Eternal Splendor - XI

Part 1

Rise and fall

"A mix of Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu is quite effective in combating. After a morning in my father's business, I go to three gyms, for fitness, for Muay Thai, for BJJ."

A classmate of Virginia Sandy Hutchison and Ezekiel Thelonius, Kevin White, wanted to start a career as a mixed martial arts fighter.

"I am sorry that you have given up your studies. But I see you are level-headed and very busy. I'm glad about that," said Hidalgo.

"In six months there will be my first official fight: My initiation."

A couple of weeks before the combat, Kevin was in a supermarket near his home when two robbers entered the supermarket. Two very frightened elderly customers were trying, trembling, not to attract the robbers' attention. The fearful boy at the cashier's desk was already ready to give the takings. Kevin, from the refrigerator section, confidently launched himself toward one of the scoundrels. Unfortunately, he had a gun and tried to shoot Kevin. For some reason, the gunshot did not go off, and Kevin was able to hit the boy with a kick. The other boy, in a daze, pulled out a knife and wounded Kevin in the leg. Kevin fell to the ground in pain, but the two thieves with empty hands escaped.

Goodbye combat. With twenty stitches in his thigh, it was impossible to fight. However, it was election time and there was a lot of talk about him in the local media. They asked him to run for the state lower house. He was elected without much trouble and became a member of the lower house. Among many, his former teachers Metis, Hidalgo and Zygastus also wrote him a congratulatory message.

Two more senior members of the lower house and a state senator invited him to join their club. It was an inner circle of thirty people, local politicians and businessmen. They took great care to keep all conversations made in the club confidential. On his first night at the club, they explained to him, amid solemnity and drunkenness, the rules of the club. He had to drink an inordinate amount of liquor and then they forced him to dive, in his fancy suit, into the pool.

Kevin began to see Senator Wollam as a reference point. During that playful initiation ritual at the club Kevin, coming out of the pool with his clothes soaked, peered at Senator Wollam. Their gazes met, and the senator nodded his head. Senator Wollam knew almost nothing about Spanish and South American literature, such as Hidalgo, but he always had a ready joke about Nicaragua, Panama, Chile and so on and so on. The senator's mansion had a swimming pool, a big gate and three garages. It was the most beautiful mansion in the county. It was for Kevin White the most beautiful mansion in the world.

Kevin White, Senator Wollam's most promising epigone, was learning to have a joke ready for any kind of conversation. Kevin White understood that to be the center of attention one had to speak light, feeble, and subtle thoughts. Kevin had to know that the best caviar was from albino sturgeon and that to be a person worthy of not dying in war, you needed to know how to peel oranges and apples with a fork and knife.

One evening Senator Wollam took Kevin White and some of the club out of state to the mansion of an acquaintance of his. A lot was going on in that place, and Kevin couldn't figure it all out, partly because of a few glasses of liquor. He understood that something was happening in the basement. When he got there he saw many people around a cage in which two dogs were fighting. The viciousness, which left him appalled, was that the losing dog was thrown out of the cage like a sack. Only a small cockerel out of a poorly closed cage approaches the injured dog. Kevin White notices that there were also cages for fighting roosters in the basement.

"Dog Spitfire and chicken John, the two underdogs of the evening," snickered one near Kevin.

Kevin, dazed with alcohol, drank another glass, grabbed the dog and chicken, and fled the mansion. Climbing over the high railing, he tore his pants and jacket; he continued running in his underwear. The next day Kevin White felt very guilty about stealing the dog Spitfire and the rooster John, not knowing how little the owner of the mansion and his fellow players were interested in the two animals. The two animals were obviously hungry, so he went to a supermarket to buy them something. It was hard to go unnoticed with a dog and a chicken in tow.

The next day, police discovered that the dog Spitfire was utilized by drug dealers to transport drugs from one airport to another. From Senator Wollam's acquaintance, who was only questioned but not involved in the investigation, the police understood that the dog was in companionship with the chicken John, and they were quickly able to figure out that the two animals were with Kevin White. When the police arrived at Kevin's house, the latter thought that the police wanted to take back the stolen animals. As the two policemen approached the door, Kevin picked up the phone to call Senator Wollam who would surely help him. The gesture of the phone call did not please the two policemen, suspicious because of Kevin's strange abduction of the animals, who ran to the door and shouted to be opened. The dog Spitfire, unnerved by the shouting, jumped on a policeman as soon as Kevin opened the door. The other policeman, frightened, drew his gun and pointed it at the dog. On instinct, Kevin kicked the policeman's hand and disarmed him. The policeman attacked by thedog Spitfire got back up and elbowed, kneed, and kicked Kevin high. The policeman was imposing, and Kevin had no chance against him. Kevin then, throwing himself to the ground, caught one of the policeman's legs with his legs, causing him to lose his balance. In the process, Kevin grabbed the policeman's foot with his hands, twisting his ankle as much as he could. The Spitfire dog jumped on the policeman's belly, while the chicken John, in the confusion, bit the other policeman's nose with the full force of its beak.