on the other hand, was stabbed to death.”
“Caritas has only enrolled fifty-four participants since it began fourteen months ago. Losing two participants is statistically significant. Does that worry you?”
Graciela looked up at the camera. Her eyes were wet with tears. “Ariano was . . . a close friend. I was very sad to learn of his tragic death, and I miss him.” She wiped a tear from her cheek but then regained her composure and looked Sofía Encuentro in the eye. “What worries me is that without Caritas, I would be on the street with nothing again. I’m not sure that I could live with that.”
Sofía paused for a moment and then signaled to the cameraman to stop filming. She put a hand on Graciela’s shoulder and smiled. “Sorry to upset you with those last questions, but that’s my job. You know my catch phra
se. Cuando hay noticias, Encuentro. When there’s news, I find it.”
The eager newswoman stood and continued around the room talking to the camera and chatting with some of the other students. Graciela slipped her headphones over her ears and listened to music as she picked at her food. Julio finished his lunch and watched the scene trying to decide if he should be excited or worried about being on TV.
When he went to drop off his dirty dishes, Isak stood near the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. “Well done, Julio. I think you handled her questions very well.” He put a hand on Julio’s shoulder. “I shall have to reward you for casting a good light on Caritas.”
Julio shrugged and smiled. “I told her the truth. Caritas did change my life.”
Isak patted Julio on the head. “Come see me tomorrow and I’ll reward your sincerity with extra funds.” He glanced at Graciela, then ambled over to shadow Sofía Encuentro.
Julio was excited about Isak’s promise of a reward, but he decided not to stick around after lunch so he could avoid any more interviews. He hopped onto his skateboard and wondered if Raúl would see him on TV and come home. He kicked his way toward the plaza along Manco Cápac, but changed his mind and decided to go by El Infierno again to look for Raúl. When he turned off of the main street, a mototaxi turned with him and hovered behind him. It made him uncomfortable. Julio skated faster and the mototaxi continued to trail him a few meters back. He slowed down to see if the mototaxi would pass. At first it slowed to match his speed, but then it sped around him and pulled up to the curb.
Julio stopped, and the flimsy door to the cab swung open. Angelica poked her head out and waved to him. “Come quickly! Get in!”
Julio hesitated at first, but the look on her face was magnetic. He grabbed his skateboard and slid in beside her.
“Go!” she ordered the driver. “But don’t drive too fast. We need some time to talk.” The driver nodded and revved the motorcycle to life. Angelica watched the street nervously for a few moments before she sat back in the seat and let out a sigh.
“I need someone to talk to about Caritas.” She stared at Julio. “Can I trust you?”
“Trust me with what?”
“Trust you with information. Dangerous information.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Can I trust you?” she asked again.
Julio looked straight into her eyes. “Yes, you can trust me.”
“Swear by something,” demanded Angelica.
A little bewildered by the intensity of the request, Julio put his hand over the Alianza team emblem on his shirt, “I swear by Alianza, the best club in Peru, that I can be trusted.”
“Not good enough. I’m not a soccer fan. Something else,” demanded Angelica.
A somber look came over Julio’s face. “I swear by the love for my dead Mamá. Que Dios le bendiga.”
Angelica took his hand in a firm grasp and said, “May God bless her.”
Her hands were smooth to the touch, and Julio didn’t want to let go. Her thin feminine features, dark hair, and intense green eyes made her very attractive, and he found himself absorbed by her simple beauty. Even though he had been avoiding her before, he felt drawn to her because of the emotional fire she possessed. He held her hand until she pulled away and sat back in the seat.
Angelica sighed again and said, “Caritas is not what you think. They are using us.”
“Using us for what?” asked Julio.
“I’m not sure yet, but I know that one participant died and another disappeared over the last year, and considering how much they control us, that seems odd.” She looked out the window. “Tell me. How did Isak find you?”
“He kept me from going to jail after I was caught stealing,” he said with a shrug. “You asked me this the other day.”
“When he saved you, had you gone before the judge yet?”
“No, but I was in the policeman’s car already.”
“Then how do you know that you were going to jail?”
“The policeman said so. He showed me the videos of me stealing. I was caught in the act.”
“But you never made it to the judge?”
“No, why does that matter?”
“That’s how I was recruited as well. I’ll bet that over half of the kids in Caritas have the same story. They were rescued by Isak, and he offered to save them from jail if they joined Caritas.”
