“Mea Culpa”
I don’t remember exactly who saved us from guilt
Regina showed up that afternoon and watched our game. My cousin and I invited her to play.. She was happy, but she played for a very short time because she was barefoot and kicked a rock. Her finger bled and it was an ugly wound. I wanted to help her, I wanted to call my mother, but she didn’t let me to, and she hobbled away.
The game was over. Next week, we were in the church, when I saw Regina. Our eyes met, I looked at her feet, remembering the wound. I saw that she had a piece of cloth wrapped around her barefoot. A few days later I heard my mother on the phone talking to my aunt. Regina was seriously sick from Tetanus.
I felt dizzy, I was terrified, like someone who committed a crime and fears being discovered. I looked for my cousin, he already knew it, he was afraid too. I think we even outlined some escape strategies. We thought we would be arrested.
I don’t remember exactly when we had to confess our crime and who saved us from guilt. What I do know was that Regina soon died, after suffering a lot from Tetanus. At that time there were no vaccines for tetanus.
I was not guilty, I knew, I know, but I felt guilty even so. As a punishment, I went through life with a damn fear of tetanus. I shouldn't have asked the girl to play with us, so she would have had a life, loved, had children, joy, and sadness, everything that is about life and not about death. She was just a girl, still too young to die.
I learned that guilt is one of the most difficult things in this life.
Mea culpa.
