by V. Cobe
***
“Did you ever think about telling Irá?” asked Ezekiel.
“That I was an umbriferam?” I whispered.
“Yes. I mean, he must’ve known, no?”
“He was always away at work.”
“But you never thought about telling him?”
“Of course I did, especially when we first started dating. But he was the Minister of Internal Affairs.”
“It’s ironic that you fell in love with a member of the Institution while fighting against it,” he whispered.
Rhode looked at me as if waiting for me to respond.
“Come here,” I asked and stood from the sofa. I went to the window of the living room, from where it was possible to peek out into the street, and they followed me. “There are still fifteen minutes before the start of curfew, but they might still be here.” I pushed the curtains to the side and searched the dark street for the dark blue suits.
Rhode immediately understood.
“There’s a man standing there looking over here.”
“He’s been there since I left the hospital.”
“He’s been there since you left the hospital?” repeated Ezekiel in surprise.
I closed the curtains and returned to the sofa.
“They’re following her,” said Rhode.
“They came with us from the hospital, they followed us to Sunday mass yesterday, and as you can see, they’re here with us now.”
“But who are they?” asked Ezekiel.
“Umbriferos.”
“Of Umbra?” he repeated.
“What do they want?” asked Rhode, roundly, but she already knew the answer.
I looked at both of them, hesitating.
“Alem.”
Rhode stood and started pacing the room from one side to the other.
Ezekiel looked at Alem on my lap, gaping. “But that means—”
“You said they were umbriferos,” interrupted Rhode. “Umbra is very big.”
She stopped pacing and waited for me to answer.
“I think they’re from Defectio.”
She raised a hand to her mouth, but Ezekiel failed to hide his gasp.
“But that means—”
“Yes. I don’t know how this happened, but it did. And now those lunatics want my son and won’t rest until they have him.”
“Take this up with the Institution immediately,” suggested Rhode.
“Are you mad? How would I explain that I know about Umbra? Or worse, how would I explain the reason Defectio is after Alem?”
The curfew bells chimed outside.
“If you stay alone, you’re screwed.”
“You think I don’t know that? I haven’t been able to breathe since we left the hospital. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to leave the house and I’m scared of even going to the backyard.”
I laid Alem on the sofa and got up. He was sleeping quietly and unaware of all the chaos, just like a three-month-old newborn should be.
I approached the window once more. The night was dark, and not a single sound came from the street, not from people or from cars, with the exception of the occasional Night Brigade van passing by in the distance.
“After curfew starts, the suited men disappear, but the house becomes surrounded by undershadows.”
“You can’t stay here locked up. It’s not practical! You’re gonna have to leave, and Alem is gonna start growing up.”
“Maybe there’s a solution. One I have no desire of resorting to.”
They leaned closer as if to hear me better.
“I can talk to Bishop Zalmon Costa. He’s part of the Institution, but he’s also Alem’s godfather and maybe he can pressure the Brigades to protect us properly, without raising too many questions.”
Rhode pressed an upright index finger against her lips and stood. Women were laughing in the distance. At first, the voices were almost imperceptible, but quickly became clearer. They were coming from a house nearby. In only a few seconds, their voices went from a soft murmur to a perfectly audible laughter. They sounded like they came from old women. In the background, a dog howled, and as the laughter became louder, so did the dog’s howling.
We looked at each other, confused and scared. It wasn’t common to hear anybody at those late hours.
Then one of the women let out a bloodcurdling scream. The dog became silent and nothing was audible anymore.
The silence was interrupted by the cry of a baby from the opposite side of the now subsided laughter. The sofa where I had left Alem was empty.
I ran to the other side of the room, knocking a vase on my way, to where his cry was coming from.
Alem was on the floor, at a corner, kicking and screaming unlike anything I’d seen or heard from him. I picked him up and lulled him in my lap, trembling.
I turned to Rhode and Ezekiel, not knowing what to say.
They were both staring at Alem, as astonished I was.