Fiction
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Pleasant Troubles
A sudden, involuntary flaring of his tongue, followed by a hideous contortion of his face; apart from this peculiar affliction, Bonifácio Careta was an ordinary child. The villagers believed everyone arrived in life with unique God-given inclinations – some were born to nose-picking, others to continuous spitting, others to limping. They never spent a second glance on Bonifácio. Bonifácio Careta’s life would have proceeded imperceptibly if misfortune had not brought his peculiarity to public notice. Bonifácio’s fortune changed irrevocably on the occasion of the long awaited Papal tour of the country and the Pontiff’s brief, unscheduled bathroom stop in Bonifácio’s forgotten village. While the Pontiff granted the gathering crowd his…
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Palms
Tomás leaned against the muddy wall of the trench furiously whittling a knotted tree branch. He paused, controlled his impatience, not wishing to carve the wrong groove. The knuckles of his hand were white, his fingers numb from the relentless work, the iced air. He unwrapped his frozen fingers from the wood and warmed his hands under his armpits before firing random shots into the night. He waited for the enemy sentinel to dutifully respond. The shots echoed over the hill. Tomás sighed. One more hour of silence would now settle over the trenches. Tomás sealed a rolled cigarette with his tongue and lit the smoke under his coat. As…
