The warden pushes Marcos forcefully, causing him to fall to the ground, but he manages to break the fall with his hands. They’re scraped and stinging, but what hurts more is his helplessness. The man points the knife at him and, with chilling coldness, says:
“If I see you around here again, I’ll kill you.”
They’re at the edge of the village, and Marcos feels powerless. He knows he has to do something, but he doesn’t have the courage to confront such a burly man. Marcos has never known how to fight. Violence terrifies him; it paralyzes him. He slowly gets up under the predatory gaze of the warden. He walks away. As he walks, he notices that his knees are also scraped from the fall and they sting. He keeps walking. Finally, when he’s a good distance away, he approaches a barbed wire fence near the path. He opens his backpack and takes out a bundle of cloth; it’s two rags: one black and one white. He takes the black one and puts it back in the bag; he takes the white one and ties it to the fence. He walks away.
