White Squad

The two laugh in restrained emotion, leaving the waiter confused. At the end of the room, a gray-haired man gives Roberta a wink, and she despises him ofthe bat. The man realizes his failure but, not a bit shy, throws himself at another victim, a professional sitting at the barman's counter. The woman in a dress glued to the bluish black skin removes her leopard bag from the seat next to her, facilitating his approach.

Rosa approaches a nurse in the middle of a tumultuous corridor crowded with white coats. Her heart goes to her stomach and comes back in a spasm of fear. The employee is in a hurry, but is obliged to attend to her. Lucia is impatient, after all, it is not the task of a head nurse.

– I'm looking for a guy who came in last night, named Gilberto, he was shot.

– A boy named Gil arrived, he is in the infirmary.

– But a shot patient in the infirmary, why?

– Miss, the ICU was full, we only have twenty-six beds. The doctor is examining him now. Are you a relative?

– No, a friend of his. – disguises Rosa.

– Oh, ok, no one has come yet, could you tell the relatives? The emergency phone is this one, call later to get patient information! But for visits, relatives only.

– Was he operated on? Is he reacting? Where was the shot? Is he in any risk of his life? Nurse, Gilberto is like my brother. Please be human, at least that.

– I can only guarantee what's on the file.

Rosa gives up and finds Roberta at the elevator door. They exchange few phrases, pressed by other passengers.

– I need a favor, my friend Junior has no one and if you can give me news, call me, my phone is ...

People are in a hurry. The elevator doors close and take her hope away.

"So... Humanity is worth nothing but a sewer of cruelty and human remains ”, Rosa remembers a verse from her bedside book that fits like a glove.