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The Origin of the Species by Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman
“I won’t be locked up.” “No.” “And I won’t be in the crosshairs.” “That’s right.” “And I’m going to get a new identity.” “Yes.” He turned and eyed the meter and a half of mattress, coils, and nightstand where he’d been rotting since his arrest. More than the cot or the bare liver-spotted bulb dangling from the ceiling, what depressed him most was the fussy little plastic cover protecting the nightstand. From the corner of his eye he saw, once more, the baleful smile Agent Félix wore when no one was looking straight at him—it was as though the man himself disappeared entirely and all that was left were his sharp, pointy canines, glinting in the face of the world’s suffering. But still, he thought, how much more humiliated could he be?
KJP