It was a huge prison, they said. You could not see the walls, but it was certainly a prison. The huge walls were so far away that they couldn’t be seen from the pavilions. However, the walls did indeed exist because those trying to escape would fall with a dry thump after a shot.
Maya woke up and poked Eduardo on the nose. The pavilions were nothing but an apartment complex. While he rolled over in bed, too lazy to get up, she brewed what little coffee they had and cut two slices of bread, and spread a thin layer of butter.
They had breakfast as she danced around their tiny apartment getting ready for the full day. While Maya spent her days inside the factory doing quality control, Eduardo worked as a mechanic. It was him who heard it first.
‘I’ve heard we can be free! We can get away from this prison.’
‘I don’t think our condominium is a prison, it could be better, but it isn’t a prison.’ Eduardo tried to justify to his coworker while trying to fit his massive belly under a car.
His coworker was part of a small and noisy sect inside their tiny village. Nobody really cared about them, talking about freedom outside the walls. It was them who came up with the wall theory. People laughed, the condominium could be worse, could be better, but it was ok.
The elderly still remembered the time when food wasn’t plentiful. But the memories died with them. Not that the young had never heard about it, but they had never gone hungry themselves; their stomachs had never felt the pain.
‘What do you think about freedom outside of these walls?’ Eduardo asked Maya, who was almost asleep.
‘What walls? Go back to sleep…’ Maya kissed him, snuggling against his body. ‘Babe… aren’t we happy?’
‘We are.’
But Eduardo wasn’t completely happy. He wished his apartment was bigger and that he had the money to fill Maya’s chest with silicone. His car wasn’t as shiny as his supervisor’s. Life outside of the walls would be different. In a free world, he would have all the money and power to have everything he wanted; this was enough to try to achieve it.
‘Hey, Jacob, what about the walls?’ he asked during their coffee break.
‘The walls that delimit our condominium are very far away. They are made of stone and emerald. But we found a way to get past them!’ Jacob stopped for a moment, waiting for Eduardo to ask him why, but Eduardo stared back with a dumb face and his mouth open waiting for him to finish. ‘It is a full dish…’
‘Of what?’ Eduardo lost his patience.
‘Of shit.’ Jacob took a deep breath when Eduardo spilled his coffee on his blue overalls. ‘Hear me out, they won’t let anybody pass, these people are sadists. If we want freedom, we have to eat shit first.’
‘I would never! Keep that freedom to yourself!’ But deep down, despite the full dish of shit, Eduardo was curious.
He spent the next weeks thinking about freedom. Maya had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was frizzy. She was working too much and their home was neglected. He had a small beer before dinner while he waited for Maya to cook for them.
‘Have you ever thought about freedom?’
‘No, only about another day off.’ Maya laughed.
‘Jacob is leaving for the wall; we could go too. We would be free from contracts; we would be free from everything that has been chaining us. What do you think?’
‘I’ll be promoted when Shelby leaves, she’s retiring in two years. I am not going anywhere!’
‘But when we are free, you could have your own company.’
‘I could have my own company now, Eduardo, are you ok? The wall is a myth. What is it made of anyways? When I was a kid, it was ruby and stone,’ Maya laughed but stopped when she saw Eduardo’s demeanor change.
‘Emerald and stones, Maya.’ Eduardo sulked while chewing the soggy pasta Maya had prepared.
He would not let Maya’s lack of faith stop him from achieving freedom. Jacob had a small group lined up to go into the forest in search of the wall and, with luck, get to the other side. The day was easy to choose.
They waited for a nice spring day, the wind was blowing petals and pollen, and Jacob, Eduardo, and two others each carried a small backpack with them. Eduardo left a heartfelt letter to Maya.
You were a good wife, but I deserve better. I deserve someone who seeks freedom. So long and thanks for all the soggy pasta.
Eduardo, your ex.
The petals covered their tracks, but Eduardo didn’t understand why nobody followed them into the woods. They had orange clothes and boots up to their ankles and a hat. They spent three days walking until they finally saw the wall.
After days of walking, they were tired and dirty. The streams were cold but they were promised a waterfall behind the wall. Jacob knew about it, he had heard the rumors. At first glance, the wall rose so high that not even the birds dared to cross to the other side.
‘Where are the emerald pieces?’ Eduardo asked, touching the stones heated by the sun and the concrete.
‘Inside, maybe. I don’t know!’ Jacob defended himself. ‘But the wall is here!’
