Of Cattle and Men

by Ana Paula Maia

He’s not proud of what he does, but if someone has to do it, then let it be him, who has pity on those irrational beasts.

Two enclosures, one for cattle and one for men, standing side by side. Sometimes the smell is similar. Only the voices on one side and the mooing on the other distinguish the men from the ruminants.

Every day he thanks God for allowing him to work this job, he still has some pep, despite his age. There are only four teeth left in his mouth, but that makes no difference when he’s doing his job. He is as capable as he was thirty years ago. But for anyone outside of that slaughterhouse, he’s as useless as the offal with which he works.

‘As long as there’s a cow in this world, there’ll be a guy willing to kill it.’ ‘And another one willing to eat it,’

‘Put him there myself. I knocked him on the head, then threw him in the river.’ ‘Why did you do that, Edgar?’ ‘He mistreated the cattle. He was no good.’ ‘That’s a crime, Edgar. You killed a man.’ ‘No, Senhor Milo. I’ve killed more than one. Just the men who were no good.’

Overnight, the old man found himself alone and with no heirs, so he decided to rescue Bronco Gil and try to civilise him before it was too late. That’s the way the old man thought. But instead civilisation barbarised him, and what little affection he’d known became like the dust on the ground he walked upon.

Edgar Wilson thinks about hamburgers as he works, as he swats away flies and wipes the blood spatter from his face. At the hamburger plant, all that white reflects a peace that doesn’t exist, a blinding glare that obscures death.

He is used to the heat, the dust, the flies, the blood, and death. That is what a slaughterhouse is all about. Killing. He had no intention of going across town to question the way they prepare steaks he will never eat. He doesn’t care about that.

His faith is strong, but he knows his own violence will never allow him to see the face of his Creator.

‘There’ll always be a bunch of people willing to eat it. But not to kill it.