Take a seat on a stone bench. The surface is warm from the sun.
"What is your name?" Francesca asks, her hands resting on her long white skirt.
You say your first and last names.
"Matamoros... And your father?"
Gabriel. You ask the reason for this sudden interest, but she doesn't answer, instead she stares at nothing as if searching for threads of ether.
Concerned, you call her. Francesca reacts, looks at you, and surprises you by talking about your father's occupation as a fighter in the Spanish Falange, as well as factors about his death in the Salamanca rebellion against the Matriarchy, including the day and the manner, data that even you did not know. You begin to look at her as if she were a specter. She, realizing your misgivings, lays her small hand on your fingers on the bench to let you know she is flesh and blood.
"You are ashamed of him"
How could you not be? He was a good soldier, and a great father, he taught Isaac and you how to defend yourself. But his cause was outlawed, besides being a failure. They had to escape from Spain for a reason. 10 years on the run and you don't even have an accent anymore. Your Jaspanglishinese is neutral, aseptic.
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"Everyone who burns his life in the divine war, rises to heaven. The sides, the methods, even the outcome, it doesn't matter"
It is still not clear to you whether his serenity relaxes you or makes you even more uncomfortable.
"Every man, or woman, or child who dies with a gun in his hands, earns his mark in The Mortuary. I do not exaggerate about immortality. It is vital to the great mission that we remember the costs and lessons of war"
The Mortuary, the black book of the dead, one of the badges of the cult of Belichology. In high school you had a goth girlfriend who told you of its existence. Rumor has it that the cult members know it by heart, millions of names, millions of lines.
You ask Francesca about the authenticity of the myth. She smiles and nods.
"It's simple. I'm just faking little mind tricks. Like opening an office filing cabinet, or using shortcuts to a series of folders on a computer... But in your head. I could teach you"
You tense up. Now the invitation is even more obvious. But would you really be interested in leaving body and soul in a cult? You'd have to drop out of college. You'd disappoint your mother. Isaac, well, Isaac wouldn't care.
Join the Belichology (Scene 17).
Say goodbye and catch up with Isaac to go to college (Scene 11).