The Wind That Lays Waste. Selva Almada

      The wind brings the thirst of all these years.

      The wind brings every winter’s hunger.

      The wind brings the clamour of the ravines, the clamour of

      the fields and the desert.

      The wind brings the cries of women and men fed up with

      the crumbs from the bosses’ table.

      The wind comes with the force of a new era.

      The wind roars, and twisters go whirling over the earth.

      We are the wind and the fire that will lay waste to the

      world with the love of Christ.

      The mechanic coughed and spat out a gob of phlegm.

      ‘My lungs are shot,’ he said, wiping his mouth with his hand and bending down again under the open hood.

      The owner of the car mopped his brow with a handkerchief and bent down too so their heads were side by side. He adjusted his wire-rimmed spectacles and contemplated the jumble of hot metal parts. Then he looked at the mechanic inquiringly.

      ‘Can you fix it?’

      ‘I reckon so.’

      ‘How long will it take?’

      The mechanic straightened up – he was almost a foot taller – and looked at the sky. It was getting on for midday.

      ‘End of the afternoon, I reckon.’

      ‘We’ll have to wait here.’

      ‘If you like. It’s all pretty basic here, as you can see.’

      ‘We’d rather wait. Maybe you’ll be done early, with God’s help.’

      The mechanic shrugged and took a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. He offered one to the car’s owner.

      ‘No, no, I quit years ago, thank God. If you don’t mind me saying so, you should too…’

      ‘The soda machine isn’t working, but there should be some cans in the fridge, if you’re thirsty.’

      ‘Thanks.’

      ‘Tell the young lady to get out of the car. She’s going to roast in there.’

      ‘What was your name?’

      ‘Brauer. El Gringo Brauer. And that’s Tapioca, my assistant.’

      ‘I’m Reverend Pearson.’

      They shook hands.

      ‘I’ve got a few things to do before I can start work on your car.’

      ‘Go ahead, please. Don’t mind us. God bless you.’

      The Reverend went around to the back of the car where his daughter, Leni, was sulking in the tiny space left by the boxes full of Bibles and the piles of magazines on the seats and the floor. He tapped on the window. Leni looked at him through the dusty glass. He tried the handle, but she had locked the door. He gestured to tell her to wind the window down. She lowered it an inch or two.

      ‘It’s going to take a while to fix. Get out, Leni. We’ll have a cool drink.’

      ‘I’m fine here.’

      ‘It’s very hot, sweetheart. You’re going to get heat stroke.’

      Leni wound up the window again.

      The Reverend opened the passenger door, reached in to unlock the back door, and pulled it open.

      ‘Elena, get out.’

      He held onto the door until she obeyed. And as soon as she was out of the way, he slammed it shut.

      The girl rearranged her skirt, which was sticky with sweat, and looked at the mechanic, who acknowledged her with a nod. A boy who must have been about her age, sixteen, was watching them, wide-eyed.

      Her father introduced the older man as Mr Brauer. He was very tall, with a red moustache like a horseshoe that came down almost to his chin; he was wearing a pair of oily jeans and a shirt that was open, exposing his chest, but tucked in. He would have been over fifty, but there was something youthful about him; it must have been the moustache and the long hair, hanging down to his collar. The boy was wearing old jeans too, patched but clean, and a faded T-shirt and sandals. His straight, jet-black hair had been neatly cut, and he looked like he hadn’t started shaving. Both of them were thin, but they had the sinewy bodies of those accustomed to the use of brute force.

      Fifty yards away stood the makeshift building that served as petrol station, garage, and home: a single room of bare bricks beyond the old pump, with one door and one window. In front of it, at an angle, a kind of porch, with an awning made of branches and reeds, which shaded a small table, a stack of plastic chairs and the soda machine. A dog was sleeping in the dirt under the table. When it heard them approach, it opened one yellow eye and swished its tail on the ground without getting up.

      ‘Give them something to drink,’ said Brauer to the boy, who took two chairs from the stack and wiped them with a rag so that they could sit down.

      ‘What do you want, sweetheart?’

      ‘A Coke.’

      ‘A glass of water’s fine for me. The biggest one you have, son,’ said the Reverend as he sat down.

      The boy stepped through the curtain of plastic strips and disappeared inside.

      ‘The car will be ready by the end of the afternoon, God willing,’ said the Reverend, mopping his brow again.

      ‘And if He’s not willing?’ Leni replied, putting on the earphones of the Walkman that was permanently attached to her belt. She hit Play, and her head filled with music.

      A big heap of scrap reared beside