Subscribe to our Newsletter for more artworks and coupons

---

Find my work at:

Chapter 6 Silver Eye

A week passed uneventfully. Irina had seen the strange white shade a couple of times. For some reason, it made appearance a lot more in her room. Since she believed in Santeria and all that type of nonsense, she naturally assumed it was the ghost of Horacio. She did an exorcism of the fellow using a fish, and some grasses. When she was done, she placed the spell components in a bag, and left it in a street that had four corners. When she came to the corner, she noted other suspicious looking bags. She turned around and tried a different corner, a couple of blocks away. If one passed through the street while the bags where there, the bad luck, vibes or ghosts were picked up by another. A Santeria exorcism did not get rid of the problem, rather it relocated it. A more permanent solution could be done, but she would have to make a cake, and the family was a bit short on cash, after the birthday party.

Irina returned home to find Lucero in her rocking chair. It was about 5 A.M, in the morning, Lucero was an early bird. Smiling benevolently, Irina asked, “Are you ready for school?”

“We will see when we get there,” said Lucero petting her monkey plush thoughtlessly.

Much to Lucero’s chagrin, all her birthday presents had been school related. She had gotten the backpack, the writing utensils, the lined and blank papers, the pencils, erasers and the crayons. The backpack was purple, and it had Share Bear for decoration. The girl also had a small blue purse, which was to house her food.

After drinking her milk and barely touching eggs, Lucero was ready for school. Eufrasio dreaded having to finally go there with his sister. For some reason, he could not shake the feeling that the girl was going to have a tantrum. She had been particularly violent the day before during her combat training with him. She had even drawn some blood, when she scratched him with her razor-sharp nails. Combat training was put on hold by the mother, Angelica.

Since she was tired of seeing Lucero being mean to her brother, she had smacked their heads together. Frustrated, she had said, “Now get along. If you fight each other again, I will do the same thing!!”

Instantly feeling guilty, Angelica had then gone to smoke in the back garden. After calming down a bit, she added, “Eufrasio… if she hits you. You can hit her back, but only as hard as she strikes you.”

“I don’t wanna,” said Eufrasio.

“But you have my permission,” said Angelica.

Lucero was pensive all the while. Eventually, she extended her hand to her brother and she said, “Let us not fight again.”

Eufrasio then said, “I still need a way of getting stronger.”

“You should ask the weirdo next door for some fighting tips. I heard he was a karate man,” suggested Lucero.

“I.. I.. ggguess,” stuttered Eufrasio.

Eufrasio resolved to ask the fellow after returning from school, depending on how the day went. Since the Eduardo had the nightshift, he was the one who took Lucero and Eufrasio to school. Angelica took her bike and left for her consultation.

She was a bit reluctant to see one of her patients today. It was just a standard consultation. Still, the douche lady had the bad habit of running her mouth. Everything she ever told Angelica was terrible. Just recently, she had told Angelica that she was very lucky indeed. The patient felt herself lucky, because her 14-year-old daughter was a prostitute. As such, the patient did not need to work anymore. Prostitution was technically illegal, but the cops rarely bothered to deal with any type of crime. They were usually mobilized to pick on some worms, or any other undesirable. Aside from those times, they were just as lazy as any type of small-town cop, from any part of the world.

When she arrived to the consultation, Angelica was relieved to hear that her patient had dropped dead. How did she die? Well, one of those blackouts had given her a fainting fit. When the doctor came to check up on her, he was shocked to note she had no pulse. The patient had always prided herself on having excellent health, but the no pulse thing did not inspire much confidence. The patient was indeed alive and checking the pulse on the wrist yielded results. Still, the fact that the stethoscope had not detected any sound did not bode well. In the end, it was discovered that the patient had a tumor in her chest. She was death within two days.

As for the patient’s daughter, she moved to the orient to live with a cousin. She is still doing the prostitution gig, since it is easy money and it keeps her out of school. Had she kept up with a career, she would have to work in the fields, and the girl was not too keen on that type of back breaking labor.

Back at home, Irina was busying herself with the house chores. The house would always be completely opened, door, windows and all. It was then when the cleaning started, with the sweeping and the moping of the floor. This was followed by the polishing of the silver. From the old house, Irina had taken with her some silver goblets that had been passed down. The children were currently using them for eating gelatin. It gave the gelatin a faint, metallic taste to it. Later on, in the day, she would eat lunch, and then get started on fixing the clocks. If she remembered, she would take a bath. If Angelica was not keeping track on this bathing matter, Irina could easily go for a week without bathing.

