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Chapter 4 Delicia

After this single unfortunate night in La Palma, the adults developed an aversion for that house and the mosquitoes. The most common mosquito found in Cuba is the Aedes Aegypti. Before Carlos J. Finlay, this mosquito was making quite the dent on the Cuban population through the spread of the yellow fever. According to Cuban history, the guy created a vaccine to threat the virus. Yellow fever is no longer a problem for the Cubans. It might be a problem for outsiders who are not vaccinated, or who do not descend from someone who has resistance to the virus. Despite the vaccination, the Cuban government takes its mosquito problem seriously, with regular fumigation. They use time, proven methods, and none of that silly mutant, infertile mosquito nonsense that is pretty common in the States. The people who carried out the fumigations had a dual role. Aside from the killing the mosquitoes in people’s homes, they also saw what sort of wealth the person possessed. They also observed the people in the home, to look for signs of antirevolutionary behavior or items. When they came knocking, one had to open the door, otherwise you got a fine or a threatening rebuke.

Eufrasio had learned of Finlay from school. He thought the man to be quite a trooper for testing the vaccine on himself. He thought of his sister, and the experimental treatment she was undergoing. He doubted if the doctors had tried them on themselves, before testing them on her. At times, he wondered if they had sickened his sister, if only to try out their cures.

Such experiments are pretty common in countries where human life is not valued. Whether Eufrasio’s speculations were true or not, there was an observable pattern. Whenever the Cuban scientists were itching to invent a cure, there was sudden rise of the malady they were investigating.

Angelica had worked for the research team, but she had turned her back on that unethical work. One could only see so many dead fetuses, before one’s stomach begins to turn. Then again, for most doctors, the patient is seen as an object and not as a person. This objectivity is a double-edged sword. It helps the doctor keep cool when trying to save a life, but it can make it easy for them to snuff that life for the sake of learning. Hippocratic Oath was optional.    

Despite all the mosquito bites, Lucero did not become sick, only very itchy. As for Eufrasio, he had caught a cold, but was pretending to be feeling well. He was afraid to go to the doctors, so he pretended to feel well. One the ride back, he breathed through his mouth. He pressed with his index finger on his chest, to stifle his coughs. Eventually, his father’s clinical eye caught the ruse. Eufrasio was forced to admit that he was not feeling well.

When their ride concluded, they returned to their small apartment in Delicia. Delicia was a neighborhood just beside Isabel La Catolica. It was composed of apartment complexes. The name meant delicacy. There was nothing delicious about the place. It was just a stoic, grey rectangle. The apartment currently inhabited by the Mason family was on the second floor. The floor was made of fake tiles, resembling marble flooring. They had a nice classy, checkerboard pattern. It ran throughout the length of the apartment. Aside from the kitchen and the large living room, the place had only two bedrooms. With the kids growing, Eduardo had felt that they needed a larger space.

Lucero was still at the age where she did not like sleeping alone. She still had her crib in the apartment, even though she was a tad too big for it. Lucero did not like this apartment. At night, there was a creepy shadow watching over her. She thought it was a ghost, but little did she know that it was her father making certain that she was still breathing. Sometimes, she would close her eyes, and wait a bit. She would then open them to make certain that the shade had departed her bedside. Only when she was left in peace, did she finally make the attempt to fall asleep again.

Angelica wanted to move because of the windows. They were Jalousie Windows. They were formed by a collection of individual, rectangular sheets of glass. They were useful for letting the wind inside the apartment buildings, but they made Angelica paranoid. All that was required to enter inside the home was removing the glass sheets. This apartment complex had such windows because there was no air conditioner.  

In Pinar del Rio, it rained almost every week. Whenever the weatherman predicted any drought, it was warning sign to prepare for a monsoon. He did not have the best of accuracy, but he was well liked by somebody in the TV station, and thus his ineptitude was tolerated. As long as you were liked by the right people, one could keep any job, even if one was terrible at it. This did not cause too many problems, except for those who were tasked with keeping people alive. More than a couple of oops, had cost some unfortunate soul their life.

It was for this reason that Eduardo always watched his nurses like a hawk. Whenever one said, “But I thought…”

Eduardo would respond by saying, “Do not think! For you only think up mistakes!”

One of those silly fools had almost cost the life of his little star, Lucero. In the end, she only got better after she was transferred to a Hospital in Havana.

Eduardo was harsh, but fair. There is no room for fools, when there is a person’s life on the line. You are either focused while working at a hospital, or you are guilty of manslaughter. This is at least the ideal scenario. Most upsy-daisies go unpunished. There is no such thing as medical malpractice lawsuits in Cuba.

Most of Cuba ran on favors, and coercion. True power was based on who you knew, and who you were related to. The closer one’s familial ties were to the heads of state, the better off you tended to live. Still, such connections did not guarantee you a good life.

The Mason family was well connected because of Angelica’s grand, grandfather. He had connections to the army, and he was in charge of one of the secret catches of guns. Should Cuba ever be invaded, the militia could mobilize using those catches. Since taking power, Fidel Castro has always been preparing for war.

As for Eduardo, he had helped deliver many babies for top party members. Some had spent decades without conceiving, before Eduardo had provided treatment for their problems. It was through one of those party members that the Mason family permuted to the last house they ever inhabited in Cuba.

It was early June. The sky was cloudy, and the wind was somewhat strong. Had the weatherman bothered to try, the people in Delicia would have known that Hurricane Alberto was coming. Preparing for a Hurricane in Cuba, just meant boarding up, and trying to stock up on drinkable water from the faucet. Sometimes when the light went out, the water was cut as well.

