Hector. You want a completely different form of government from him. You think he’s even going to consider that possibility?’
‘Once we get our foot in the door I’ll kick it wide open. Small steps, Louisa. But peaceful ones. Can we talk about something else for a moment?’
She knew what he meant. ‘There’s nothing more important than this.’
‘There is something of equal importance, though - to me, at least. I want to talk about us.’
‘There is no us, Hector.’
‘Tell me one thing. Be honest with me. What if I am right? If I win? What about us then?’
‘To win, Hector, you would have to try. And the cost of trying would be far too much for Sebastian to pay.’
‘I’m in love with you, not with Sebastian.’
‘When you talk about Sebastian’s future you talk about mine.’
‘But that’s like asking me to choose between my politics and you.’
‘You just said your politics and your feelings for me were equal. You have to have a good memory to be a politician. They have to lie all the time.’
‘Is that what you’re suggesting? You and Sebastian instead of politics?’
‘No, Hector. I’m asking you not to split the rebellion. Have you even tried discussing this with Sebastian?’
‘You heard him last night. He will not hear any of it.’
‘Because you pushed him into a corner before you made your intentions clear. I believe that was your plan all along.’
‘Rubbish. I don’t need Sebastian to deal with Neravista - and yes, Sebastian would have made it more difficult, even impossible, as he is trying to do. But I did not try and shove him aside. Not the way you describe it.’
‘I applaud you, Hector. And I apologise for being wrong about you. You’ve taken to politics very easily. You lie with such conviction. Goodbye.’ Louisa turned her back on him to leave.
He made it to the door a fraction ahead of her and placed his arm across it, barring her way. Hector would not have been so bold with a woman like Louisa before that day. He had started his adult life as a goat herder in the eastern provinces and he remained aware of his humble beginnings, especially in her presence. He was the youngest of five brothers, of whom three had left their parental home when Hector was still an adolescent to start their own families while two had already died in infancy. The village he’d grown up in had had no doctor, the nearest one being a walk of two days or more away. Usually, if someone fell ill, they pulled through or they died.
Hector’s opportunity for an education presented itself with the arrival in his village of an American non-governmental medical aid agency. One of the volunteers was a student from New Mexico who spoke Spanish and English. When Hector showed an interest in his books the student took it upon himself to teach the boy the basics of literacy. Hector’s appetite for learning was unquenchable and the student was soon teaching Hector how to read during just about every spare waking hour either of them had. Six months later, by the end of the student’s contract, Hector could read and write just about as well as any boy his age. The day the student left Hector asked if he could accompany him as far as the capital where he intended to get a job and continue studying. And that was precisely what he did. He rushed home to say farewell to his mother and asked her to tell his father out in the fields that he was leaving home. He tied all his earthly possessions into a bundle no bigger than a football and jumped aboard the NGO bus.
The student let Hector stay in their offices for a couple of days until Hector got himself a job as a waiter in a hotel restaurant. Within six months he had risen to a position in lower management. In that time he also witnessed the injustice of the Neravista government and, thanks to some of the better-educated staff at the hotel, he developed a more than mild interest in local politics. After suffering a severe beating at a peaceful demonstration for better conditions in a local hospital, his patience for passive campaigning withered. He gravitated towards those who wanted a militant approach. Yet none of the leaders of any of the political parties inspired him until one day he went to a meeting outside the city.
Several hundred people from all walks of life attended, something