The walk towards the school was peaceful enough. The father and his children passed by a row of houses, facing a bunch of large, slash pine trees. On their bark, they had a lot of green caterpillars. The crown of the tree was so thick that barely any light entered. It almost seemed like nighttime. Eduardo heard a bit of panting. Turning around, he noticed a stray starring at him. Eduardo neither disliked, nor hated dogs. Still, he thought that the stray problem was getting a little bit out of hand. Even with the homeless people occasionally eating a couple of dogs, there was still a large stray population. When Eduardo saw the dog, his heart started racing a bit. The adrenaline made the dog growl and start barking. Since Eduardo never had much dealing with dogs, he did not know that he had to maintain his Zen, in order to avoid getting barked at.

Lucero dressed in her little uniform said to her father, “Carry me.”

Eduardo did as she asked. As for Eufrasio, he clung nearer to his father. He felt that the dog was sizing him up, and not for clothing. The uniforms worn by Lucero and Eufrasio were pretty similar in color. Lucero had a red skirt and white, button up shirt. The skirt was held up by red suspenders that crossed on her back, like an X. Since Lucero was starting school, she did not sport a kerchief, tied around her neck. Since Eufrasio was in the lower tier of the grades, his kerchief was blue. Those on higher grades wore a red one. There was no middle school, as such, there were only two different color kerchiefs. All the children in all the country had to wear uniforms.

The only source of difference came in the form of shoes, and hair ornaments for the girls. As with everywhere in the world, the boys were not allowed to wear caps. The primary school was called Antonio Maceo. It was close to the Provincial Museum of History. Just a couple of blocks over was the Cathedral of San Rosendo.  Antonio Maceo was an important guerilla leader who helped free Cuba from Spain. Due to his skin color, he was known as the Bronze Titan. He died in action after Jose Marti talked him into fighting the Spaniards a second time.

Most of the schools in Cuba are named after war heroes who fought the Spanish Crown. It is funny to imagine that a couple of decades later, the Spanish King would visit Cuba to put flowers on the grave of Jose Marti. It is as if a Neo Nazi went to a Holocaust memorial to put flowers.

The school named after Maceo had a large, iron bar entrance. All the classrooms faced a large concrete park. At the furthest end of the school, there was a couple of large shade trees. As it is to be expected, there was no air conditioner. The windows were all opened, and they had bars. This gave the ochre and sapphire colored school, a nice prison like feel to it. As soon as all the children entered within, the door was locked behind them.

Eduardo kissed both of his children on the cheek, as it is the Cuban fashion. He then said to both of them, “I will be leaving now, have fun on your first day of school.”

Then turning to Lucero, he said, “And you behave yourself, you hear.”

Eduardo took a couple of steps, but he felt a heavy burden on his feet. Eufrasio who was not too keen on seeing his sister’s fit went inside to assembly line of his classroom, near the watchful eye of his teacher. He hoped the commotion might keep him out of sight of his arch nemesis. Crying Lucero, said, “Dad! Don’t leave me here!”

Pulling at her arms a little, Eduardo said firmly, “Let go! Lucero!”

“No, no! Papi! No! Take me home! I don’t want to be here! No!” said Lucero.

The grade schoolers started laughing, and some of the older kids lingered a bit to see the commotion. After a 10-minute fit, Eduardo said to her, “Fine! I will stay with you a bit to show you that it is not a big deal. Ok!”

Still, sniffling, Lucero said, “Ok.”

Lucero was not truly sad or scared. She just hated being taken out of the comfort of her home. She hoped against hope, that by being a bit of bother, she could get her way, as it had occurred many times before. Still, school seemed like a different serious matter, like whenever she had to go to the hospital.

While Lucero stood in line with her father, some of the children made silly comments, which she stoically ignored. Just as she was good at fake crying, she was also adept at tuning out. She did not respond, rather she stared back blankly, with the look of someone who was thinking of killing you. It wasn’t her fault she had such a kill face. Her serious look just had a way of making people feel uncomfortable. Depending on people’s mood, they interpreted Lucero’s poker face in a variety of different ways. Some imagined she was sad, others angry, while many though she looked bored or serious.

As for her father, Eduardo though Lucero was looking rather angry. Before all classes began, the children had to sing the national anthem. They also had to swear to be just like El Che. El Che needs no introduction. Most of the outside world is familiar with the myth of the dude. The real man was a murderous bastard, who was killed by Fidel Castro for stealing the spotlight. Oh! Wait. The guy he had killed was Camilo Cienfuegos. Same difference. Fidel Castro was never a man who liked sharing with his fellow man, even when he demanded that others share all they had with him. He wanted all the focus to be so much on him that he did not have a First Lady.