Eduardo was looking at the new house. As for Angelica, she busy working her shift in the clinic at San Juan y Martínez. Lucero was playing on the railings. Meanwhile, Irina was keeping an eye on the children. Lucero was looking down, trying to peer over the edge. From time to time, Eufrasio would tug at her dress to remind her to keep on the other side of the fence. Lucero was practicing spitting. Up until now, she could only drool downwards. Thus, angling her spit towards passing people was proving rather difficult. Since she kept missing, and she did not want to fall, she sat down and squished her face against the railing. This helped her somewhat, but she ended up squeezing her head too far inside. With her head stuck, she frowned.

Eufrasio looking up asked, “Do, you, you, needdd helppp?”

“Mind your own business,” said Lucero annoyed. She thought a moment and tried placing her head in the same way it had come inside. After pulling a bit, she got herself out of there, but only after bruising a bit the side of her forehead. With her heart beating, she went to do something else with her time.

As for Irina, she was in the middle of a consultation. It was Saturday, and some of the working girls were visiting with questions about life and love. Eduardo who was returning home, noted the line of ladies, and a few gentlemen. He hid by the stairs and overhead their conversations. He then appeared to them and said, “I can throw you cards as well.”

“Really doctor Mason? I never would have guessed,” said the lady.

Eduardo brought out from his pocket a simple deck of playing cards he always carried for his prank. Without asking the lady any questions, he threw the cards, and said a lot of personal facts about her life he had overheard while hiding in the stairs. This created the illusion that he was psychic. When the lady left, Irina who was onto his joke, she said to him, “You are an ass!”

“Did the cards tell you that?” asked Eduardo laughing.

“How was the house?” asked Irina changing the subject.

“It was spacious, with a large concrete garden, and 3 bedrooms to boot. It has a lot of its original furniture including an air conditioner,” said Eduardo.

“Now that is a rare find indeed,” said Irina smiling.

“What’s an air conditioner?” asked Lucero.

“It’s like a very strong fan, it makes the entire room very cold,” explained Eduardo.

“How cold?” asked Lucero.

“As cold as the cooler of the refrigerator,” said Irina.

“Mmm! That does sound rather pleasant,” said Lucero smiling.

Eduardo came closer, and asked Lucero holding her face, “Lucero, what happened to your head?”

“Nothing,” said Lucero flatly.

“It doesn’t look like nothing,” insisted her father.

Eduardo did not bother to ask Eufrasio about her sister’s bruises. He knew Eufrasio would never tattle on his little sister.

Changing the subject, Lucero asked, “What are the wisemen bringing to me this year?”

In Cuba, the children waited for the 3 wisemen, instead of Santa Claus. They each brought 3 presents. Depending on the budgeting of the family, they usually brought 1. Every year, Lucero had received 3 presents. One of them, she was sporting. It was a 1920s, white dance dress, with green polka dots. It was a little big for her, but the original owner of the dress had been extremely petit for her age. Aside from the large shoulders, and the fact that the dress went as low as her knees, it was a good fit.

The dress had originally belonged to Lucero’s great, great, great grandma. She had been alive, up until recently. She had sewn for the little girl her baptism dress. It too was preserved in a great ark. Since new stuff rarely entered the island, it was common for families to try to preserve clothing items that were in good condition. This was how this 1920s party dress had been handed down to Lucero.

Eduardo came to the rocking chair and sat down. He gestured to Lucero to come closer, and she sat on his lap. Looking at her benevolently, he asked, after giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, “What would my little princess desire?”

She thought a moment, and then she said, “I want a Barbie doll?”

“Barbie? Never heard of her,” said Eduardo pouting his lips.

“She wants one because the neighbor’s brat did not let her hold the doll,” explained Irina, “I can’t blame her, Lucero never returns any toy her brother lends her.”

Lucero left her father’s lap. She returned to the balcony. By now, she had managed to learn how modulate her spit. Eventually, the little girl with the Barbie made an appearance. She was walking out, towards the park. With a careful aim, Lucero spat on her hair. The girl feeling something fall on the back of her hair, made her imperceptibly pass her hand over it. When she saw that it was spit, she said, “Ew!! Mom! Someone spat on me!!”

Lucero retreated into the balcony. Eufrasio hearing the commotion also moved back a bit, so as to not be seen. A couple of floors above, the local drunkard had gone out to the balcony to smoke a bit. Since he was at the proper angle, the mother of the girl thought it had been him. The crazed mother climbed up the stairs to give the poor bastard a serious talking to.

Since it was the family moto not to stir the pot, Eduardo did not do or say anything to the angry lady. He only shook his head, making an unconvincing frowning face. Lucero grinned and said, “She had it coming.”

Eufrasio said, “You ccccan’t be mean to kids, jjjjusttt because they won’t lenddd you tttheir ttttoys.”

“I know that. I am not stupid. You are not my father to be scolding me so,” said Lucero folding her arms.

“Well, somebody has to,” said Irina joking.

By now, all the visiting ladies had finished their sessions. This was one of the rare occasions that Lucero had allowed them to enter her house, uninvited. She had been too preoccupied with her petty revenge quest to bother about the strangers visiting.

Around 4 P.M, the water tank started screeching. The apartment had a large water tank built into the foundation of the apartment. To get the water to the higher floors, there was a water pump. Whenever the pump activated, it made an loud annoying sound. The higher you were up in the apartment, the louder the sound it made.

It would make an ungodly noise for about two to seven hours. After listening to it, Irina remembered why the family was so desperate to move. For the last two years, it had been making the same noise for two hours. Irina wondered if the government was trying to drive the locals crazy. Due to the noise, Irina’s visitors decided to call it a day. It was far too annoying to try to have a conversation when the water tank was on.

