his body. Carlito screamed as if he was in pain, as if he were dying. The big screen showed his face enlarged ten times over. He looked pale and afraid because he really was afraid because he might die. They threw fake bottles at him that looked very real; the fake bottles burst into sharp little shards when they hit his face. The crowd cheered on. Louder. Louder. Louder. The masked executioners danced faster and snapped their steps harder and a rope descended from the top of the stage and it looked like a hangman’s noose. One spotlight focused on the rope, one spotlight focused on Carlito being held down by two executioners. Carlito and the rope converged at the center and the executioners stepped back and the music went slow, like a heartbeat. Carlito put the noose around his neck but attached the real rope to a harness in his back. The noose ascended and it looked as if he was being hanged. Carlito shook his legs and jerked violently and stuck out his tongue and all the lights went out and the music went out and it was suddenly dark and quiet and the big screen went blank. It was quiet for three seconds, and then applause erupted! Applause! Applause! The audience went wild and roared and cheered. They could not look away. They pushed and shoved and clawed to get closer to the action. Then one by one the performers ran to the center of the stage and bowed and smiled and waved. Carlito descended with the noose and was embraced by Katja, now in her robe. It was time for his speech. Danny Lo had written a really beautiful speech for him about life and death and love and freedom and beauty. And of how he lived his life to the fullest and how he had no regrets and how he just hoped to be remembered by his fans and how the concert DVD will contain all the memorable moments of the concert. Then he was supposed to step forward and bow to the audience and the disco ball would almost fall, missing his head by just a few inches. But before he could begin his speech, the big screen blinked on and it showed him inside the confession booth saying, “I touched … a thirteen year old boy. What else? I peed on … little girls … they were scared. But, that’s not really a sin. I think it’s natural. I was a child star, so there was … a lot of time to sin. It was true that I … put it into … minors. I would kill … Katja. I would do … Katja … rough. That’s all I can think of right now, father. I am … a bad man. I had a good ride. I have no regrets.” And it was on loop, “I touched … a thirteen year old boy. What else? I peed on … little girls … they were scared.” The audience started booing. Louder and louder and louder as if a cosmic proverbial unholy cow of doom had descended upon the earth and mooed an eternal moo. Booooooooooooooo! Booooooooooooooooooo! And Carlito said, “No. I didn’t …” But the first stone was cast. It was small, half the size of a fist. It hit him in the brow. Carlito wiped a palm over the brow and saw that the stone had drawn blood.
Likhaan 31