Muleros – Axel Görnebrand

April 3, 2026

As soon as the driver choked the engine of the bus, the guys dragged me outside and laid me down in the shade and started fanning me with newspapers.
        Isaac crouched down and handed me a bottle of water.
        “Drink.”
        I filled my mouth with water. I held it there for a moment. When it was time to swallow, I squeezed my eyes tight and jerked my head forward.
        “It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.” Jack had turned toward the small town.
        “We need to find a hotel”, Isaac said. “We need to get Elias to a bed.”
        “God, it’s hot,” Victor coughed.
        “Elias, can you walk?”
        “I can walk.”
        Victor and Isaac helped me up on my feet. I staggered behind them as we made our way toward the town.
        It didn’t take long to find a hotel. One of the first buildings on the main street was one and so was the one next to it.
        I leaned against the facade.
        “Isaac, give me the water bottle, will ya?”
        He gave me the bottle and I poured it over my head.
        “Let’s just go in here”, he said.
        I shuffled inside and I slumped down in a chair next to the door. I hung my head. The water was dripping from my face onto the floorboards. I sat there listening.
        “Necesitamos un par de habitaciones,” Isaac said.
        “¿Para cuántos?”
        “Una para cada uno.”
        “¿Qué le pasa?”
        “Está enfermo. Va al hospital mañana.”
        They helped me up to my room. I fell down on the bed. The last thing I remember after the lights were shut off was the braying of a donkey.

I woke up in the early morning. It took me a moment to realize where I was. The whole night I had been in and out of fever dreams.
        I was still in my clothes. I took my bag of medicine from the floor and I went outside.
        I walked along the cobblestone street. It was on a ledge. On my left, everything sloped downwards.
        I passed a house with smoke billowing from one of the windows. A girl, about five, leaned against the doorframe and watched me. Inside, beside a large kettle, a woman sat on a stool breastfeeding a baby.
        A stray dog came trotting along the street and started following me. As soon as he realized I didn’t carry any food in my bag, he made a turn into an alley.
        At the end of the street, there was a small plaza. A group of men with wide-brimmed hats stood around a corral, where a mule was prancing around, kicking dirt. A man, sitting on top of the fence, was repeating the biddings out loud. When I passed by, they became silent and they followed me with their eyes while their grins carved their faces open wide.
        Without paying them any attention, I turned right up towards a hill.
        Soon the cobblestones were replaced by reddened dirt.
        The hospital lay up ahead. Just a minute or two away.
        The sun was making its way over the hills. In a few hours, people would take cover from the heat inside their homes.
        I opened the glass door to the hospital and sat down in the waiting room. I was the only one there except for an elderly woman, sitting on a chair in the corner, crocheting.
        An old man in a doctor’s coat emerged from a treatment room. He leafed through a folder and then he looked up and stared at me quizzically. I got up from my seat and handed him my prescription. He took it and disappeared into another room.
        A few minutes later, a nurse appeared. She looked at me. I got up and followed her into one of the rooms.
        She took one of the syringes out of my plastic bag and she nodded towards me. I unbuttoned my belt and I pulled down my pants. Then I felt a prick in my left ass cheek, followed by a stiffening that moved towards my bone.
        I limped out of the hospital and headed back up the dirt road.
        When I came upon the plaza, I stopped in my tracks and looked at the corral. Another mule was there now. I stood there watching it and the men looked at me.
        “¿Quieres comprar una mula?” one of them laughed.
        “Tal vez”, I grinned.
        I went up to the corral.
        “¿Cuánto cuesta?”
        “7000 pesos”, the man sitting on the fence grinned. “Es una buena mula. No es vieja. No es mañosa.”
        “Con esa vas a ser buen mulero,” another man laughed.
        “No tiene nada de malo ser mulero, ¿no?”
        “Para nada, para nada.”
        I pictured myself riding it out of town. It didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
        “Voy a conseguir el dinero, ¿sale? Voy a comprar esa mula.”
        “Claro, aquí te esperamos.”
        As I walked on, their laughter followed me down the street.
        The mule was laughing too.