Since conversing was out of the question, Irina took the time to take a bath. She lingered longer than she would like, but the noise was a lot less within the bathroom. As for the children, they were pretending not to hear it. Eduardo was keenly aware of it, however. He drank two pills to threat the growing headache in his temple. He sat down to read the newspaper. There was never anything on the news. Still, it was a habit he had inherited from his departed father. It was one of the few things he had inherited from the man.

Dusk came, and with it the rains and the welcomed death of the water tank. By now, Angelica had returned from work on her bike. Her husband walked a couple of blocks towards the nearby hospital. He had the night shift. Eduardo did not take the bike, because he had never learned how to ride it. Not that it mattered too much, because the hospital he worked at was near Delicia. The couple were currently working on moving to the same hospital in Isabel la Catolica. 

Angelica smiled when she noticed the children playing on the table. Lucero was messing around with some clay. As for Eufrasio, he was trying to make sense of an encyclopedia he had brought back from La Palma. The Encyclopedia was called Terosos de la Juventud, or Treasures of Youth. The article he was reading focused on making soap bubbles using a straw.

Angelica greeted her children by hugging and kissing them on the cheek. She did the same with her mother as well, who was cooking. The windows Angelica detested so much were open to let the cool night air in. There were a couple of towels on the floor. From time to time, a gust of wind would cause some water to get inside. Most of the time, the jalousie windows would keep the rain out.

Irina not turning around from her soup commented, “It is certainly pouring.”

“Yes, mother. Some of the lower streets are partially flooded,” said Angelica.

“It is a good thing Eduardo’s hospital is uphill,” said Irina.

“Why isn’t the TV on?” asked Angelica.

“Because we heard thunder a couple of minutes ago,” explained Lucero.

Despite knowing many things, Irina only had a tacit understanding as to how lighting works. She was convinced that electronics drew lightning. As such, to prevent a lightning strike, she would lower the amount of electricity in her home. This included turning off most of the lights, the TV and fans were unplugged as well. This precaution was at least useful for keeping the electronics from being damaged, in case of an electrical surge.

Lucero was pretty calm, despite the heavy rain. As for Eufrasio, he was doing his best to preoccupy his mind. He had read in his encyclopedia that lightning tended to strike tall objects. He worried that being in an apartment building, might draw in lightning. He wondered how many floors could a single lightning bolt pierce. He had recently developed an aversion for lightning. One time when climbing the stairs of the apartment, he had tried turning on the lights. He had received quite the shock from touching the on and off switch. Ever since then, he had not bothered to try to turn on the light.

The single light in the kitchen flickered. It was soon followed by a flash of light, and then the sound of thunder. Holding a knife, Irina came to the door, and she commented, “Angie? What are you doing?”

“What’s the matter, mother?” asked Angelica putting the bike on the side of the entrance.

“Your parasol is open!” complained Irina.

“Sorry, my bad,” said Angelica.

Gesturing with the knife, Irina said, “You just watch it you hear. God only knows what sort of bad luck may come your way due to your little umbrella mishap.”

“It was raining sideways, sheesh!” said Angelica. She added, “I am going to take a shower. See you at dinner.”

This apartment had a single bathroom and running water. Some days, it did not come for arbitrary reasons. As such, there was usually a barrel of drinkable water filled in the kitchen. If there ever was a shortage of water, the barrel could pick up the slack for at least two weeks. As for the umbrella mishap, it was common superstition that being under the roof with an umbrella opened brought bad luck. Irina believed in quite the number of different types of bad lucks. If one stumbled with the left foot, one was supposed to double back behind the place you had stumbled and try again only this time walk past the spot without any problems. Another popular one was that one should avoid barricades of any types. If you walked on one side of a post, and another person walked on the other side, it meant that you would get separated.

Angelica naturally did not believe in such silly nuisances, but for the sake of peace she would indulge her mother. The umbrella was left on the floor opened, to allow it to dry. Eufrasio came to the umbrella, and he closed it somewhat. He did not put on the latch, to allow it to drip onto the floor. To avoid slipping, Lucero went to the bedroom and brought out another towel, which she placed beneath the umbrella. With this task completed, the day was allowed to progress with its usual pace. Around dinnertime, Lucero was awakened by her brother Eufrasio. The girl had been busy taking a nap on the couch.

His mother too had been napping as well. Naps have always been pretty popular in Cuba. The practice of napping was inherited from the Spanish Conquistadors. When they were not massacring the natives, they were busy taking naps. Naps usually went from 4 to 6 P.M. This was the usual time when dinner was done. If Angelica had the nightshift, the naps would start around noon. Sleeping after eating lunch was usually a pretty easy task. If there was no planned activity, the Mason family would spend most of the day napping. Napping was usually far more prevalent during rainy days such as this one. Normally, the Mason family would watch some TV, but since the weather was so nice, they had planned to sleep one or two hours after dinner.

If it was up to Lucero, they would sleep after dinner. Still, she had learned from experience that going to sleep after eating caused indigestion. Whenever she would shift from her left side, to her right side, her small stomach would turn, bringing all the food up to ther throat. At other times, it would trigger some acid refluxes.  

The children ate their dinner and were put to bed. Lucero was on her crib, while Eufrasio slept beside his mother. He had his own tiny bed, but he preferred the larger bed, since he had more arm room. Lucero slept hugging a little monkey plush her grandmother had given her. According to Irina, the monkey liked to drink milk. Lucero was partial to the plushie, but she had memories of seeing Eufrasio with it when he was two years old. Lucero did not mind the hand-me-down plush, since it was still in good condition. It served as a small pillow.

Around 3:15 A.M, the rain died down. The only sound heard was that of the wind. The wind suddenly picked up, causing the bed sheets to fly out. The windows started rattling, Lucero who was a light sleeper yelled, “Angelica!”

