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MARCHING POWDER

‘Apparently he’s a good judge,’ Ricardo said, rubbing his fingers together. ‘Very fair. So, you’re lucky, inglés. You might be out of here before you know it.’

‘How long, do you think?’

‘What are you asking me for? I’m not a lawyer.’

‘Come on! Let’s go and have a chat in my room,’ I suggested, not wanting to think about it anymore.

‘Ahhh, so you want your old friend back. Didn’t have time for me when the girly was around, hey?’ said Ricardo. ‘But now she’s gone . . .’
‘I’ll cook you something.’
‘I’d love to, Thomas, but I can’t. I’m sorry, I’m busy.’ He tapped his watch. ‘Gotta fly. I’ve got a hot date tonight. You know how it is.’
‘Come on! We’ll smoke some ganja. I’ll pay.’
‘You’ll pay, hey? So, she’s rich too and giving you money!’ He put his arm around me and we walked up the stairs towards my room. ‘You must be San Pedro’s only toyboy.’

Ricardo kept making jokes about what a bad friend I was, but I could tell that he was actually a little hurt that I had forgotten him when Yasheeda was around. I knew that he wouldn’t stay mad at me for long, though, and after the first joint he stopped teasing me. Just like old times, we were stoned and watching the ATB news, when Ricardo suddenly jumped out of his chair. ‘Look! There’s that politician. They caught him again!’ It was Gabriel Sanchez, the director of the workers’ pension fund who had stolen forty million dollars. The reporter said that there had been an anonymous tip-off that he was hiding out in Mar de Plata in Argentina. They brought him in by plane under armed guard. The picture showed him at El Alto Airport, handcuffed and surrounded by police, about to be transported somewhere. But you could hardly recognise him because he’d had plastic surgery.

Hundreds of the workers who had been cheated out of their retirement money were protesting with their families. Some of the women were crying. The police had formed a ring around Sanchez, but they weren’t trying very hard to protect him. Sanchez didn’t try to shield himself, either. In the short time it took to bundle him into a vehicle, the protesters spat on him and threw things at him and one guy got past the guards and landed a big punch. The angry mob continued to kick and bang the car until it sped off. The reporter then started interviewing some of the people in the crowd.

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