Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras

Atys finally realized that games were not in themselves a solution but simply an endless deferral of the moment of truth. So he made a decision. He divided the Lydian people into two groups by drawing lots. (Games of chance had become an addiction.) One group was to leave the kingdom and the other to remain with him. Atys was to be king of those chosen to stay in Lydia, and placed his son Tyrrhenus at the head of those who were to leave.
    Tyrrhenus and his people travelled to Smyrna where they built ships and put out to sea. In time, they were to find new homes where they would prosper. Those who stayed behind in Lydia were conquered by the Persians and enslaved.

27
WE FIND A DEAD BODY
    The next day, when me and the Midget were finally allowed to go down to the swimming pool, we found someone had got there before us. Floating among the leaves, stiff as a board, was a huge toad.
    â€˜I’m not going in there anymore,’ said the Midget.
    I used the net to fish out the toad. It was dead, its feet splayed, ready to be put on the barbecue.
    Toads are vile, horrid creatures. Consider their beady eyes, cruel and black as obsidian. Consider their cold, clammy skin covered with ridges and pustules, the webbing between their toes, the almost human agility of their back legs …
    â€˜Once upon a time we were just like that toad,’ I said.
    â€˜Don’t start …’ said the Midget.
    â€˜No, it’s true, thousands of years ago. We lived in the ocean and we crawled out to try our luck on land. First we stuck our heads out, then we crawled out and lay on the beach for a while.’
    â€˜I’m telling mamá.’
    â€˜Some species stayed in the water and they’re still aquatic, some got used to both and they became amphibians, like toads, who spend half their time in the water and the other half on land. If they stay in one place for too long, they die, like this one.’

    â€˜Can a toad drown?’
    â€˜This one obviously saw the pool and jumped in thinking it was a pond or a lake and then he realized he was stuck. Ponds and lakes have a bank, so you can go in gradually and get out gradually. Swimming pools are different – either you’re in or you’re out. And toads don’t know how to use ladders.’
    â€˜We have to bury him.’
    â€˜You’re right.’
    â€˜But first we have to hold a wake for him. Grandma Matilde says the wake is the most important part.’
    â€˜She only says that because she likes parties.’
    â€˜
Abuela
says you have a wake for someone to make sure the person is dead and not just asleep.’
    â€˜That’s just an old wives’ tale. How could anyone sleep with all their relatives bawling in their ear?’
    â€˜What’s the difference between a wake and a vigil?’
    â€˜None, I think.’
    â€˜It has to be that at a wake, they’re trying to wake the dead person and at a vigil they’re just … they just vigil. Are you sure it’s dead? What if it’s just asleep?’
    I picked the toad up by one leg, dangling it in front of the Midget’s face. He ran off howling and only stopped when he got to a safe distance.
    â€˜Actually, he looks a lot like you,’ I said.
    â€˜Liar!’ the Midget yelled from afar.
    We picked a shady spot at the foot of a tree. I went and found a spade in the shed and started digging a hole. While I was digging, I went on explaining to the Midget all the stuff Señorita Barbeito had taught us with her illustrations and the documentary, about how after the first amphibians, species evolved who could only absorb oxygen directly from the atmosphere and live on land, and about specialized habitats and stuff like that. The Midget glaredat me suspiciously because he couldn’t believe that all vertebrates shared common characteristics.
    â€˜Frogs have a sense of taste just like hens, honest, I swear. If you peel the skin off a chimpanzee it