Alejandro Aguilar                                                                                  

Translated by Andrew Hurley

 

Reading Night

Group by group, they march into the classrooms, which are still like ovens shimmering with the heat accumulated throughout the day. They march in single file and come to a halt, each boy alongside his own desk. When the order is given, they sit. Their pupils slowly adjust to the yellowish light of the three bulbs that pretend to illuminate the entire school. Soon, two boys come in with a big box of books, which they distribute randomly around the room. The Volokolansk Highway, A True Man, or Volume II of Les Miserables. No one protests, no one says a word, no one tries to choose the book he wants. No one stops reading, or pretending to read. The book begun today will be broken off the next night by another. History Will Absolve Me, The Three Musketeers, or The Battle of Stalingrad. The title is unimportant. This book, too, will have to be put aside when the sergeant suddenly orders everyone to stand at attention and march out of the classroom. The ritual is continued every reading night, once or twice a week. A good soldier has to be well educated.