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“That’s why you have to save Esperanza”
“I’m not sure I see the connection”
“She’s the only one who sees past this”
“Past what?”
She thought about that one for ayou think when you see me, Mr Bolitar?”
“I don’t know”
“People like to stare,” she said
“Hard to blame them, don’t you think?” Myron said “I mean, the way you dress and stuff”
She smiled “I’d rather see shock on their faces than pity,” she said “And I’d rather they see brazen or outrageous than shrinking or scared or sad Do you understand?”
“I think so”
“I’h of that”
Myron, unsure what to say, settled for a nod
“When I was nineteen, I started wrestling professionally And of course I was cast as a villain I sneered I made faces I cheated I hit opponents when they weren’t looking It was all an act, of course But that was my job”
Myron sat back and listened
“One night I was scheduled to fight Esperanza—Little Pocahontas, I should say It was the first time we’d met She was already the most beloved wrestler on the circuit Cute and pretty and ss that I’ym outside Scranton The script was the usual A back-and-forthTwice I was supposed to nearly have her pinned when the croould go wild and she’d start stath, and then everyone would start clapping in unison with her stoht?”
Myron nodded
“She was supposed to pin me with a backflip at the fifteen- her hands in victory, I was supposed to sneak up on her and whack her in the back with a ain it went perfectly She collapsed to the canvas The crowd gasped I, the Human Volcano—that’s what I was called then—raised s I sneered The announcers acted all concerned for poor Little Pocahontas They brought out the stretcher Again you’ve seen the same act a million times on cable”
He nodded again
“So there was another match or two, and then the croas ushered out I decided not to change until I got back to the irls It was dark, of course Nearly ht But some of the spectators were still out there They confrontedatsneer and flexed”—her voice caught—“and that hen a rock hit me square in the mouth”
Myron kept perfectly still