ELI

The first time the officer looked at Elizabeth- or simply, Eli - , dressed in that spectacular red neckline dress and black patent leather heels, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

 He approached the table where she was sitting, with the empty glass.

 Without thinking twice, the officer fixed his cap and Serbian plus a glass of champagne.

 - Excuse the daring but some lady as pretty as you deserve my no more than just that- and offered his hand to greet her, kissing her torso, saying:

 - Nice to meet you, officer Marquis at your command, taking out the cap and crossing it on his chest.

 - The pleasure is mine, she said, noting the impeccably cut hair, the lustrous American shoe and the impeccable uniform.

 - Would you like to dance?

 - Of course yes !!, she replied, showing her pleasure in the open smile.

 After that night, they were no longer separated,

 They lived together without marriage for about a year, in Eli's house.

 In the hallway of that house, she posted photos of the officer, which she revered every morning before going to clean her love nest.

 He would prepare lunch to wait for his officer to be ready, since then there was dessert, that is, sex.

 One of those times, she got pregnant.

 - I don't want a son, said the officer.

 That same day, without thinking twice, she had a vaginal wash

 Sitting in the chair at the entrance to the hall, Elizabeth remained warm in front of the Officer's photo.

 - But I can't tell you what I really want, no, I can't tell you.

 - Why not ?, asked Doña Anastasia, who had come to visit her two weeks after what happened in the battalion, very well accompanied by the priest "to comfort our beloved sister."

 - Because I'm embarrassed to compare myself with the secretary. I don't reach his feet. I feel ugly, little girl next to him.

 - No one is small in the eyes of the Lord, said the priest.

 - And even more so if you don't want to be.

 - Then what do I do?

 - Don't hide anymore in that hallway. Go out, meet people, make friends, distract yourself. It is time that you really rebel who you are or who you can be.- Nidita said, sticking her spoon into the chat without being invited.

 - Pray the rosary, sister and you will see how the gates of heaven will open wide to shine the divine light.

 - It is that I am not more than a quiet and timid peasant who is not even capable of conserving what is his.

 - Then, ask the Lord, ask him, my daughter, to help you in this situation.

 - The truth is that it is time for you to change. Look, I've changed, and tell me: can't you change too? It is only for your good

 - Listen to your sister. She is right, Strengthen your soul with the pure prayer of the Most Holy Rosary, and you will see how all your problems will be solved.

 - Prayer helps, it's true.

 - You are absolutely right, but I cannot face this problem, am I afraid?

 - Your mental and emotional health. That is important, that you feel complete as soon as possible. You must do it, Nidita told him.

 - And who cleans it up in the hallway?

 - Perhaps, is your life not more important than that corridor that is not even from your house? Or that photo? Nidita replied, taking advantage of the moment to say "some little things".

 Eli was silent.

 He got up from the chair facing the corridor, I invite the priest and Doña Anastasia for a drink.

 It was hot.

 - Yes, it seems that you are right.

 - Arm yourself with the strength of prayer, Elicita- Dona Anastasia told him.

 - If you muster up your strength not to run away like you always did, like in the mine, in the parents' house, in that borrowed house

 - Well then, think about it, Elizabeth. We have to go, right Father?

 - yeah But first, I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit with this holy water, to purify and guide your life at all times.

 At that very moment, Nidita remembered that she had to collect money from the newspapers for the priest.

 "That Ernesto only asks me for impossible favors," he said to the priest, but looking at Dona Anastasia, "like charging the priest the money he owes from the newspapers I use for the festival."

 - Good afternoon, Don Cura, Ernesto sends me to pay me what he owes him from the Verbena newspapers.

 - Newspapers?

 - yeah Those of the verbena.

 - But how are you going to charge your Holiness? That is not done, atheist- Eli said to Nidita,

 - It is what I said to Ernesto, from the stall selling national and international magazines and newspapers, but that Ernesto does not understand.

 "Leave it, I'm going to pay it," Eli said, taking a rosary and three five-peso coins from his pocket.

 - May God bless you, my daughter, and may your home and your life be filled with blessings, for which you give one more your charity work - said the priest without the slightest intention of paying what he owed, because “the God's sacred work on earth is priceless. "

 It was always like that.

 Nidita received the coins. He would take them to Ernesto, who at this point would be eager to know if the priest had paid him

 When he was angry with what they said, true or not, she kept everything to herself.

 - It hurts what they tell me.

 - Then ask God for help, my daughter, and bring your cross to him, kneeling down and asking forgiveness for all your sins.

 - But- Nidita just arrived at the door of the temple where d- everything they tell you is not a lie. You identify with it.

 - It is the wrath of God on our sins, the priest continued, always very well held by holy water that was sprinkling the faithful with white carnations that the blessed took away.

 - So be it - stated Midita with her head down.

 - I thought you were a heretic, said the priest when he saw Nidita

 - And who told him that I am not?, Nidita left, laughing at her mischief.

 - That my sister is like that, soaring, please beg her to forgive her

 - We will pray incessantly for her,

 - Thank you, thank you very much, I don't know how to thank you - and Eli kissed the ring, like all the blessed women, when the officer's secretary came by the group, in dark kitty glasses, transparent black silk stockings - surely bought in some house of doom, Dona Bertita would say -that they covered absolutely nothing for being the very short miniskirt and the very deep neckline, showing the, let's say, abundance of physical attributes.

 Everyone stopped talking to see her go by, creating each other.

 The secretary greeted the priest, lowering her head.

 The priest greeted him with a cross in the air for her.

 When she crossed the street, they all looked at each other, but Eli, offended just by seeing the secretary, did not hold back:

 - They saw that? - and Eli foamed with rage.

 The priest looked at her condescending

 Dona Anastasia looked at her almost with regret.

 Dona Bertita did not look at her, as they will go with their eyes closed and a rosary in hand.

 Nidita, had stopped walking to see the scene. From afar, is it “can she resist the temptation not to cry for her lost love? is that Eli is so fragile, that she must be jealous up to her hair, she must be thinking that this secretary and all those women of the officers are very pretty and as always she must be comparing herself with the secretary, for der this curvy and also intelligent for holding on to the best Officer. Not that Eli does not deserve, but they really cannot be compared because in that case Eli loses because she is no longer a young girl.

 And she became an enemy of herself.