Life Blood---XXVIII---Page No 103

Ramos and the G-2 secret police and whoever else is in on this
crime. But, secretly, she does know. The God of the House of
Darkness.

When he finished, he put down the basket, then turned to me.
"Stand at the front edge of the platform and lift your hands in
benediction. They all want to see you, the new bride."
        I took a couple of steps, then looked back to see him adding
more copal to the main censer, sending a fresh cloud of smoke
billowing out into the rain. As the incense poured around us, the
Army thugs who'd been loitering at the back of the stone room
began coming forward, each carrying one of the bassinets. They
set them down on the stones, ready to start taking the children.
My outraged mind flashed on Ghirlandajo's "Massacre of the
Innocents." Here, though, Sarah's children weren't being stabbed
to death; they were being—kidnapped and stolen.

Revulsion pierced through me as though I'd been hit by a

jagged shaft of lightning, but instead of being knocked down, I

was energized. Or maybe the final effects of the toad venom were
giving me a spurt of adrenaline. Letting his criminal charade
continue one second longer became unbearable. What would
happen to me, I didn't know, but I couldn't let it go on.
        "No," I yelled, startling myself by the sound of my own voice.
"In God's name, stop."

The rain was growing more intense, and I was soaked and bleary-eyed, but before I could think I found myself stalking over to Tz'ac Tzotz's mother, shouting at her. The next thing I knew I was ripping the paper from her frightened eyes. I hugged her as best I could, then yelled back at Marcelina.

"Tell them all to take off their blindfolds. This is obscene."

Then I went on autopilot, shutting out everything around me— the rain, the perilous sides of the pyramid, the pistol-carrying G-2 thugs, even Alex Goddard. The way I remember it now, it all took place in slow motion, like some underwater dream sequence, but surely it was just the opposite.

Anyway, I do know I snapped. I started shouting again, and
with the G-2 hoods momentarily frozen, I started flinging the still-
empty bassinets down the steep side of the pyramid, where they
just bounced away into the rain. As I watched them disappearing,
one after another, I felt marvelously emboldened. I would throw
one and watch it go flying, and then I would throw another. Yes,
damn it, yes!

I wanted to show anybody with two eyes that it was all a

sham. Once they realized what was really happening, surely they
would rise up and drive Alex Goddard from their home.
        For a moment it seemed to be working. A stunned silence
was slowly spreading over the square, while everybody around
me was paralyzed, like waxworks. Maybe it's the same way you're
temporarily caught off guard when a stranger on the street goes
berserk.

By the time I'd flung away the last bassinet, the women had all removed their blindfolds and were staring at me,
dumbfounded. Finally, Tz'ac Tzotz's mother whispered something to Marcelina, and she turned to me.

"She wants to know why you're angry. You're the bride. They only want to please you."

Angry? I was terrified, but also fighting mad.

"Marcelina, this is all a ghastly lie." I'd finished throwing and I was moving to the next stage. Get control. Could he risk killing me in front of all these people? "Tell them to take their babies and
hide in the forest."

That was when I heard a cry that pierced through the rain and
across the square beyond, and I turned back to see Alex Goddard
shoving toward me. He's coming to murder me, since I've
exposed him. But I wouldn't let it happen without a fight. I
clenched my fists, waiting, feeling my adrenaline surge.
        Instead, though, he just brushed past me, headed toward the
edge of the platform. At first I didn't know why, but he was intent
on something off in the mist, his open hands thrust up at the rainy
skies.

That was when I heard the Guatemalan Army hoods yelling
curses.

"Vete ala chingada!"

They also were staring off to the south, in the same direction.
        Hadn't they noticed I'd just dismantled their sick pageant? I
 wanted a reaction that would drive home the truth to Marcelina, to the mothers, to everyone.

"Damn it, look at me," I yelled, first at him and then at the G-2
thugs. "Mira!" But their focus still was on something beyond the
square.

Finally I turned, following their gaze, and for a second I too
forgot all about everything else. An intense red glow was
illuminating the morning sky from the direction of the clinic, a
vibrant electric rose weaving its hues in the mist. Then I saw