With a start, Angelica awoke, not knowing why Lucero was yelling. Eufrasio rolled off the bed and landed on the floor all in a terror. He crawled quickly under the bed. As for Lucero, she coiled into a fetus position, and hid her head under the large pillow. It was then when the windows smashed, Angelica covered her face with her hands, she received a nasty cut on one of her hands. Angelica ran and grabbed Lucero, while Eufrasio was fetched by Irina who had just woken up.

For the rest of the night, the four of them spent their time in the bathroom. The bathroom had only one small window, which was opened. Lucero had the pillow from her bedroom still on her hands. She was using it more as a shield than a pillow. Eufrasio was inside the tub, with his eyes wide opened. He was watching the window like a hawk; he had his hands to his face in case he had to protect himself from the glass.

Irina would have liked to barricade the window, but without it, they risked running out of oxygen.

Around dusk, Eduardo was making his way back home. He was not too thrilled by the sight of the down electric pole. He circled around the block, till he found a different route back into his apartment. His alternative route brought him through a flooded street. With water up to his knee, Eduardo slugged his way back home.

His nightshift in the hospital had been uneventful. The entire place was made of solid concrete, and it resembled a fortress, instead of a hospital. The windows where small, and impact resistant. There were bars on them as well. This gave the hospital the look and feel of a prison. The again, window bars were a pretty common architectural feature in Cuba. Aside from having small windows, the hospital actually had an air conditioner. It was used to keep the viruses down. Most viruses and bacteria tended to reproduce a lot, with higher temperatures. As such, for sanitation purposes the hospitals were allowed to have an air conditioner.

It was common to just have random people in the waiting room who just wanted to cool off a bit. At times, some people felt like getting examined while they were there. Medicine was free, in so much as you did not have to pay. You still paid indirectly for the medicine in the form of poverty wages. In this world, there is no such thing as free. You still pay for it, one way or another.

While Angelica had spent a hectic night, Eduardo had a mellowed-out type of day. He had spent it joking with the other night duty doctors. He would read the headlines, and then start making up bogus news. He said it in such a convincing fashion that the fellows could not help but believe him. He would also prank the trainees, by playing dead in the morgue. Whenever a kid who was not in on the joke would pass by, Eduardo would make strange noises, or he would sit up suddenly.

Eduardo was quite surprised indeed, when he heard from his colleagues that a Tornado had passed nearby. He had not heard much of it, because he was fooling around in the morgue. A couple of windows did break, but thankfully, it only occurred in empty rooms. The rest of the night he had spent it cleaning up debris or tending to the regulars. Around 4 A.M, the injured people started arriving. It seemed like it was going to be quite a busy day indeed. He would have stayed for an extra shift to help, but he was worried about his apartment.

For this reason, as soon as his shift ended, he went home. He was surprised and alarmed to see his wife all bandaged up. She had gotten some nasty cuts on the arms, and on her right hand. He examined her tourniquets over the top. The scratch on the palm had been superficial, thought Angelica had required that Lucero remove for her a small shard of glass.

Why had Angelica asked Lucero? Well, because she had snake blood. Lucero had a good hand to eye coordination. She was quite deliberate with most things she did with her hands, from drawing stick figures to cutting paper. She dexterously removed the tiny shard, using the tool her mother had given her. As for Irina, she was no help at all because she could not keep her hands from trembling. One needs steady hands for any type of delicate work.

As for why had Lucero called Angelica by her name? Well, Lucero noticed that whenever Irina called Angelica by her name, Angelica would pay attention. Lucero mimicked Irina’s stern tone, whenever she wanted to get her mother’s attention. Angelica did not like it when Lucero called her by her first name. The girl also used to do the same to Irina.

Irina never remember an instance when Lucero called her Grandma. It was always “Irina this” or “Irina that”. She was quite the disrespectful little brat. Aside from physical punishment, Angelica did not know what else to do with the girl, since reasoning did not work either.

Beating children was pretty common in the old days. It is still common in many parts of the world. Angelica had received a couple of beatings back in her young age. The worse had taken place because of some stupid, idle gossip. A friend of her mother had said that Angelica had stolen something. Irina not bothering to ask her daughter had overreacted. She had beaten Angelica from the neighbor’s house, back to her own. She was left bloodied, in a corner, without being attended to.

Years later, whenever Angelica would remember, she could not help, but narrow her eyes at her mother. Children never forgive, nor do they ever forget. In fact, the negative things are the easiest things that people seem to recall. All in all, there is rarely a childhood that is not soured by people either within the family, or outside the family.   

This was part of the reason why Angelica smoked. She was trying to cope with the tensions of being alive, and with the tension of not having nicotine coursing through her veins. Smoking is a hard habit to kick.

Chapter 5 Isabel la Catolica

The following weeks, the family spent it cleaning up the apartment. When it was made presentable, the permutation process started. The negotiations at first started with one party, and then several others go involved. After much back and forth, the family acquired the house in Isabel la Catolica. The apartment was gotten by a deaf lady, who did not mind the water tank. And so, each party acquired what their hearts so desired.

To help furnish the new house, a lot of the old stuff was acquired from the house in La Palma. The library for one was transferred to the new house, in addition to two of the beds, and the living room furniture. The TV also belonged to the Mason family, as well as the decorative arcs or coffers that were placed in the living room.

