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Graphic Literature

Ballad of Ventas Prison

By Jorge Garcia & Fidel Martinez
Translated from Spanish by Anna Kushner
Madrid , May 1939

Guard 1: This is the street , right ? Marqués de Mondéjar ..

Guard 2: Yes , stop there in front of number six .

[frame]
Guard 1: This one got it good .

{{BANG !}}

Guard 2: Bah , she must have done something

{BANG !}

{BANG !}

[frame]
Guard 1: What's that noise ?

Guard 2: Nothing , just an execution .. The Cementerio del Este is so close that you can hear everything from here .

[frame]
{BANG !}

Guard 1: Did you hear that ?

[frame]
Guard 2: Now come the coups de grâce.

{BANG !}
Officer: Now that Elisa Vázquez is here , we've got all of them . Everything's in order .

{BANG !}

Guard 1: It's so hot! There must be a storm coming .

[frame]
In Ventas Prison , we inmates counted each coup de grâce to keep track of the fallen .

{BANG !}

Prisoners: Eleven !

Prisoner: Elisa ! Is that you ?

Prisoners: Eleven !

Prisoners: Eleven !

[frame]
{BANG !}

Prisoner: Gosh ... What happened to you ? What did those thugs do to you ?

[frame]
{BANG !}

[frame]
Prisoners: Twelve !
We ate once a day

They handed out the gruel in shifts of five hundred at a time ,

Nieves: Are you okay , Elisa ? You haven't taken a bite or said a word .

Elisa: My head hurts , Nieves .. I don't want to eat , I don't want to speak .

Woman Guard: Let's go , let's GOOOO! Everyone to the chapel , quiiickly !

Palmira: Your friend's a little unfriendly

Nieves: What did you expect, Palmira ? The poor thing was at the Núñez de Balboa Police Station . They use gestapo methods over there : electrodes and all that ..

Nieves: Besides , she's still waiting to hear about the trial . Now do you

[frame]
" the heavens that you promised me do not move me to love you , my lord .. "

Nieves: Tonight we're going to hold a " private " concert in the bathrooms. Do you want to come ?

Elisa: No.

Nieves: What did they do to you to make you so fearful ?
{BANG !}

Prisoner: Nineteen

[frame]
Woman Guard: I don't want to hear anymore subversive concerts at night ! Is that understood ?

Man on street: That's the prison . they say it's full of whores ,

[frame]
Woman Guard: If it happens again , I swear thaaat ... i

Prisoner: That what? That you'll send us to prison ?

Prisoners: Ha

Prisoners: Ha

Prisoners: Ha

[frame]
Prisoner: Tramps , that's what the lot of you are .

Prisoner: What of tramps , that's what these new civil servants are . Ours didn't behave like that ..

[frame]
Elisa: No , it's just that you looked the other way .
Nieves: What's that all about ? Didn't you also look the other way ?

Elisa: I couldn't
[frame]

On March 6 , General Casado's Junta came to power , outlawing communists .

[frame]
On the 15th , they locked us up right here , in Ventas.

Prisoner: They're going to hand us over to franco , you'll see ,

[frame]
We weren't that far off , Casado's followers set us free on the 27th , one day before the rebels entered Madrid ..

[frame]
Elisa: And it didn't take them long to bring me back .Now do you understand

Guard: Elisa Vázquez , Elisa Vázqueeezi

[frame]
Guard: Get ready , you're going to court right now .
Woman Guard: For the last time , if I hear another night conceeerti

Prisoner: How do you think it's going for…

Judge: For the crime of treating enemies of the state at an international red aid hospital ...

[frame]
Judge:... sentenced to death

[frame]
Woman Guard: And Elisa Vázquez , everything is in order .

Guard: This heat is unbearable ! It has to rain ...

[frame]
The condemned could be executed immediately or it could take years .

Prisoner: I'm really sorry

Elisa: I know

[frame]
How do you measure time in a situation like this ?

{BANG !}

Prisoners: Twenty - six
Nieves: I heard that tomorrow there's going to be a “removal”.

Prisoner: If they take much longer , the water is going to be shut off

[frame]
Nieves: At midnight , they'll start calling you down to the chapel for confession and then ...

Elisa: Then what ?

[frame]
Prisoner: The water! They've shut it off again!

Prisoner: Nieves , wait!

[frame]
Prisoner: Tonight there's a " concert "

Nieves: Why don't you come with us , Elisa ?

[frame]
Elisa: Fine . What can they do to me now ?

Woman Guard: This had better be the last tiiime!
Prisoner: It's okay , come in

Prisoner: What are you talking about ? Stalin will never make a pact with Hitler ! Nevvver!

Prisoner: Yeah , that water tasted like gasoline

Prisoner: I think they sent her off to the Quiñones Psych

[frame]
Elisa: Now ?

[frame]
Without any warning , somebody started ...

[frame]
Prisoners (singing): " Ventas Prison , fabulous hotel , where one lives and dines so well ...
Prisoners (singing): Where there's no bed , no rest and you'd be better off in hell ,

[frame]
Prisoners (singing): For everything there's a queue even the loo , delicious cement passes for bread , with nothing but lentils one makes due one dish a day is what you're fed

[frame]
Prisoners (singing): Luxurious tiles a mattress make so when we wake our kidneys are a mess."

[frame]
Gliding and traveling , Elisa danced .

[frame]
She was happy , you could tell by the way she moved .
On the last day , we tried to look happy , as if nothing were happening .

Nieves: I'd like to give you ...

[frame]
Elisa: Thank you , nieves .

[frame]
Woman Guard: Elisa Vázquez , Elisa Vázquez , to the chapeeel!

[frame]
Elisa: I'm coming . Don't you see that i'm not done shrouding myself ?
They used to bribe the convicted : If they confessed , they were allowed to write to their families .

Elisa: I don't need to , Father : my husband died in the war ..

[frame]
Elisa: And I've already said goodbye to what is left of my family .

[frame]
The truck went to the Porlier Prison first , to pick up the men , and then to Ventas .

[frame]
Guard: And Elisa Vázquez everything's in order

Guard: It's going to rain today , for sure.

[frame]
Her fate , the concrete walls of the Cementerio del Este .
Nieves: I felt empty and lucid at the same time .

[frame]
Prisoner: Surely those bastards won't make her submit , Nieves , surely ...

[frame]

Nieves: I didn't have the strength to tell her that it didn't matter anymore , that I only wanted to see Elisa one more time .

[frame]
{BANG !} {BANG !} {BANG !} {BANG !} {BANG !} {BANG !} {BANG !}

[frame]
Nieves: Gliding and traveling as she danced .

{BANG !}

[frame]
Nieves: Happy .

From Cuerda de Presas. Copyright © 2001 by Jorge Garcia and Fidel Martinez. Published by agreement with Astiberri ediciones. Translation copyright © 2007 by Anna Kushner. All rights reserved.

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