Days of the Dead.pdf - Upgrade Systems

"So-three days before the wedding my father went into one of his crazy fits. God forbid that even the
bride should have more attention paid to her on her wedding-eve than he. He began talking to his idols,
and wandering about the house in his nightshirt, and thinking that Santa Anna-who as his dear friend was
there for the wedding-­was the war-god of the old Indians, to whom the ancient priests offered the
torn-out hearts of living victims, which always makes the servants nervous.
"Josefa---our eldest sister, as I have said, who does not have much use for me-sent at once for her
confessor and for her confessor's confessor, to pray that the Devil be driven out of our father.
Natividad's mother, Señora Lorcha, also sent for a priest, and tried to have my father marry Natividad
before anyone could do anything about it, but Fernando arrived in the midst of that ceremony with two
mad-doctors from town and had Father put under re­straint. Hannibal tried to slip out in all the confusion
and was caught by the vaqueros and brought back. It is fifteen miles to the city, you understand, and
most of it open rangeland, and even with Father locked up in his room Vasco would not take orders
from Fernando."
Consuela sighed and broke off another piece of pan­dolce. "So in the midst of all this praying and
cursing and conversations with sacred jaguars and people who weren't there, Hannibal was playing cards
in the corredor upstairs with me and Valentina and Natividad, on the afternoon before the
wedding-feast, with all of our respective duennas present, naturally. And suddenly Fernando came out of
my father's study and took Hannibal by the throat, and thrust him up against the wall and snarled, `Know
that when I am master here you will pay dearly for your perfidy, Norteamericano bastard.'
"And of course Hannibal replied `My dear Fernando, you're as mistaken about my intentions as you
are about my nationality and the circumstances of my birth,' but of course my brother did not listen. He
was not a listener, my brother Franz."
She angled her coffee-cup in her fingers; a hot sliver of light from the door touched the dark fluid and
glinted in the garnets on her rings. "Since it was clear to all by then that my father was going to be locked
up, leaving Franz truly in charge to do as he pleased, Hannibal tried to bolt again before supper but did
not get even a mile. He was badly frightened, and with good reason. When Santa Anna arrived I know
he asked him for protection and an escort back to town, but Santa Anna said that he would not go
against the wishes of his dear friend Don Prospero. I think the situation amused him, and he would not
intervene. He is cruel that way."
"Would Santa Anna have simply stood by and let Franz ... Fernando ... mistreat ... a British citizen?"
asked Rose uneasily.
"That I don't know, Señora. Santa Anna seeks to please my father because my father paid his debts for
him. The general's favor and his friendship are the reasons my father is still rich when most of the other
old landowners are bankrupt from taxes and forced loans and losing all their men to the Army. But he is
cruel, Santa Anna, and sly. He has no particular affection for Hannibal, and as I said, the situation
amused him, like watching a cock-fight, or a bull being baited."
A corner of her lush mouth turned down. "I cannot say that supper was a meal notable for its sparkling
conversation. M'sieu Guillenormand, my father's chef, was beside himself for fear that the dinner would
be called off altogether or that Santa Anna would go back to the city without sampling his efforts.
Guillenormand said that it was just like my father-­which of course it was-to go mad just when he,
Sacripant Guillenormand, was on the point of serving up a dinner that would make his fame forever, as if
anyone could make him­self famous forever for doing anything in Mexico City these days. It was like
something out of Moliere or Goya, with Fernando glaring at Natividad, and Natividad's mother looking
daggers at Fernando, and Josefa watching Natividad's mother to make sure she didn't slip away and