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MARCHING POWDER

'Hey. I didn't even know you were crying,' I lied. 'How can I see anything when you wear those stupid sunglasses all the time.' I pretended to be angry with him and it worked. He took his glasses off slowly and looked at me, embarrassed. It was the first time I had ever seen his eyes. The whites were all bloodshot, but the irises were a beautiful green and his tears made them look translucent.

'Hey. You've got nice eyes.'
'Do you think so?'
'They're not contact lenses, are they?'
'No.' Jack sat up straighter in his chair and lifted his head. 'They're natural.'
'Well, you should take those glasses off more often, then. You might get a girlfriend.'
'You think so?' I could tell that he was already starting to cheer up.
'Sure. All the Bolivian men have brown eyes. You'll look like an exotic foreigner to the women with those green contacts.'
'But they're not contacts. I already told you. You don't listen, Thomas.'
'Prove it. Take them out and show me.'
Jack's hands made a movement towards his eyes and then stopped. 'I can't. How can I if they're real?'
'No. I saw you move. You were about to take them out.'
'I promise you, they're real.'
I nodded. 'Uh huh. Yeah. Real contacts.' Poor Jack. He was like a kid. It was never hard to trick him. Sometimes I felt bad doing it to him - he was vulnerable and it was almost too easy - but it was always very funny, so I couldn't help myself. 'That's OK. Don't be embarrassed. They still look good on you.'
'No. They're my real eyes, Thomas. That's their natural colour, I promise you.' He started getting really frustrated.
'A promise isn't good enough. You expect me to believe that a Mexican can have green eyes? How are you going to prove it?'
Jack thought about this for quite a while. 'I can't. It's impossible.' He looked down sadly. 'The girls will never believe me either. I can't exactly take my eyeballs out.' Then, suddenly, he had an idea. 'Wait! Yes. I can prove it. I've got photos from when I was younger.' And with that, he bounded out of my room to find his photo album.
'That won't prove a thing,' I called after him, just to keep him

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