During the day of the move, Angelica noticed a fallen chandelier. It had fallen on top of the only bed they had kept. They had it repair, and they moved the bed to the side, to avoid having the chandelier fall on top of anyone’s feet. Aside from this chandelier incident, the house did not show any other noticeable problems. It had gotten some water damage from the hurricane, but the problems had been all superficial. The walls were made of brick and concrete, cladded with stucco, which gave the white walls an interesting texture. It had been smoothed over the years, with each new layer of paint. The material of the walls and the nature of the wood meant that nothing got rotten. Those old colonial buildings had been made to last.

They do not fall apart easily, in comparison to the cardboard boxes that people in the States call home. The last owner of the house was a fellow named Horacio Olivella, age 81. His wife had died, and his daughter had left towards the States decades ago. He barely saw her, and his drunken son was not very much good company. Eventually, he got very sick. It was during his illness that he met Dalia. She was an elegant Mulata, of extreme beauty, with black hair curly hair, a delicate thin body, and firm medium sized attributes. Her mother was Chinese, and her father was from Senegal. This 48-year-old lady found the old man quite vulnerable and useful.

It got to such a point that whatever money Horacio received from the States, he would spend it on his little Dalia. Since her father was starving because of his love, Horacio’s daughter Clarita started sending the money to her cousin. Her cousin would then send him the provisions. Since he was no longer had cash to spend on his Dalia, he was making efforts to sell his house. Before he could actually get around to doing so, he was found dead.

There was no serious investigation on the matter, since he was 81. The coroner simply eyeballed the corpse and ruled it natural causes. Still, it was common belief that Horacio’s family had killed him, to keep him from selling the house and giving the money to some bimbo.

This maybe murder house, was the one the Masons moved into, after permuting for it the apartment and the house in La Palma.

After her father died, Clarita stopped sending money to Cuba. She was not too keen on how the people were spending it. On the one hand, her brother was using the money to get drunk, and her father used it to womanize. Her other family members were not doing much either with her remittances. It just did not make sense to Clarita to work so hard, to maintain a bunch of lazy bastards, who did not even show the intention of trying to get some semblance of a day job. Then again, Fidel Castro’s Cuba doesn’t reward people for working hard. It does reward people who are either tools, or fools.

The day the move was concluded also happened to be the eve of Lucero’s birthday. Lucero was born on the same day as Angelica, November the first. On the October 31^st, the family moved the last of the items, and they gave the key to their apartment to the new owner. This was the first time that the children were in the new house. Lucero looked at the bars of the living room, the familiar couch, the curtains, the TV, and the large book shelve, and the rocking chair. Lucero sat down on the rocking chair and started to be a little bit pensive.

Whenever she got moody like that, it was best not to engage her. As for Eufrasio, he started to explore the house, he went from the living room, to the concrete garden, to the kitchen, to the back garden. He then asked his father, “Where are the rooms?”

“Over there,” said Eduardo pointing to a closed door.

Eufrasio tried to open the door, and he removed the lock, but the door did not budge. He then locked the door, and tried opening it again, thinking that he had done it wrong. Eduardo, in the end came to the door, and pulled at it. With some degree of effort, the stupid door, opened slowly, and then very quickly. It was an interesting quark about the doors, you first had to pull hard, to get them to budge.

Eduardo made a mental note to grease up the doors. Even with this future precaution, the doors continued to behave as they had always done. The previous owner of the house was aware of the problem. This was part of the reason why he never bothered to close the doors of any of bedrooms. It was too much of a bother for someone in his old age to use force of any kind. There were certain days when just having the doors open was not enough. Horacio would place a shoe, or a brick, to keep the doors from closing themselves.

The bedroom arrangement was made as thus. Irina had the bedroom nearest to the kitchen. The parents and Lucero had the middle room and Eufrasio had the bedroom close to the living room. He was given that room because it was common for Eufrasio to wake up super early to catch the 4 A.M. cartoons. Why ever in the world did they have kids shows at such an ungodly hour was a matter of some debate.

The shows of that hour sometimes featured animated movies from Japan. Just the night before, Eufrasio had seen Mazinger Z. He was itching to see if there was going to be more robot related movies. For this reason, he asked his father, “Which room is mine?”

“This one,” said his father opening the twin doors in the living room that led to the child’s bedroom.

The decoration did not hint at the age of the occupant. Since most of the decoration stayed, behind the bed was a tapestry featuring a forest and a river. There were two Armories, and a large glass shelve filled with encyclopedias. At the foot of the bed, there was one of those old, wooden coffers the family was always lugging around. This one in particular had all the wedding dresses worn by Angelica’s great, great, great, grandmothers. One of the them lived long enough to see Lucero’s first steps.

After trying out his large, two-person bed over the top. Eufrasio laid down on the left part of the bed and went to sleep. By now, Eufrasio had gotten his stutter under control. For the last couple of years, Angelica had taken her son the Logopedic. He was a speech doctor. He would give wording exercises for Eufrasio to practice. Whenever he did hid wording exercises, Lucero thought her brother was having a bit of a schizophrenic moment. She had read about it over the top in one of the many doctors manuals that were lying about the house.

Eufrasio did not go to sleep in the middle of the bed, because Lucero liked to roam at night. Back in the old apartment, she would go from her crib, to Eufrasio’s bed, to Irina’s room, before setting down beside her parents. It was very rare that she would sleep in the same bed, for the entire night.

As for the source of Lucero’s moodiness, she was not too happy about losing her crib. Her parents had gotten her a normal bed. They had given away her bed to one of Angelica’s cousins, who was with child. Angelica figured that she was not going to need a crib ever again, thanks to her husband.

When Lucero got sick, Eduardo felt like a complete idiot. He had originally only wanted two children. He figured that with his salary and his wife’s wages, they could at least afford two children. Not one to desire living in poverty, he made the math and decide. His calculated plan was short circuited by Lucero’s fragile health. If Lucero croaked, he was going to be left with only one son. He knew his wife wanted a daughter, that if the girl died, she was going to resent him forever for making her infertile. This was why he always kept an eye on the runt of the litter.

