gerald had done well on his latest tests, so maria was forced to let him out into the garden, even though she felt he did not really deserve it.
maria watched as gerald prowled around the garden.
why am i watching him, she wondered, do i not get enough of him during the day? and sometimes during the night?
it was not necessary for maria to watch gerald. he - like herself - was under the constant surveillance of a company of guards who patrolled the compound she and gerald were domiciled in.
and who watched, 24 hours a day, the monitors fed by the innumerable hidden cameras in the compound that recorded every word and action of maria and gerald.
doctor remigio had assured maria, at the outset, that the cameras would not record her most intimate moments, and she had gone along with the charade, and expressed her gratitude, as she had gone along with everything else since she had awakened from the dream of her previously sheltered existence.
maria also assumed that a recording device had been placed in her brain so that the doctor could survey all her thoughts and dreams, including - most especially including - those she was unaware of herself.
when you thought about it, was that really so remarkable? most humans - and perhaps most other animals - since the dawn of time had assumed that they had no secrets from gods and demons and angels and saints.
doctor remigio - and his gang of thugs patrolling the grounds - were her gods and demons, that was all.
maria turned away from the window and went over to the piano, and played a few notes of her favorite piece - the sonata number 6 of merline. she played it often. if the doctor or captain mendoza
or any of the thugs didn’t like it and were sick of it - too bad.
maria had been tutoring gerald for almost a year now. he was almost eight years old and starting to show a distressing amount of energy.
especially for a child who was being brought up and groomed to be the apostle of a new religion of universal peace and love.
maria and gerald lived “alone “ in the compound, visited only occasionally by doctor remigio and less occasionally by the manly but ponderously polite captain mendoza , captain of the company of guards.
doctor remigio had visited only a few days before, and expressed himself satisfied with gerald’s progress. he liked to vary the time between his visits so as not to be predictable, but maria felt he would not be back for a while.
neither maria nor doctor remigio made any real effort to conceal their distaste for each other.
maria had tried to give up on wondering why doctor remigio had chosen her to tutor gerald. she had tried with even less success to give up wondering why doctor remigio had allowed to her to live, after the coup in which her father, the deposed president, and her other family members had been killed.
her best guess was that doctor remigio was keeping her alive for possible use as a pawn in some future game - but with whom or what?
maria’s playing, and her desultory thoughts, were suddenly interrupted by gerald’s screaming out in the garden. he sounded like he was being attacked by some wild beast.
not again, maria thought. lately gerald had taken to screaming at the top of his lungs for no reason, usually when he was allowed out by himself. maria would almost have been happy to let him just scream until he exhausted himself, but his cries attracted the attentions of the guards.
and one guard in particular, a corporal salazar , who was convinced the child was possessed by demons and had offered more than once to arrange for an exorcism. the other guards were less solicitous, and treated gerald with the same offhand contempt that they treated maria.
and sure enough, when maria got outside, she found portly corporal salazar and a bored looking private approaching gerald at about the same distance as herself.
as always, gerald abruptly stopped his screaming as soon as maria was at his side.
“what were you screaming about this time, gerald?” maria asked, although she already knew the answer.
“screaming? i was not screaming,” gerald answered with a straight face and a bewildered air.
corporal salazar came up to them. “exorcism, miss, exorcism,” he announced without preliminaries. “surely you must agree with me this time.”
“i thank you for your concern,” maria replied. “but gerald seems fine now. in fact, he has just informed me that he was making no noise. isn’t that right, gerald?”
“yes.” gerald looked at corporal salazar with a forlorn air. “i do not know what the fuss is about.”
“i feel i have to inform the captain of this, miss, “ the corporal stated.
“i thought you had already done so,” maria replied. evenly. “do whatever you think is right. come, gerald, i think you have had enough time in the garden. it is time to resume your lessons.”
gerald followed maria back to the house, leaving corporal salazar to his thoughts.
“i don’t want any more lessons today,” gerald said as soon as they were out of the corporal’s hearing. “i want to read comic books.”
i have been indulging him too much lately, maria thought, but answered, “very well, you may read comic books. we will have some lessons after dinner.”
gerald, who never thought more than a few minutes ahead, nodded happily.
maria relaxed.
but her relaxation was destined to be short lived.
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