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February 17, 2023 · Christian Ives Solis
RECORD VII — February 17, 2023: Operation Estela
On February 17, 2023, the air in the flat grew denser. A third suitcase appeared by the front door. The sound of water in the bathroom was no longer ours. A different shadow began crossing the hallway toward the kitchen. It was Estela. The fourth in the group. Close to Claudio.
The official plan: to come as a tourist for three months. The joy for her was real, but so was the body’s immediate reading: this was a domestic operation. Three months is not a casual weekend visit. Three months in a shared apartment alters water consumption, hallway traffic, bathroom turns, and the density of the air.
The news arrived in a measured tone during Aracely’s birthday. Claudio and Aracely told me while looking directly at me, gauging my reaction. I tensed. Outwardly, I replied:
—Oh, wow. That’s nice.
Inside, the map of the flat redrew itself in a second. A new piece was entering, and the dynamic was being rearranged without asking how it affected me logistically or financially. My place was flexible, revisable, and negotiable. The method became clear. To notify is not to consult.
I still believed it was clumsiness, not malice. The event was logged without any major scene, absorbed into the silence that was already beginning to take the shape of a rule.
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NOTE: To notify is not to consult.
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