After Eufrasio went to sleep at 4 P.M, Eduardo went to the library to pick up a book to read. He did not read it however, instead, he focused on his little child. He wondered, What was going on inside that little head of hers?

There was indeed cause for concern. A week from now, Lucero was to begin school. Eufrasio was to return to school. When Lucero was told that she was going to go to school like her brother, she was not too pleased. This displeasure only showed ripples on the surface. They were only noticeable by the flat, acrid tone she gave in all of her responses.  

In the end, to give the mother and grandmother a chance to start the birthday preparations, Eduardo said to Lucero, “What to go for a walk?”

“Sure, fine, whatever,” said Lucero getting up.

The two walked outside to give a cursory view to the new neighborhood. All the houses in each block were fussed, one next to the other. Each front porch was separated by a fence. The front atrium in this house had two sitting spots. In front of each, there were some red flowers, with spiky thorns.

Eduardo took her daughter’s hand for the walk. He walked in such a fashion as to be on the side of the road all the time. He imagined that in the eventually of being run over, he could serve as a human shield. Such silly notions of self-sacrifice were pretty common for Eduardo. They were all born from the guilt of deciding for his better half.  

The pair walked the neighborhood, and they noted a couple of oddballs here and there. The most interesting fellow was their next-door neighbor. When they first saw him, he was punching the solid wall, while in his underwear. From time to time, he would make some bizarre yelling sounds. To Eduardo, the man seemed like a crazy person. Crazy people were common in Cuba. They were usually looked after by family members. From time to time, they would go to the madhouse Mazorra for electroshock therapy, before being returned home. The electroshocks usually kept them evened out for at least 4 months. Then, there was medication.

Those who did live in the insane asylum, where only there because they had no living family members. These people either became homeless or died because of neglect. As for the local, crazy neighbor he was mimicking Bruce Lee. Since Eduardo was not familiar with the dude, he mistook the yelling of the neighbor as noises typically made by crazy people.

Lucero gave a cursory, disdainful look at the weirdo. The weirdo looked back at the girl, and noted the maiden’s icy stare, which made him shiver. Her look reminded the crazy person of his commanding officer: A man who imagined that all people he met were beneath him. This first impression of Lucero was accurate. She typically looked down on everyone, including her own parents. For her, there was no one who was her equal. This is not to say she detested people, rather she could not relate to anyone, not even her brother. It would take at least two decades for her to open up to her family, and to even get along with them. Even then, she only shared half of what she thought or desired.

Eduardo and Lucero turned the corner, and eventually the found themselves at the Committee. Every neighborhood had a Committee with symbolic meetings and voting. It was designed to make the locals feel like their petty thoughts and opinions mattered. Eduardo never bothered to go to one, because he realized the pointlessness of the exercise. For those not familiar with Cuba, they might be wondering about Halloween. For the people of Cuba, Halloween is like any other normal day. There was a time when Halloween was celebrated, but like Xmas, it went the way of the dodo, when Fidel Castro took power.

At the moment, there was nobody at the Committee. Aside from a sign, it was just a regular home that had been repurposed for public assemblies. At the other side of the block, behind the house the pair saw the concrete garden. There were children playing there.

Smiling, Eduardo said, “Look, Lucerito, dear, a park. You like playing in the park?”

“Yes,” said Lucero flatly.

“Do you want me to push you on the swing?” asked Eduardo.

“I can push myself just fine, thank you,” said Lucero.

She looked through the swings, and she picked one that had a stable, iron chair and a straight iron bar. There were other swings made of iron chains, but she felt that the iron one was the better one. From then on, whenever she visited the park, Lucero always picked that swing. One of the children beside her was standing on the swing chair picking up height.

Lucero studied him coolly. She decided to play it safe, and she took a bit of an impulse and started swinging very slowly. Eduardo in the end came to give her a slight push. It was then when he noticed that the back garden was visible from the park. It was just behind a very low, concrete fence. Eduardo thought it convenient. He waved at Irina who was inspecting the back garden. She waved back without much enthusiasm.

When he turned around, he saw that Lucero was pickup quite the height. He was horrified when he saw the girl jump from the swing. She nimbly landed on her feet, with her arms, spread about for balance. She then proceeded to try to stop the swing, to jump again. Lucero was fond of jumping games. Back in the old apartment, she would jump down the stairs. She would try to land from as high as many steps as she could. She did not jump from the top step, to the midfloor. Rather, she tried one step, and then another. She knew her limit was four steps. The one time she had tried five, she had miscalculated her landing, and had fallen on her behind. The parents were not aware of this little jumping game of hers.

Eufrasio did know, and he always recommended prudence. Still, he would engage in it, whenever playing with his sister hopscotch. While the regular game used one stone, the siblings added more stones as the game progressed for added challenge. The winner was usually the fellow who could jump from the number 10, back to the number 1.

After hanging out in the park a bit, the father and daughter were summoned back to the house by Irina. On the way back, Eduardo and the girl heard the barking of dogs. They relaxed somewhat when they noticed that it was just a poor man, and his dogs. The man looked so thin that Eduardo felt sorry for the person. When he came home, he asked Irina to make a plate for him. Normally, the leftovers were put away for later. Still, neither Eufrasio, nor Lucero liked eating old food. And so, it was decided to offer the food to the poor man.