After his death, the First Lady nonsense was introduced. During his time, the wife of the president was nobody of importance, just a baby factory. Like any official, unofficial monarchy, the Castro family needed plenty of heirs to carry on the mantle after his death. His brother tried, but he lacked the charisma. The hot potato of ruling Cuba has been passed around a lot. Everything in Cuba just boils down to charisma. You do not get far in life without being charismatic.

Eduardo was charismatic, and so he got away with a many things that would land most worms in jail. This was part of the reason why the director did not question why he was standing in line behind his daughter. After Eduardo escorted Lucero to her classroom, he took his leave. Lucero watched him go, none too pleased.

The teacher was feeling magnanimous today, and so she allowed a lot more liberties to the children. Normally, she would box the ear of any brat that got out of line. Now, instead she slapped them in the back of the head. One girl in the front, had gotten her ear pulled so many times that it had grown significantly larger than the other. Since Lucero was the tallest girl in the group, she was sat on the back. Seating was done based on height. Lucero sat with another girl, who was a bit of a douche. She had repeated grade school, if you can believe it. There was no child left behind type of nonsense. IF you did not pass the exams, you did not move onto the next grade. It was simple as that. Getting past grade school involved learning to read and write cursive. Lucero did know how to read, but not write.

The first cursive lesson involved practicing writing your name. Lucero frowned when she saw her name written for her on a card. It was the first time she had seen her last name, and her mother’s maiden name. In Cuba, people use two last names. The mother also keeps her family name. The day rolled rather slowly. When Lucero looked outside, she saw that the older kids were playing sports. One of the baseballs flew in threw the window and struck her on the side of her belly. The kid who was Eufrasio’s nemesis came to pick up the ball.

He rubbed Lucero’s belly and said, “See, you are fine.”

Lucero did not respond, she only narrowed her eyes at him for a second, before turning to look at her name. While the other girls were practicing cursive, Lucero had not done any work. Eufrasio’s nemesis was called Yosvani. He had been born on the same day as Eufrasio. For the last two years, Angelica had been celebrating Yosvani’s birthday, along with Eufrasio’s. When Yosvani saw Lucero glaring at him, a shiver ran down his spine. He moved away from her. He had heard from his grandmother that Lucero had very angry Saints. Anyone who did harm to her always got a broken leg. Yosvani wondered if an accidental strike was enough of a reason for the eventuality of his injury. To avoid the Saints, Yosvani decided to be a little bit more careful. Instead of bothering Eufrasio like he usually did, he went to pick on the third-year girls, by lifting their skirts at inopportune times.

The time for lunch eventually came for the small children. Normally, the teacher had the students sit in a circle, and eat and share their lunch together. While looking at the lunch bags over the top, she noted the baby bottle. She had the children head out, and she left Lucero there. Pointing to the milk bottle, she said, “The kids are going to eat you alive if they see you drinking from a bottle. You can drink it as it is now, but tomorrow bring the milk in a regular bottle.”

Lucero nodded in response. The teacher frowned when she noticed that the girl had done nothing all day. She figured that the girl was a tough nut to crack, but at least she was quiet. The teacher preferred a silent student, over a noisy and disruptive child any day of the week. When the teacher left the room, Lucero drank her bottle quickly. She noted the time and she figured she had about 20 minutes to escape.

Silently, she tiptoed across the classroom. Eventually, she walked towards the entrance. Some of the teachers and students did note her, but her nonchalant behavior did not raise any eyebrows. They figured she had a specific charge or something. Lucero saw some students leaving the school, and she got in line behind them. The door was eventually opened, and Lucero was free. She trailed behind them for a bit, before doubling back and starting to make her way home. She ran a bit, but then she decided to walk the rest of the way. She was already pretty far away from school. When she got to the park, she sat down a bit in front of the bust of Jose Marti. She ate her bread and drank from a small bottle of water she had before continuing the rest of the way.

Eventually, she reached the block that had the large trees with the caterpillars. She heard there the barking of dogs. She saw a girl her age running towards her. Getting the hint, Lucero ran back crossing the street, and nearly getting ran over by a bike. She found the only tree that she could climb, and she perched there. The girl noted Lucero on top of the tree, and she climbed on top. Moments later, about four dogs crowded under the tree, with the barking and the snapping of teeth.

The girl on top of the tree with Lucero was wearing a blue kerchief. She kept saying to the dogs, “Shoo! Scram!”

