Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions

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Valeria Luiselli. Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

I. BORDER

II. COURT

III. HOME

IV. COMMUNITY

CODA (Eight Brief Postscripta)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

SOURCES

About the Authors

About the Publisher

Отрывок из книги

Cover

Title Page

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Thousands have died or been gravely injured aboard La Bestia, either because of the frequent derailments of the old freight trains or because people fall off during the night. The most minor oversight can be fatal. Some compare La Bestia to a demon, others to a kind of vacuum that sucks distracted riders down into its metal entrails. And when the train itself is not the threat, it’s the smugglers, thieves, policemen, or soldiers who frequently threaten, blackmail, or attack the people on board. There is a saying about La Bestia: Go in alive, come out a mummy.

But, despite the dangers, people continue to take the risk. Children certainly take the risk. Children do what their stomachs tell them to do. They don’t think twice when they have to chase a moving train. They run along with it, reach for any metal bar at hand, and fling themselves toward whichever half-stable surface they may land on. Children chase after life, even if that chase might end up killing them. Children run and flee. They have an instinct for survival, perhaps, that allows them to endure almost anything just to make it to the other side of horror, whatever may be waiting there for them.

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