They had a new toy called the war, and it gave them a reason to gather in the evening. I needed to go out there and be with them, even if I did not agree with some of the things that they said. Sometimes, we listened to news bulletins or watched interviews on the television. At some point in those weeks all of us began to fear Thatcher: there was something ferocious and implacable about her, and her country had conquered the world and won two wars, and she was right when she said that our invasion was illegal. Also, she had been elected and that was something which none of us could understand. It gave her an extra sort of power which helped her to range most countries in the world, including the United States, against us.

The men in that room were quite sure, despite their fear of Thatcher, as the winter approached and her flotilla came closer to us that she could not regain the islands. The British were too vulnerable, we all agreed. But there were moments in that long room in the Canettos’ house when we listened to a radio report or watched an item on the television when everyone present showed fear, when everyone sensed that what was floating toward us from the north was defeat. The war was a dream we had that we could snatch the islands and afterward feel proud and strong and bonded as a community; it was a delusion, a mad play we acted in willingly all day and night in the months between the invasion and the surrender.

The ex-general told us about tensions between the army and the navy and the air force. He was well briefed. This news made us feel like insiders, privy to the machinations of our leaders; it made our gathering feel important. I was there one night when Jorge’s younger brother, who lived in the United States, telephoned and his father spoke to him as though he himself were running the war and knew every move that was being made. We would win, he assured his son, we would see the British off.

And as he said it I realized what a wonderful and unbelievable idea it was that we could beat Britain and send the flotilla back north in disgrace. It would have changed our country in a way that I still cannot imagine. I noticed that Jorge’s father and his friends began to drink more as time went on, as the heat was turned up. I noticed, too, that I was more optimistic and excited at night, but in the morning when I woke I realized that we were fooling ourselves, that we would not win.