Indeed, the wall was massive and thick. They walked into the sun, Jacob in front and the others behind trying to find the passage to freedom. It was already evening when they reached a large wooden door that could easily fit a giraffe wearing a tall hat. Eduardo heard his belly grumble and he chuckled.
The group decided to have dinner and pass the gate with a full stomach. They wanted to wash away all the tyranny of their condominium in the waterfall. With their last pieces of cured meat, canned beans, and cheese, they made a quick meal. Jacob could not contain himself; they chit-chatted about the women waiting on the other side and how the houses would be more spacious and how fuel would be so cheap.
‘I say we sleep and leave tomorrow,’ Eduardo said, already making himself cozy between the roots of a tree.
‘We are leaving now! Right? We are doing it now. C’mon!’ Jacob looked at the other two who shrugged. ‘C’mon guys!’
‘Hmm alright.’ Eduardo grumbled, getting up as they all walked towards the door.
Beside the door there were two small cabins with two guards in each. The group observed the surprised guards with their heads poking through the windows. But before they could even mutter a word, Jacob stepped forward and announced exhaling all the air from his lungs.
‘We want out!’
The guards looked at one another. The one with a blue band on his arm, seemingly the leader, called all the others into one cabin and closed the windows and the door. They laughed a little and when they composed themselves, they opened the door.
‘You can leave whenever you want, but first you need to eat a full dish. You are four, we are four. Each one will wait their turn to eat their full dish. Two of us are ready’, he said, tapping his belly.
‘Is this really necessary? We can just run through the door.’
‘And you think your freedom doesn’t have a price?’ The leader of the guards tried to keep his face straight, but he smirked out of the corner of his mouth at his companions.
The four men looked at each other and instead of discussing it further, Jacob was the first to volunteer. ‘We came here for a reason, I can always brush my teeth after, right?’
Eduardo and the other two agreed. The first guard lowered his pants and produced the first dish. It was large and barely fit the plate. Eduardo threw up at the sight of Jacob touching it, scooping up a small piece and while pinching his nose with one hand, bringing the warm shit to his mouth with the other.
‘It isn’t so bad…’ Jacob smiled before putting another chunk of bitter shit into his mouth. The guards watched with a grin, but the travelers stood frozen, absorbed by the sight of Jacob finishing a full dish.
‘If you puke, you’ll have to eat it again.’ The leader reminded Jacob, who had tears in his eyes. When he finished, the guards opened a tiny door within the door and kicked Jacob into the unknown.
In the meantime, a second guard produced another key to the freedom door. Another traveler, wearing orange, dug into the dish. His strategy was different: the turd glided whole into his mouth and soon he too was kicked through the door.
‘What about us?’ Eduardo looked at the empty dish.
‘We’ll let you know when we are ready.’
The two remaining travelers found themselves a corner to sleep in, and they woke up only when the sun kissed their faces.
‘Time for breakfast!’ The guard had another dish ready on the floor and pointed to Eduardo’s companion. He ate crying, repeating to himself at short intervals it was for the greater good. He tried to clean his fingers and spit the rest out, but he still felt the bitterness in his mouth. And before he could get up, two guards lifted him and threw him through the door.
‘Still eating for your freedom?’ The leader asked.
‘Yes, sir.’ Eduardo was alone now and the last guard produced his masterpiece. He saw himself with the biggest dish of the four. He looked at it.
‘I’ve heard it’s better to eat while it’s warm.’ the guard leader said and the other three guards laughed from inside their cabins.
‘Maybe it’s only as bad as soggy pasta, right?’ Eduardo said, more to himself than to answer the guard, and brought it to his mouth. It was like eating soil cakes, except it was bitter and from someone’s asshole, but it wasn’t so bad. He cried, however, when his body began heaving. He knew the rule: puking would mean eating it again. He swallowed the swarm of acid and shit rising from his stomach and continued to eat until his plate was clean.
‘Well, goodbye then.’ The guard pushed Eduardo’s body through the door and the others laughed. Eduardo could still hear them laughing behind the walls.
Eduardo’s eyes then scanned the land outside of the walls. Instead of lush green vegetation he found a wasteland with no grass or buildings. ‘Have you found the waterfall?’ he muttered to Jacob and the other two who were sitting in a corner. Jacob pointed at a small fountain with the saying ‘shit eaters.’
Before doing anything else, Eduardo washed his mouth and tongue and then allowed himself to panic. ‘Have you tried asking to return?’
Jacob, with swollen bloodshot eyes, pointed at the other sign that read ‘enjoy freedom’.
‘We are free.’ Jacob’s voice trembled pointing at the skeletons scattered around.
Eduardo thought that, at least, his stomach was full.
