La Disparition

I dream of you my brother,

and in my dreams I talk to you.

In my dreams I see you, not here but in other places,

not in this tomb where I buried you.

You died a long time ago.

You loved me, my brother.

I’d like to be buried next to you.

In my dream, we were walking together through the jungle.

We were hunting animals with a blowpipe.

I too will join you, my brother.

But no one will come and see me when I’m dead.

A small bottle of liquor.

Breathe deeply through your mouth, as if you were breathless.

As if you were in the jungle.

Yes, like this.

I have a lot of pus in my eye, miss.

- You have pus in your eyes in the morning? - Yes.

- It stings too? - Yes.

It feels like sand or dust, does it?

When I look at people, it seems I see fireflies.

Small fireflies, here and there.

I can’t see very well.

Anything else Amadeo?

At night I have backache, miss.

And I have pains in my hips.

It hurts when you walk or while sitting?

Both.

You have small sores here, Amadeo.

On these toes.

- It doesn’t hurt when I touch? - No, miss.

- Nowhere? - No.

- Are they stiff in the morning or in the evening? - No.

- You always walk with boots or…? - With boots.

- No other shoes? - No.

And what about this sore?

- I fell. - From high up?

- No, I just slipped. - You slipped?

- And nobody helped you? - No, miss.

You spend a lot of time alone in the jungle. You must come here more often.

- This little toe hurts. - This one?

No, the last one.

- It hurts if I move it up? - No.

- And if I move it down? - No.

- Only when I press? - Yes.

Will you come to the Medical Center more often to be looked after?

- Will you? - Yes.

Will you go less into the jungle?

Yes, miss.

You must stay here, in Intuto.

If anything happens to you in the jungle, who will help you?

There’s no one to help you in the jungle. Ok Amadeo?

Same when you go fishing, you mustn’t go alone.

At you age you must have company.

You must stay in town more. You agree Amadeo?

And every time you’re in pain, come to the Medical Center for a check up.

Agreed?

Yes, miss.

Animals, I’m talking to you,

those who live high up in the trees.

To the Choro monkey who moves around the treetops.

And to the Backisapa monkey,

who also lives high up in these trees.

I’m going to hunt a monkey with a blowpipe to feed myself.

Like the ones I used to eat, with my brother,

when we lived in the jungle.

Let’s have another drink.

Ok, go on.

There weren’t any dogs.

In my grandparents’ days,

we had birds, monkeys, peccarys, tapirs.

Everything but jaguars.

In those days jaguars would eat people.

One of my brothers was eaten alive by a jaguar,

while sleeping in the jungle.

The jaguar ate him.

All that’s over now.

There are a few left, but now they're far away.

Amadeo, were the oil companies over there?

The workers went…

as far as my father’s hunting ground.

Just below Trompeteros.

You see? Towards Bolonesi.

Did the pipeline go through there?

Yes, it did.

Near Huangana, my brother.

No, it went through…

Through the village of Bolonesi.

So it must have gone through the Ahuaruna?

No, it didn’t.

The pipeline went through the hills of the Ahuaruna, across the Aucayacu,

as far as Bolonesi.

And it ended towards Pucacuro.

They don’t drink water from the river anymore.

They get the water…

The water that drops on the treetop leaves.

That’s how the animals drink.