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MARCHING POWDER

following, but there was no one around. Well, no one that I could see anyway. However, that didn't prevent me from feeling that I was being watched.

Before I bought the stuff from my usual dealer, who we called Comandante, I knocked on three different doors and asked to borrow things from inmates who weren't dealers. That way, if there was anyone following me, they would hopefully get thrown off the scent. And also, if Comandante got busted by the police, I would be able to prove to him that I was trying my best not to cooperate.

I bought the stuff, slipped it into my shirtsleeve, ready to drop it if anyone stopped me, then hurried back to my room. Footsteps echoed in the corridor behind me. I wasn't sure if they were all mine, but I didn't stop or turn around to check. I climbed the wooden ladder to my room and knocked to gain entry.

The governor opened the door once more and when I handed him the package I closed my eyes, expecting to get arrested on the spot but he only inspected it and then handed it back to me.
'So. Is it good quality?' he asked, closing the door.
'I don't know, my governor. I don't take drugs.'
'Oh. So you've never taken cocaine, Thomas?' he asked sarcastically, showing off to the girls. 'What are you in here for? Didn't pay your parking fine?' Maria-Teresa laughed as if this was the funniest thing she had ever heard. Then the governor became serious again. 'Thomas. You make the lines, will you? I'm too lazy.'

Maybe the police wanted to catch me in the act; that way, I couldn't deny it was mine. I pretended I didn't know how to make lines, but Colonel Montesinos looked like he was losing his patience, so I did as I was told, cutting up some coke on the wooden table. However, I only made three lines so that they wouldn't think I had any intention of taking any myself.

'It looks good,' he commented, 'but we can't be giving the señoritas just any old rubbish. So, you try it first, Thomas, and let me know if it's good quality.'

When he said that, I was totally convinced that my friend, the governor, was setting me up. If the police caught me in my own room with five grams of cocaine, making lines on the table and actually sniffing it, there was no way I could deny a thing. But I refused to fall into their trap. They couldn't force me to take cocaine and if this

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