Agustina watched her soer the correal facility with a sigh, a dolehat poured all the augury of unfiveness. Agustina closed her eyes with marked pain; it was a river she didn't cross very often, but seeing her son in such a position only gave her headaches. Her son? A criminal. It wasn't something she wanted for herself or Billy.

  'From love, we will always hold on. If you don't suffer for me, you'll suffer for what you are, for a mother, a wife, a grandmother... for a lover. We suffer because it's the only way we know,' Agustina thought, a grandmother's saying; pain was the only way to uand. That one isn't always everything as one desires. One of the reasons Agustina came to the Uates is pain.

  As a child, she lived in a time when dictatorship pgued the streets entina. The try ged ht; her missing brothers and her sisters slept with soldiers to save their lives. Death wasn't enough for her mother to overe; she fell months ter, in pain and loneliness. She lived cradled under her grandmother's old hands, which wiped away tears of sadness. 'You grew up in sadness, dear,' sighed her grandmother, kissing her cheeks, while she ed her up and sang lulbies. Even if she were too old to receive such songs, she wouldn't fet them, because love couldn't be fotten. Love never fets.

  Only illness makes one fet love. There are no limits, but it's love that holds together with pain.

  Direless, she reached the car; Jerry's serious and wrinkled face awaited her. Her guardian angel? She wouldn't know, but he erson who gave her hope.

  -How did you do it? - Agustina uttered, on the verge of desperation.

  -Do what? - said Jerry.

  -He had a toad's soul, - Agustina thought, the way Jerry reacted to things, only reag to Billy's music. Perhaps that's what tells him to fight so hard for his son, something that makes him feel emotions because he lost the ability to do so.

  Tears fell like drops of water, before bursting, one by one. - You know, helping him that way, those politis are tenacious, - said Agustina.

  -It was easy, - Jerry said, looking at the woman. - I attacked all the fnks; it was ruthless. You don't o know more! -

  It was ruthless, that's what the old man said, who leaned fortably in his seat, and had the neer between his knees, most likely for the crossword puzzles, a strong word for someone so stunned by society. Jerry wiped away tears with chores until they fot they existed and only used them ter to gain more strength against those who caused his tears.

  -It doesn't leave me at peace; sometimes, I just want to sleep without w, but what else... my life is at its lowest point. I feel like I'm on a staircase, I look up, and all I see are supports, - said Agustina.

  -Your son got the poetry from his mother; there's no doubt you're a sensitive woman, - said Jerry, starting the car, which disappeared down the road. Agustina's neck hurt so much that turning wasn't an option; all she could do was imagine, imagine why her boy entered, walk through the main part, leading to a waiting room, twhts. Would he follow where, perhaps, he'd follow to another building, and his room would be on the edge, in a cold bed, with fleas, and blue sheets. Maybe he wouldn't even have sheets and would sleep like a vagabond, without something to ward off the cold, but would the unbearable heat require bs as a y?

  The Mazda tinued carelessly over the asphalt until it reached a small block of apartments, not the best, just a temporary pce. A three-month tract while finding a nicer pce, a pce closer to work. The car slowed to a halt at the entrance, almost in suspension.

  -Thank you for everything, - said Agustina, smiling at Jerry, still with red, tearful, squinted eyes, and a runny hat was Agustina; she cried about everything.

  -Graph. - Jerry grunted; he was deafened.

  *************************************************************************

  Ahmet Erteguhe music of his new promise, without hearing such fervor. The music was good and had siderable lyrid rhythms, but nothing aroused that feeling promoted by his peers; it was ent, but he had to fulfill a tract. He would see how successful the journey was; he had to listen to it live, but on a record, it was nothing overwhelming, almost insipid, and that was a lot to say.

  The rap song surprised him; they recorded it st, and the rap was quid fitting; it had power, but he had heard better ones, perhaps more powerful... no, it needed something different. Yes, it was viliny; these songs required viliny, ing, and an act of strength.

  He sent them to the record bels almost as soon as he finished listening to the five songs; he liked two for their strong character and interwoven lyrics, "Like a Stone" and "Celebra Vida." Spanish songs? A bilingual who sings in two nguages perfectly; the only good thing is that it would open the Spanish market, and if necessary, the Latino market, a good expansion point to quer more hearts.

  He always thought like arepreneur.

  The songs weren't bad, but Ahmet's measuring stick was the highest, as the reas around him were high, and he measured them in every way: melody, rhythm, chords, delivery, polish, character, voice, paess... not even in mathematics were exams sorous for accuracy, almost like a business formu. He rated the song a 6 out of 10, and the two he liked a 7.5 out of 10, being generous.

  The agreement with the radio stations was clear: py the songs in a pylist, and give a summary provided by Atnta Record. What did the message say? It went like this:

  -A new song delivered by a natural singer: from Atnta Records, his new singles brought to you by Billy Carson, a y in rock music, alternative rock bringing us the following song... -

  What rating did the radio members give? 8/10, some 10/10. They were good songs, nothing indiscreet, a theme that tihe Ameri tradition. Was it something different from the many songs delivered to the radio each year? Not at all. If they recorded a it, the filter was already set, they just py music, it's a job.

  MTV also received it, but without a video, it wouldn't attract much attention, just a bck s, with some effects reag to the voices, guitars, and drums... to the instruments. They watched it, mixed it, and its light se in emerging bands got a spot, but without a singer, without a sample, without an audie's difficult to stand out.

  The following days were simir, the rinsing and washing of the music market, putting the songs out there, and people listening and defining them without much fahe song was sent along with many others, but the exposure did its job. Some asked about the songs, some just remembered them in their heads as fotten lyrics. A few more days passed, the song tis course, and people kept listening.

  Some saw behind the ses the new musi Atnta Records. It's not just ahe artists uhe bel paid attention. The singer had character, but many just brushed it off. There were incredible people uhe bel, from Outkast, TLC, Usher, T.I, Ludacris, Ciara, and Jagged Edge.

  ...