Mauritius swallowed saliva.
The crowd had completely changed.
The same people who minutes before asked someone to check their pockets now avoided looking at it directly.
Some saved the phones.
A woman who had said she had probably stolen the jewel took her hand to her chest.
Mauritius observed around him.
I knew that phenomenon.
A person’s appearance could become a sentence without judgment.
The old shirt.
Long hair.
The sack with bottles.
People completed the rest of the story without asking.
“I didn’t do anything special,” Mauricio said.
Patricia stared at him.
“For a mother, staying all night with her lost son is something very special.
Anyone would have done it.
"No.
The answer came out of Patricia with a firmness that silenced everyone.
—Not any.
Mauricio didn't know what to say.
Patricia held the pendant against her chest.
Where does he live?
He pointed vaguely to the other side of the avenue.
I’m moving from one place to another.
Do you have family?
Mauritius was slow to respond.
“I had it.
Patricia perceived in her voice that there was a bigger story behind those two words.
He didn't ask there.
Not in front of everyone.
He simply said:
I want you to meet Emiliano.
Maurice gently denied.
“You don’t need to.
“For you maybe not.
Patricia took a deep breath.
“For him, yes.
Two days later, Mauricio was sitting in a small independent cafe near a neighborhood plaza.
She had agreed to go alone after Patricia promised that there would be no journalists or cameras.
He had shaved a little.
He was wearing a clean shirt that had been loaned by a shelter worker.
He kept moving his hands.
The door opened.
A seventeen-year-old entered.
Mauricio recognized it by the eyes.
Emiliano stood several meters away.
For a few seconds, no one spoke.
Then the boy walked towards him.
“You’re Mauritius?”
Mauricio nodded.
Emiliano hugged him.
It was not a brief hug.
Mauritius was left rigid at first.
Then he raised his arms slowly.
It had been years since someone hugged him that way.
“I could never thank you,” Emiliano said.
Mauritius closed his eyes.
For a moment he saw Camila running towards him when he arrived from work.
He had to look away.