Lucero broke a nearby branch and she threw it away from her. One of the dogs came away and brought back the stick. Lucero reached down and took the stick and then she threw the stick once again. This time a couple of more dogs followed after it.

All the while, the girl observed Lucero with mild amusement. She said to her, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because it is not going to work,” said Lucero. She added, “See, only the formally domestic dogs chase the sticks. The others are not going to leave us alone.”

“Your intimidation tactics might work, if only you could hold your nerve,” explained Lucero.

“That’s easier said than done,” complained the girl.

“I have an idea,” said Lucero.

Lucero started yawning, and the dogs yawned as well. She then nestled on her branch with her purse and pretended to fall asleep. The dogs turned their heads from Lucero and started focusing on the other girl. The girl mimicked Lucero’s action, but she could not keep herself calm. The dogs could smell her adrenaline and heart pumping. They stopped barking, and they just sat down on the floor wagging their tails happily. Eventually, there was heard barking in another part of the park. The dogs hearing the excitement of their peers started running.

The girl beside Lucero left the tree and started running back home. Lucero followed behind at a much slower pace. She was tired and she decided to power walk instead. As long as the girl was within her sight, Lucero could find her way back home. Despite taking this road many times, Lucero could not remember the way back home. The only thing she did remember was that the girl was a familiar face.

Lucero had met the girl on her birthday. After rattling her memory, a bit, Lucero remembered that she was called Yenifer. It was one of the most common names at the time. Lucero knew about 5 other girls with the same name. This Yenifer with a Y was one year older than Lucero. She had black, curly hair, cinnamon skin and bright green eyes. She was in the regular habit of skipping classes.

As for the dogs, the unfortunate person who had drawn their attention was an old man on a bike. He was not familiar with the stray problem in Isabel la Catolica. As such, he had seemed like an easier target for Silver Eye. Silver Eye was the name the children used to call the leader of the stray dog pack. He was a seven-year mixed breed dogs. The strays in Cuba had been crossbreeding for more than 40 years. Most of them were medium height, with a medium face and numerous different colors. As for Silver Eye, he had Gray color, with a strong, muscled body similar to a bulldog. There was some Greyhound in the mix. Still, the snout was medium sized in length, and he had short, droopy ears. Despite his size, he was a nasty fellow. When he bit you, he did not let go. This was a true testament to his bulldog great grandfather. Most of the dogs in the pack were somewhat related to him, and so they shared the same speed. Whenever a stray incidentally bred with a pedigree dog, some traits became more dominant. During Silver Eye’s time, his father had bred with an elegant Greyhound that had been smuggled from the States. When the owner saw that the lady had given birth to something that did not look like a Greyhound, he was sent to the streets.

His fierce attitude allowed Silver Eye to rise up in canine society. Now, he was the alpha of that territory. He had the triple combination of being swift, strong, and cunning. Though, from strictly eyeballing the dog, he did not look remotely intimidating.

None of the humans knew where the stupid dog had come from. Before, there was the normal problems with strays, but when Silver Eye took over the pack, the situation became insupportable. Since he varied his tactics, the people in Isabel la Catolica were always in suspense. Still, he was most common on the park during the weekday mornings. The reasons for that was that there were less people roaming about. It was easier to peg off humans if they were on lesser numbers.

Neither Lucero nor Yenifer were aware of this trend. And so, they were at the mercy of Silver Eye. By now, Lucero was almost out of the territory of Silver Eye. Before she got out, she heard a growling behind her. Slowly, she removed her backpack, and she placed it before her like a shield. Behind her was old Silver Eye. His mouth was red with fresh blood. Lucero took a step back, and the dog took a step forward. She reached into her pocket, and she took out the piece of bread she had not finished. Instead of throwing it at the dog, she held it out to him. Silver Eye, who loved eating bread, drew a little closer. He licked the bread and started nibbling at it.

Lucero took her other hand and she petted the dog. The dog lowered its ears when he saw Lucero’s hand drawing closer. He relaxed somewhat when he noted it was a simple pat on the head. Stray dogs rarely received kind treatment. It was always yelling and the throwing of rocks or sticks. Lucero pulled back the bread a bit, and the dog followed her and the meal. Eventually, she placed it gingerly on the floor for Silver Eye to eat.  

When she concluded this venture, she finished getting out of the park. She turned a corner on the block and then she stopped. She rattled her little brain a bit trying to remember the way home. She did not have to think for long for Yenifer came back for her.

“I thought you were dead,” said Yenifer taking her hand.

