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MARCHING POWDER

The major then sent one of the policemen out of the room to get something. While we were waiting for him to return, I told the corporal that I was hungry. He put his hand up to silence me.

'Wait. After,' he said, as the policeman came back in carrying a large blue book. The major opened the book upside down so that I could read it from my side of the desk. He motioned for me to come closer. I leaned forward in my chair and followed his finger as he ran it down the page, explaining something in Spanish as he went.

It took me some time to understand what the book was about. The pages were divided into columns that contained dates and names and descriptions. When he sensed that I was having difficulty, the corporal explained that this was a list of all the cells currently for sale that I could choose from.

Still not quite believing that any of this was real, I asked the major how much a cell cost, using one of my few Spanish expressions: '¿Cuánto cuesta?'

'Cinco mil,' he responded. I thought I knew the numbers, but I must have misheard. Five thousand was too much. I asked the translator to repeat the amount in English. He confirmed that it was five thousand.

'Dollars or bolivianos?'

'Dollars, my amigo,' he said. 'Cell prices in San Pedro are always in American dollars.'

'But I've already told you. I haven't got any money,' I said. The major said something to the corporal, who translated.

'The major say four thousand. But that is minimum. Is good price, no?'

Once the major realised that there was no money to be made out of me, our interview was terminated immediately. He nodded to his men to remove me from the office.

'Wait!' I cried out as the guards stepped forward. 'Can I have some food? Where do I sleep?' But the major had already begun shuffling the papers on his desk. 'Please,' I begged him. 'I have money. Just not here.'

The major didn't look up again, not even when I tried to struggle with the guards. That morning, I had been able to fight them, but by then I was too weak. There was no need to handcuff me this time. They took me down the stairs again, opened a big gate with metal bars and pushed me through. I felt myself collapsing from hunger and exhaustion.