K.Esquivel-LWFC

that came to Tita was the low murmur of
men's voices, Pedro and John's,
but she could tell from the tone of their
voices that they were
arguing. Instead of waiting for matters to
develop, she moved quickly
to put the plates, the plate covers, the
glasses, the saltcellars, and
the knifeholders in their proper places on the
table.
Without pausing, she put the candles under
the platewarmers that would
hold the first, middle, and main courses and
left them sitting ready on
the sideboard. She ran to the kitchen for the
Bordeaux wine that she
had left in a bain-marie. Bordeaux wines
should be taken from the wine
cellar several hours in advance and put in a
warm spot so the gentle
warming develops the flavor, but since Tita
had forgotten to take it
out on time, she was forced to resort to this
artificial method. The
only thing remaining was to place a small
basket of flowers in the
center of the table-but in order to preserve
the natural freshness of
the flowers, they should not be arranged until
just before the guests
are to be seated, so Tita assigned that task
to Chencha; hurriedly, at
least as much as her starched dress allowed,
she made her way to the
living room.
The first sight that presented itself when she
opened the door was
Pedro and John in heated discussion about
the political situation of
the country. It appeared that the two of them
had forgotten the most
elementary rules of good manners, which tell
us that at a social
gathering one does not bring up the subject
of personalities, sad
topics or unfortunate facts, religion, or
politics. Tita's entrance
stopped the discussion and forced them to
try to begin a conversation
in a more amicable tone.
In this tense atmosphere, John advanced his
petition for Tita's hand.
Pedro, as the man of the house, sullenly
gave his approval.
They started to work out the details.
When they tried to fix the date for the
wedding, Tita learned of John's
desire to delay it for a while so he could
make a trip to the northern
part of the United States to bring back his
only living aunt, whom he
wanted to attend the ceremony. This
presented a serious problem for
Tita: she wanted to get away from the ranchand
the proximity of Pedras
quickly as possible.
To formalize their engagement, John handed
Tita a beautiful diamond
ring. Tita looked at it for a long time, shining
on her finger. The
glints of light it gave off reminded her of the
gleam in Pedro's eyes a
short time ago, when he was watching her
naked, and a poem that Nancha
had taught her as a child came into her head:
The sun lights up a drop
of dew The drop of dew soon dries You are
the light of my eyes, my eyes
I'm brought to life by you Rosaura was
moved by the tears in her
sister's eyes, taking them for tears of joy, and
she felt a slight
lifting of the guilt she sometimes suffered for
having married Tita's
sweetheart. Then, quite enthused, she
poured them each a glass of