Julio thought back to the night he was arrested. Isak did seem to appear out of nowhere, almost as if he knew the arrest was going to happen. He shook his head. “Look, I think you’re being a little paranoid. I did steal the food. The policeman had me on video. Isak kept me from going to jail, and now, thanks to the charity chip, I get to eat every day.”
Angelica continued undaunted. “Did you notice that all of us at Caritas are in perfect health? If they really want to help children, then why aren’t there any kids with disabilities or health problems? I think they want us for some other purpose. I think they’re selling kids into slavery. They recruit us when we are in trouble so we won’t question too much. After a few years of controlling us, we disappear under the cover of some story and they sell us as slaves.”
Julio looked out the window at the passing street scene trying to get his thoughts around Angelica’s accusations. Isak himself said that he had saved Graciela from incarceration. That meant that all three of them had been brought to Caritas the same way. But weren’t we all surviving on the streets the same way? Couldn’t our stories be the same because we were all in the same predicament?
“Where do you live?” asked Angelica, interrupting his thoughts.
“Um . . . Unanue and Renovación.”
“I live the other way, Iquitos and Isabel la Catolica, but not too far from you.” She shouted to the driver over the sound of the two-cycle engine, “Armando, take me home first and then take him to Unanue and Renovación.” The driver nodded and remained focused on the road ahead.
“Armando is a friend of mine. I trade him cell phone minutes for rides. Do you know why I wanted to talk to you like this?”
Julio shrugged. “Because you couldn’t keep up with me on my skateboard?”
Angelica held up her hand and pointed to the space between her left thumb and forefinger. “Because the chip is tracking our every move. This way it just looks like we shared a taxi home.”
“Do you really think they bother to track us all the time? I mean, I assumed they could track us if they needed to, but why would Isak care if we spent time together? We’re together all day at Caritas.”
“You’re too trusting. They track us. They control our spending. They control our diet. They monitor our vital signs. They are monitoring our movement too.” Angelica held up her hand and pointed at her hand where the chip had been inserted. “This charity chip has control of our lives. It wouldn’t surprise me if they installed some sort of mind control function in the chip as well.”
Julio suppressed a smile. “Look, I can understand how you feel. I didn’t want to get chipped either, but it’s better than living in some government controlled barrio run by Presidente Navarro.” He made a spitting motion. He reached out and touched her arm and looked her in the eyes. “I’d like to believe you—”
“But you don’t,” said Angelica as she pulled her arm away and looked out the window.
Julio sat for a moment, not knowing what to say. He searched his brain for one of Mamá’s clever sayings, but nothing came to mind. He stared at the curve of Angelica’s neck beneath her ponytail and felt a sudden surge of attraction. It was like no matter what he tried to think about, all he could see was her soft skin and silky black hair. His thoughts were so jumbled up that he actually wondered if the chip, or something, was controlling his mind. For selfish reasons, he wanted to believe her, yet he hoped she was wrong at the same time. The mototaxi pulled over to the curb and interrupted his mental battle.
“Armando will take you home,” said Angelica as she stepped out. She d
idn’t look at him directly, but Julio could tell she was frustrated. She turned and stuck a finger in his face. “Remember, you swore by the love of your dead Mamá that you could be trusted.” She shut the door and walked away.
The mototaxi lurched into traffic. Julio watched Angelica amble along the sidewalk through the back window and felt a sudden wave of regret and loss. He pulled the pendant from under his shirt and kissed it.
“Stop. I’m getting out here.”
The mototaxi pulled over and Julio could see Armando grinning in the rearview mirror as he jumped out and hurried after Angelica.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Martín
How can you be a Peruvian if you don’t like soccer?” asked Julio as he coasted up beside Angelica on his skateboard.
She was startled at first but smiled when she saw it was Julio. “I don’t remember anything in the national anthem about soccer,” she retorted.
Julio grinned and broke into song as he coasted beside Angelica on his skateboard. “Arriba Alianza Lima! Alianza Lima es el Perú.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I said national anthem, not the club anthem.”
“To an Alianza fan, they are the same.”
Angelica grinned but then her face fell. “You really shouldn’t follow me home,” she cautioned. “It isn’t a good idea for us to spend too much time together. Isak will track us and get suspicious.”
Julio kicked, skated ahead, and then doubled back making a circle around Angelica. “Well, I guess we will find out if our suspicions are true. If we spend time together, and Isak does notice, then we know that you are right. If nothing happens, then we know that you have let your paranoid imagination run away with you, and I am right. Either way, we get to the truth.”
“Yes, but if I’m right, the consequences could be serious.”