The man with the dogs was known as El Quique, which meant The Flint. When Eufrasio saw his grandmother giving the man food, he imagined that El Quique was Saint Lazaro in the flesh. Saint Lazaro is a major Saint in Cuba. His celebration occurs in the December 17. Every child born on that date is named Lazaro. If they are born on that date, the children are said to receive protection from the saint. He is worshiped by both Catholics and the Santeros. He is usually depicted as a scrawny old fellow, with leprosy wounds. Jesus eventually cures Lazaro of his Leprosy. The saint also comes with a stick, a purple cape and a dog nearby, who licks his wounds.

 El Quique certainly did look the part, with the beard, and the thin, tanned complexion, the purple shirt, the walking stick and the dog licking his hands and feet. El Quique did not eat the food right away, rather he took it home for his wife and daughter. Since this humble family did not have family in the States, they had to make do with the basic banquet, which just gave you enough to be undernourished. Cubans must always remain hungry, let’s their thoughts wander away from food, to something else.

As for the dogs, El Quique’s curs had not been the ones that barked. El Quique only went out to beg with his hounds because of the abandoned construction site a block over. Anyone who was not in a large group usually got attacked by a pack of strays. One time, the cops had tried to handle the situation, but the dogs were nowhere to be found. One night, when a lone cop was walking home he was manned by the dogs. Ever since then, none of the locals have tried to do something about the strays living in the abandoned construction site.

During full moons, the barking of the dogs was heard all over the neighborhood. During the first night at the house, the moon was full, as it is proper for Halloween. Eufrasio awoke to go eat dinner a bit earlier than he had planned. He found the barking of dogs a bit disconcerting, since they felt nearby. He sighed when he noticed the bars on the windows. Only very small dogs could get inside. He languidly rose from the bed, when he looked down to find his sandals. He saw a white shadow scrape across the floor. He did not hear it making a sound. He turned on the nearby lamp. He thought it was a bit too big to be a roach. He nervously looked beneath the bed to see what it was, and he saw nothing. For indeed, there was no living creature inside the room at the moment, aside from Eufrasio.

The light from the lamps flickered a bit. Eufrasio had seen a lot of horror movies featuring the flickering light, and so he knew not to make a big deal about it. Cuba always had electrical problems, so the flashing lamp did not mean anything. In the end, he concluded that it was his eyes playing tricks on him from being half asleep.

The following morning, it was Angelica and Lucero’s birthday. The mother had ordered a two-tier cake, with plenty of frosting. The man from the cakeshop did not know why Angelica wanted so much frosting. Still, he did as he was commissioned. On top of the cake, there was the shape of a bunny in white frosting. With pink letters, it spelled Happy Birthday, Angelica and Lucero. When the girl awoke, they sang to her Las Mañanitas by Vicente Fernandez. His song was a nice alternative to the traditional, Happy Birthday song. The song went as thus, “This is the little morning, to which King David used to sing to. Since this is the day of your saint, we sing you this song. Wake up, my dear, wake up, look, the sun has risen, and the little birds are singing, since the moon has gone to sleep…”

From there, the family transitioned into the birthday song most people are familiar with. Lucero was dressed in her Sunday best. She was sporting her favorite pink dress, with the frills, the laces. It was starting to get a little small for her, but Lucero did not mind. It was her favorite dress after all. This one she rarely wore, because she wanted to wear it for longer periods of time. By now, the shoulders felt a little tight. It was only a matter of time till it no longer zipped up.

Eufrasio wore his best green tank top, with black pants. Since guests were coming, the situation called for wearing pants. Pants were only employed in important social occasions, or when visiting an important public place, like a hospital, school or a church. It wasn’t frowned upon for children to wear as little as possible. Even during Angelica’s time, she used to run around the neighborhood as a toddler, only wearing her pink underwear. Decency became more standardized when the children reached the age of 10. Kids dressed for the weather, which was always, very, very hot. It was only tolerable because of the wind coming from the ocean.

Since this was a birthday party, the parents prepared little boxes with snacks. The snacks included croquets, bread with paste, guatacake, and cold macaroni salad. The guatacake was a type of cake that was made specifically for those boxes. They usually had strawberry frosting. Since Eufrasio loved Buñuelos, the box included some as well. They were dough pastry threats, the shape of infinity. They are covered in anise caramel. The dough is made of cassava and malanga, and it is to die for.

Other noteworthy foods, included Chicharrón or pork cracklings, served with lemon. For drinks, the children had Coca Cola. Coca Cola was a rare threat indeed. Not easily acquired. The smell of food alone was enough to get all the invited local children to attend. The parents also attended for the free food. Most of them were patients of the parents. The others were clients of Angelica.

As for family members, the only family member who lived nearby was Ricardo. He was Eduardo’s half-brother, from his father’s side. He lived a block over with his wife, and only daughter. He had made sporadic appearances here and there, only to be somewhat of a nuisance. The last time Eduardo had seen him was when Ricardo had come to the apartment to take his fan. Why did Ricardo take the fan? Because he was a douche, that is why. Angelica had been with child at the moment, and it would not have suited her well any type of arguments.

Angelica regretted the fact that the bastard lived so close to her. Still, he was family, and thus they had to tolerate the man, because family must stick together and all that nonsense. This was the first time Lucero and Eufrasio had met their cousin, Yanamaria. Yanamaria was the same age as Eufrasio, only she was shorter than Lucero. To Lucero, Yanamaria was like a living doll. She had porcelain white skin, blue eyes, and curly blonde hair. She reminded Lucero of the Barbie her neighbor had not let her play with. Her fair complexion was a sore spot for Ricardo.  

Since she was shorter, and resembled a doll, Lucero warmed up to her pretty quickly. Eufrasio too though well of his cousin. He found that his sister was a good judge of character. If Lucero got along with Yanamaria, it meant she was a good egg. Among the people in the party, there were two of Eufrasio’s good friends: the Penguin and Yuri. The Penguin’s real name was Yivor, but everyone just called him Penguin, because of his sharp nose, and straight black hair. When he walked, he warbled in the same manner as a Penguin.

