Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

278 reframing latin america
moment I remembered that when a man and woman love each other and
don’t have children, they are condemned to become one. That is what my
other father used to tell me whenever I brought him water and he stared
at the door behind which my cousin and I slept. Everything that my other
father had told me is coming true now. From the pillow I heard the words
of Pablo and Margarita and they were nothing but nonsense. ‘I’m going to
look for him,’ I told myself. ‘But where?’ Much later, when you came to my
room to ask what we should have for dinner, a thought came to my head:
‘To the café Tacuba!’ 9 And I didn’t even know that restaurant, Nachita, I
only knew it by name.”
Nacha remembered the señora as if she were seeing her right now, putting
on her white dress stained with blood, the same one she was wearing
this moment in the kitchen.
“For God’s sake, Laura, don’t put on that dress!” said her mother-in-law.
But she paid her no mind. To cover the stains, she put on a white sweater
over it, buttoned to the neck, and she went out in the street without saying
good-bye.
“There was nobody at the café Tacuba. It’s a very sad place, Nachita.
A waiter came up to me. ‘What can I get you?’ I didn’t want anything, but
I had to order something. ‘A cocada.’ My cousin and I ate coconuts as
kids . . . In the café a clock kept the time. ‘In all the cities there are clocks
that keep time, it must be slipping away. When there is only a transparent
layer remaining, he will come and the two drawn lines will become only
one and I will live in the most precious part of his heart.’ That is what I told
myself while I ate the cocada.
“‘What time is it?’ I asked the waiter.
“‘Twelve o’clock, señorita.’
“‘Pablo comes at one,’ I told myself. ‘If I tell a taxi to take the beltway
home, I can still wait a bit longer.’ But I didn’t wait and I went out into the
street. The sun was silver-plated, my thoughts became a brilliant powder
and there was no present, past or future. 10 On the sidewalk my cousin stood
in front of me, his eyes were sad, he stared at me for a long time.
“‘What have you been up to?’ he asked me with his profound voice.
“‘I was waiting for you.’
“He stood still like a panther. I saw his black hair and the red wound on
his shoulder.
“‘Weren’t you afraid of being here alone?’
“The stones and cries began whizzing around us and I felt something
burning behind me.
“‘Don’t look,’ he told me.