Silent Treatment

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The moment Ray Santana heard Orsino saythe words, he knew he was going to die, and die horribly.

Ten hours or so had passed since hisadhesive tape blindfold had been ripped away. Ten hours of being gagged andlashed to a high-backed chair — his head and chin taped so tightly, soexpertly, that he could not move at all. Ten hours of listening to the mariachibands and singers in the street above and knowing that for all the good theywould do him, the revelers might as well be celebrating their Fiesta de Nogaleson Mars. Ten hours without seeing any movement except the comings and goings ofa huge roach.

The roach was an inch and a half long.Maybe two. It padded out of a crack in the mildewed basement wall and made itsway, in no particular hurry, to the floor. Ray followed the insect with hiseyes until it left his field of vision, and waited for its return. For a time,he wondered about roaches — how they had sex, whether they chose one mate forlife. For a time, he pictured his own family — Eliza singing as she whippedtogether her incredible paella. . Ray Jr. diving headfirst into third. For atime he thought about his life before Eliza — the Road Warriors, the drugs …his decision to leave the gang and try college. . the irony of his ending upas an undercover agent for the DEA.

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