The Lying Glasses

By Rafael Estrada

He shoots imaginary enemies and has a really good time, imitating the things you see in the movies. A man with black sunglasses observes him because he ensures that through them he can see things as they are: he sees that his green plastic rifle is forcing him to play, he sees that wars are not what they seem and that weapons are between us because they want to carry out a terrible plan.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Jan 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781071516348

Rafael Estrada

J’ai publié des livres avec Debolsillo, Edebé, SM, Bruño, Edelvives, Espasa-Calpe, 23 Escalones, Les éditions del Laberinto, Babylon, Universal Didactics, Les éditions PG, Final Yayincilik Reclamcilik Sanayitica, Patakis Publications, I-DAUM, Les éditions Piemme, MUZA SA, Bad Company Books et Hubei Childen'S Press. Certains de mes travaux ont été publiés en Allemagne, en ex-Yougoslavie, en Pologne, en France, en Italie, en Grèce, au Portugal, en Équateur, au Venezuela, au Mexique, au Chili, en Turquie, en Corée, en Chine et aux États-Unis.

Book preview

«Let the children appear and play with us».

2º BOOK OF SAMUEL

1. The blind man

Naza looked around the park, very slowly, examining with close attention the possible places to hide. Even though  the zone on the right seemed clear, he saw an enemy patrol moving silently between the willows, bordering the lake. He calculated the situation and made a fast re-count of his equipment; after, he loaded the rifle and aimed for the official that marched on the lead, it was evident that he was the boss. Purposeful, he shot again and again until he ran out of bullets.

-BOOM! BOOM! BANG! PING...!

Without losing a second he introduced a new charger in his transparent green plastic rifle and poked out its head very carefully, willing to keep shooting if necessary. Every enemy was immobile, scattered through the floor: the ambush had been a success.

-Did you get all of them? -asked a voice by his back.

-Absolutely all of them -replied the boy without looking back-. My orders were to not make prisoners.

-Have you checked if there was an official?

-I sure did -said Nazaret-. The one that lead the group looked like a general.

-It’s a shame...

-What is? -Nazaret wanted to know-. They would’ve done the same thing with me.

-Everybody knows that you shouldn’t kill a general.

-Why?

-Because if you kill the general that started the war, no one will be able to stop it -the man clicked his tongue-. Don’t you see that only he knows why do we fight?

The boy turned his head to watch this stranger that knew so much about wars. It was a man with sunglasses covering his eyes, he was seating on a bench and rested his hands in a white cane.

-Do you mean to say that only the generals know the reason behind wars? -Nazaret asked astonished.

-Naturally -assured the man of the sunglasses-. What causes a war, the authentic reason, is often top secret.

Do you know why do you fight?

-Well... -Nazaret tried to find a reason, but he could only say-: I fight against them because they are my enemies.

-You are too their enemy.

-That’s true! -Nazaret recognized-.

He hadn’t realized.

Dibujo1.jpg

-Do you see?

-And how can we know if I killed a general? -Naza spoke low, worried about if new patrols appeared.

-It’s very simple -replied the stranger-. Did he wear gallons or stars?

-He didn´t wear anything, because the officials hide their range when they get out of the patrol -said the little boy very sure of himself.

-Yes, that’s right. They do it to confuse the snipers like you -the man of the sunglasses kept silent for Naza to understand-. Was there something that distinguished him from the others?

-I think he was wearing some pencils in his shirt pocket.

-With the tip upwards or downwards?

-Downwards.

-Then he was a coronel -assured the stranger.

-How are you so sure?

-Because if he wore them upwards, he should’ve been a general.

Naza sighed relieved. However, he stayed thoughtful, trying to see some failure in the man’s reasoning. Then he realized that the day was cloudy, and it didn’t make sense that the man was wearing such dark sunglasses.

-You aren’t blind, are you?

-Why do you say that?

-Because you’re wearing sunglasses and there is no sun.

-I see that you’re really observant and you reason quiet well -said the mister, nodding with his head-. Even though the fact that I’m blind