The Red Sea Parted

The Red Sea Parted  

AM120514

The mob scuffled their feet in

the dirt as if they had been forced

to wait an extra half hour before

lunch was being served, schoolboys

resorting to punching each other

in the arm to pass the time.

Old, decrepit, wrinkled women

lay in wait, having all their erotic allure

hidden in bottles of Sprite, Fanta and

Coca-Cola, once the game was over

they offered beer.

Smoke lay thick from the asados; embers

burning and blowing in the wind,

miles and miles of linked sausage

and huge slabs of various parts

of a steer lay sizzling on metal, dripping 

fat and calling out to our

olfactory-induced urges.

Soon the mob began to form a line

from a signal I was unable to perceive,

firecrackers in the distance signaled

something was about to begin.

The lines formed but all was not

well, leering eyes, greedy with the

prospect of crumpled bills stuffed

in pockets hastily,

followed by last-minute discarding

of rings and bracelets,

the lines moved, terribly they moved,

we, like lambs being led to the slaughter

could do nothing more than follow

blindly, bleating would have been a 

mistake as it would have just singled 

us out.

A line of riot police walked slowly

by, shields and clubs at the ready,

faces withdrawn but I could only

feel their hope that we would make one

small mistake and they would receive

the green light to smash our heads.

The 'friend' with the beady eyes and

the hooked nose appeared from nowhere

and handed us fake ID cards,

while quickly pocketing our pesos

we had discreetly handed him.

As if by magic we followed him into 

the stadium, he could have parted 

the Red Sea for us, his semitic looks

adding to my own vision of Moses.

Up so many stairs we arrived at a massive

height in the midst of so many smells,

marijuana, tobacco, urine and chorizos

mixed with body odor, bad breath

and so much adrenaline and testosterone,

too much.

We sat, packed like sardines and awaited

the outcome, after much fanfare the game

had begun,

One hour and a half later,

Boca 0 - Velez Sarsfield 0 .