Bad Intentions

He was the man of the house, and he had to look after all his people and protect them. So I helped Pablito when he had had a bad night or in cases of emergency, with money for his grandmother's medicines or for a taxi to take her to see a doctor at the free hospital. "And she has these bouts of asthma, too, my grandmother. Do you realize what that costs, Enrique?" And every night Pablito gave me a report on his grandmother's health. One day there was an important request: he needed forty bolivars to buy a secondhand mattress. His grandmother could not lie in a hammock anymore, because of her asthma: the doctor said it compressed her chest. He often used to sit in my car, and one day the policeman on guard was talking to him, leaning on the door and playing with his revolver: without the least bad intention he put a bullet into Pablito's shoulder. They rushed him to the hospital and operated. I went to see him the next day. I asked where his hut was and how to get to it; he said it was impossible to find it without a guide, and the doctor wouldn't let him get up in that condition ...»