THE FOLDED STRAP

Nael tied his reinforced sandal and tested his body's weight against the doorframe of the bar. Valdo was waiting in the yard, standing before the blue band the licensed polygon let rise from the ground when the afternoon lost its light. The two refused boxes were leaning against the counter. The seed was still under the bowl. Let's go before it closes, said Valdo. The service route passed between Antônio's house and the ground where they used to play football. Nael had run there after a ball full of earth, when the bank still received rain without asking for authorisation. Now a line of sensors followed the old marking of the pitch, mounted on thin rods, and the earth beneath them stayed smooth, swept by the maintenance machines. Valdo brought his face close to the blue arc. The licensed polygon opened over his skin a reading of delivery closed and another of return pending. The rented reservoir still bound him to the company for twenty days. The surface asked for the destination. The lower bend, he said. The line did not move. Nael came closer. The light found the old skin of dust on his ankles, then climbed his trouser leg. He knew that cut in the ground from before there was a fence, when he guided the surveys by hollow stones and was paid by the metre. The first machine he led into the valley got stuck near there. He spent two days teaching younger men to wedge the wheels with dry branches. Put me on the route, he said. Valdo looked at him. If I go in alone, you show what you want to show and then say I didn't understand. The licensed polygon opened a second request. Inclusion of companion. Nael's body would need to stay linked to the load that had already been delivered. If he left by the other side, responsibility for the return would belong to both. Valdo read to the end. In the smaller band, almost faded, the new transport price appeared. The rental company had recalculated the supply routes. The heavy mineral had tied up ships and refineries in negotiations no one in the valley could touch, but the bill arrived there, in the body of whoever carried boxes through a ditch. Each kilometre off the main route would cost another fraction of credit. The fraction grew with every hour of waiting. You want to charge me to keep what you promised, said Nael. I want not to lose the vehicle before fetching Antônio. Nael ran his hand over the wood of the door. The bar had a deep gouge at the height where Antônio set down his glass when he needed to listen to his son's message. He stayed a while looking at that hollow. You take me as far as the bend, he said. The way back is on me. What's on you. The whole way. Valdo pursed his mouth. The blue line remained between the two of them, waiting for the confirmation that would authorise a man to cross a land he had helped to sell. On the other side you don't give me orders, said Valdo. I never did. The sentence brought back the afternoon of the delivery, the wall of earth, the stakes eaten by rust. Valdo opened his palm by the sensor. The licensed polygon read his veins, asked for Nael's face and projected two profile shadows onto the ground. Nael brought his face close without lowering his eyes. The authorisation lasted the time of a breath. The band opened. They went in. On the other side, the earth had been scraped down to the yellow layer. The old path ran under a cover of compacted dust, narrow between empty gullies. Valdo carried only the reservoir strap, folded in his hand. Nael went slowly, but did not ask for a rest. Every few steps, he pointed to something that no longer existed whole. There was a spring there. There a murici bush. There the ground gave way when it rained two days running. You got the route wrong on purpose, said Valdo. Nael stopped in front of a crooked post, almost hidden by a retaining plate. Nael scratched the dust with the tip of his sandal. Valdo let out a short laugh. The tracking camera at the top of the post lowered its focus to their mouths. So I'd bring Antônio. So you wouldn't carry boxes up over a buried house. Valdo kept looking at the gully. At the bottom was a film of rust coloured water, still among pequi leaves. He touched the screen fixed to his wrist. The waiting charge had risen once more. If he kept Nael linked to the route after dark, he would lose transport priority when Antônio reappeared on the road panel. You leave now, he said. Nael looked towards the lower bend. There's still one more. You show me from the fence. Valdo went back to the blue band. He put his palm to the reader and requested separation of companion. The licensed polygon replied that Nael's exit would return him to the condition of a body without authorised transit. To enter again, he would need a new route or another person willing to share the charge. Nael crossed without arguing. The light closed behind him, thin as a knife's scratch in the dust. Valdo stayed on the inside, with the folded strap in his hand and the lower bend opening ahead, where a leafless buriti held up at its top a single green strip.