The trio had met two years ago in school. Since they were regularly bullied, they formed a bit of a posse to fight back. Still, they were 3 against 7, and so they were not making any significant progress. Penguin was doing weights, but since he had a low meat diet, he was not putting on any muscle. The weights were made of two bricks on a stick. It was one of many of Eufrasio’s silly invention. He also made the Penguin’s fort, and dog house using materials he had found in the Penguin’s house. This was the reason why Eufrasio was no longer allowed to visit the Penguin’s house.

 As for Yuri he had gotten some large boots from the States. He had altered them to add a metal plating inside the shoe. This would give his kicks an extra huff. The bully problem was a work in progress, and it was a localized problem. Some of the brats were even at Lucero’s birthday party. Under the watchful eye of their parents, they behaved themselves.

Why were they bullies? Well, because they did not want to get bullied. As with most public schools in the world, you are either a prey or a predator. Bullying is one of those social problems that no society ever feels like dealing with. They either do stupid speeches, or pointless fundraisers, but the problem is never solved.

Angelica was aware of the bully problem. She having being a bully herself back in school, she thought she could bride the brats with food, and games, by having them feel included. Back when she was in school, Angelica bullied because of food reasons. She figured if Eufrasio’s enemies were fed, they would back away.

As for Eufrasio, he was dealing with his bully problem by raising his tolerance for pain. He would train by having his sister kick him over and over. She at other times would scratch and bite him. He had always been instructed not to hit his sister, and so her sister’s behavior had gotten a little bit out of hand over the course of her short lifespan.

The party itself went by uneventfully. One of the kids suffered a minor Ouchy, when a dull knife fell on his feet. Another person had a plate fall on their feet. The games played by the children were tag and later hide and seek. There were plenty of places to hide. Lucero was lost from sight for half an hour, when she hid inside the bookshelves. She was eventually discovered by her father, who was looking for her to cut the cake.

Picking her up, he brought her to the kitchen to the table to face the cake. They all sang her Happy Birthday song, and her father took some photos of the party. Since the film rolls where hard to come by, Eduardo had to make them count. At most, he took about 12 photos of the party. In each, Lucero smiled and winked. Why did she smile and wink? Well, she thought she looked cute when she did so. The party was concluded around 8 P.M. All the children went home, and then it fell to the adults the task to clean up the mess. As with most large visits, the single, non-flushing toilet had suffered the most abuse. With soap and Clorox, Angelica was dexterously cleaning the bathroom.

Irina was sweeping the confetti from the piñata. Eufrasio was watching TV, sipping a Coca Cola. Since he had drank soda, he was not going to be sleeping any time soon. It was Friday, so it did not matter too much. He could sleep a little late, and still make it to Catechism. Sitting to his left was Yanamaria, and to his right was Lucero. Lucero asked Yanamaria, “Shouldn’t you be going home?”

“I can stay a little longer, my parents don’t care either way,” said Yanamaria.

“Whatever dude,” said Lucero putting one of those sofa pillows close to her face. Normally, she would be in the rocking chair. Still, since they were seeing a scary movie, she did not want to face it alone. They were seeing it on a VH tape. Some sadistic bastard had gifted Lucero Phantasm.

Yanamaria was only half paying attention to the movie. She was looking through one of the doctor books. It featured photos of genetic malformities. Eufrasio was more used to horror movies. He would catch a couple from time to time at Yuri’s home. His father had a home theater, with a projector and everything. He would charge a pittance for people to come see whatever he had on. Yuri’s father offered a cheaper alternative to going into the Cine Praga. Cine Praga is a movie theater.  

Around 10:30 P.M., Eduardo said to Yanamaria, “I am taking you home.”

“Fine,” said Yanamaria with an air of resignation.

Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, Eduardo walked the girl home. The two did not say much to each other. Yanamaria was afraid of Eduardo. The reason was something rather stupid, and simple. When Yanamaria was small, she was visiting Eduardo and Angelica with her father, who was there to take their fan.

The girl saw a tiny, porcelain piano. She went to touch one of the keys. To mess with her, Eduardo had putted on a scary, angry face and said, “Don’t!”

The suddenness of it had made the girl start crying. Ever since then, she was a little bit on edge when near Eduardo. Eduardo had not been to his brother’s house in quite a bit. He was both surprised and a little disappointed when he saw the state of the house. A couple of years back, Eduardo had given his brother a large plot of land, and some money and materials to build himself a house. Eduardo’s brother Ricardo had used the cement to build a stupidly large foundation. It was the type of foundation one found in a sky scrapper. After using up most of the cement, all he was able to do was build a bathroom, a skinny hallway, a kitchen and a single bedroom. The rest of the land was being employed to house the birdhouse.

Ricardo made his money by fixing television and selling birds he caught. He was supposedly in the construction progress. Still, all he did was force his daughter to shovel a dirt pile from one part of the garden to another. Such pointless tasks were enough to drive one to insanity, and indeed, Yanamaria was suffering from Delusional Psychosis. She would block out or suppress all the times her father had beaten her within an inch of her life. When asked about him, she would always speak of him with the utmost praise nobody believed. This was the only way she maintained a happy disposition.

Eduardo was relieved to see that Ricardo was passed out drunk, on a chair, in the garden. After delivering the girl, he left without looking back. Along the way, he passed by the abandoned construction site. He heard the barking of dogs. This made Eduardo run. Since he ran, a pack of dogs started to follow, but only until he reached the end of the block. The stray never lingered past their territories.