Issue 3:
Full
K.K. Todorovich
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Refuge of Lies
an excerpt from the novel
He knew his benefactor would not arrive at the relay shack before dark with the new clothes. Clothes for working. Emilio Valls, courtesy clerk, was how somebody said it. How would he ever thank them?
He bit into the salami stick and wondered why they had not left him a knife. But he was not complaining. He chewed a wad of the cheese from the yellow box. Occasionally, he heard people pass. Each time he crossed himself. Too close now for la migra.
All along his route north meals were silent. Such feasts at home would have meant singing and dancing. "We want you to feel at home," they said. He was ashamed that he didn't.
He ate a sugar doughnut in two bites, then two more and closed the box. He unfolded the magazine picture and smoothed it out across the lid. "Emilio Valls is not crying," he said to the colorful pages at which he could smile at a family like his and pretend that everybody -- his Linda, their beautiful Yolanda, his little son Gerry, and maybe even scowling Aunt Maryann -- had bellies as full as his.
~K.K. Todorovich
K.K. Todorovich publishes frequently in little magazines. She is a bonsai artist-in-training. Email.
© 1999 by K.K. Todorovich. All Rights Reserved.
© 2000-2002 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.
This page updated April 23, 2002.