gonzalvo looked down on yeti and laughed. “so this is your hero, eh, clorinda?”
“yes, gonzalvo, this is indeed my hero, “ clorinda replied.
yeti sat up.
“how about it, fellow?” gonzalvo asked yeti. “are you a hero?”
although he was not sure where he was or who he was, yeti answered carefully, as was his nature.
“i would not describe myself that way, according to any definitions of hero that i know. you, however, might have some different definition, which i could conceivably answer to.”
gonzalvo laughed. “a politician! even worse, a philosopher.”
“let us dispense with generalities,” clorinda replied sharply. “and cut to the chase, and get down to business.” she turned her attention to yeti.
“tell me, my friend,” she asked, “why did you take the trouble to save me from the box in the truck? by taking the few seconds to do so you risked your own freedom”
“um - i do not know,” yeti told her. “it was just instinct, i guess.”
“why did you take the trouble to save her?” gonzalvo asked. “and none of the other unfortunate wretches trying to get out of their boxes?”
yeti thought for a few seconds. “i don’t know,” he repeated. “just instinct, i guess.”
gonzalvo smiled. “just instinct that you saved a good looking young girl and not some hairy legged slob of a man or an old woman with no teeth?”
yeti had no answer,. “i guess.”
“we are wasting time,” clorinda said. “do you have a name, my friend?” she asked yeti.
“yeti.”
“you hesitated. why, don’t you like your name?”
“it’s all right. i am used to it.”
“it is no name for a hero,” said gonzalvo. “if we are going to make a hero of you, you need a hero’s name. you do want to be a hero, do you not?”
“i am not sure.”
“of course you want to be a hero,” clorinda said. “it is your fate. no one can resist fate. let us be off - you can decide on a new name , if you like, on our way to the rally.”
“the rally?” yeti asked.
“yes, we are going to start a rally on the corner of universal street and forever way.”
gonzalvo produced a battered black hat and handed it to yeti. “put this on. it is a hat worthy of a hero.”
“should i pull it down over my eyes?” yeti asked.
“ha, ha! thinking like a conspirator already. no, that would be suspicious,” gonzalvo said, “just put it on top of your head like a citizen.”
and with that, gonzalvo blew out the oil lamp and clorinda took yeti by the hand and they left the little room and walked down a dark corridor went out into the street.
yeti was a little surprised to find the street deserted. there was no sign of the truck from which he and clorinda had escaped , and there were no people. “where is the rally?” he asked.
“wherever we decide to start it,” clorinda told him. “i think we should move a little closer downtown, “ she said to gonzalvo.
“there might be more soldiers and police there,” gonzalvo answered.
“there might be less,” said clorinda. “they might be at the perimeter of the city, to keep the peasants out.”
gonzalvo shrugged. “maybe. but if we have to, we have a better chance of escaping from the outskirts. what do you think, big guy?” he asked yeti.
“i don’t know anything about it. it is all the same to me.”
“i like that attitude. but you are still up for leading the revolution, right?”
“still?” yeti thought. he did not remember agreeing to lead any revolution.
but yeti was always easy to get along with, so he said, “sure. why not?”
