Hector’s face flushed red with shame; the shame that a man feels when he knows that he has been cuckolded by his wife; the shame a man feels when he is aware that everyone around him also knows; the shame a man feels when he realizes that he had been blind to the true intentions of his friend.
A burning anger accompanied that flush of shame on its march from his belly to his face and, without even knowing what he was doing, Hector reached out and picked up the hoe that he had previously discarded on the ground. He did not think about why he had picked up that instrument. His mind was empty of thought and his heart devoid of feeling. He did not see the rays of sun that streaked down from the sky and alit upon his shoulders. Although, he did not see that light, he felt the heat; but the heat he felt did not emanate from those rays, rather they came from deep within him. Nor did he consider what he was doing as he quickened his pace toward . . . the other man. His body moved forward of its own volition and without his command. In his mind’s eye, Hector sat far away watching the events unfold and wondered what he was doing.
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