To Immortalize a Man

Jamie was dead and the desert was hot. Sweat nipped at my eyes as I squatted over my backpack outside Paita’s bus terminal. The sun pressed heavy on my back. I had no phone. No clue if I was even at the same station where I’d agreed to meet Nicola—the only person I could communicate with outside of hand gestures this far north of Lima—but right now that didn’t seem to matter.