“I might have been, but I have a way with animals, just like one of those Disney Princesses,” said Lucero.

“Which one? Aurora? Cinderella or Snow White?” asked Yenifer as they continued walking.

“I think Snow White, mother said she wished for me in the same fashion as Snow White was wished for,” said Lucero.

“I don’t remember the wishing part. Then again, it’s been ages since I have seen the movie,” said Yenifer.

“I think it was in a book. Most of the ones in my house are pretty boring. One time, I tried reading Peter Pan and Wendy. I thought, this is the book that inspired Disney to make the cartoon. Anyhow, the book was pretty boring. It did have nice pictures though. Now, I don’t read the books I have a home. I just like looking at the pictures,” explained Lucero.

“Why did you leave school?” asked Yenifer.

“Because it was my first day,” said Lucero.

“Well, you haven’t given it a proper chance. Once you get going there for a couple of weeks, you are bound to find a reason to avoid going there whenever you can. The boys and girls lift up your skirt, whenever they get a chance. Some pull your hair, others take your books, and the teachers steal your lunch. I left because during this time of the month, the teachers gets more aggressive than usual,” said Yenifer.

“But why can’t I study from home?” asked Lucero.

“Because…” started thinking Yenifer. Eventually, she came up with this answer, “Because, Fidel Castro says so.”

“Oh…I suppose that is a good as reason as any. All things considered,” said Lucero more to herself.

She at least was pleased to know that it wasn’t some arbitrary whim of her parents. Around late afternoon, Angelica went to pick up Eufrasio. His day had not gone too well either. The teacher was making a big fuss over his calligraphy that seemed to worsen by the day. Eufrasio knew he needed glasses to see from up close, but he was not too keen on getting them. The reason for not wanting them was not bully related. Rather, he thought it was a problem that would go away with time. By putting the paper at arm’s length, he could make out what he wrote and what he read. The problem was a loss in accuracy.

His mind was pretty distracted as a whole. He could not wait till the next year for the three wise kings to come. Only then, he could get his heart’s desire. What did Eufrasio desire? He wanted an Atari and a game. He had played it a couple of times at Yuri’s house. Still, he wanted to be able to play a game for more than a couple of hours. Aside from the Atari, Eufrasio wanted marbles and building blocks. He could only pick three toys because these items too were rationed. Whenever it was allowed to buy the new toys, there was always a big tussle and rustle over the best items. Sometimes the parents would trade in toys in exchange for compota or baby food. Things had been a little bit tough over the last two years. The parents had been saving up to buy something good for a change.

When it came time to leave, Eufrasio looked for his sister’s classroom. She was not inside. He guessed that this might occur, but he never thought she would follow through it. Lucero was sometimes impulsive. Her impulsive behavior had gotten her in a bit of trouble when she was younger due to her klepto tendencies. Angelica put a stop to it by making Lucero swear by God that she would not steal ever again. If she did, God was free to smite her down as punishment for going back on her promise. Ever since then, Lucero had not stolen anything, but she had found ways of going around her little promise. The promise said nothing about taking lost items, or items that did not have an explicit owner. This was part of the reason why Lucero was always looking down when she walked.

Through this method, she had found a couple of toy soldiers, some cars, some crayons, and some marbles. Her favorite one was a black marble she called Zorro. Sometimes they would play pretend using the marbles and the toy soldiers as people.  The Zorro TV show was being played at the time, and so it was like a bit deal. It had gotten the siblings to fight one another with sticks. The overall goal of the battle was to disarm the other player. They had gotten some nasty bruises on their fingers due to the nature of the game.

After asking around, nobody seemed to be able to tell Eufrasio of Lucero’s whereabouts. Eventually, he had to face his mother without his sister.

Angelica naturally gave him an earful. In the end, she had to conceded the fact that due to scheduling issues, it was easy to see how Eufrasio did not see Lucero leave. Eventually, the two returned and found Lucero sitting on her porch waiting. The weirdo from next door was keeping an eye on her.

The one who seemed the most despondent was Lucero. She had hoped Irina would have let her in. However, the neighbor told her that Irina had left on a short trip with one of her clients. Both had gone to a bridge to place a lock there. It was a way of creating a bind. The client wanted to be with her lover forever. Thus, she had Irina make for her an Amarre or Binding. The bridge had hundreds of locks, with different makes and designs. All had the same purpose.

Irina was not too fond of those types of bindings. In part, because she knew that the Santos liked for love to happen naturally. You could bind a person to you, but like any prisoner, you could not make that person love you. Love is something that is given, not taken. It can only happen between two individuals who are truly free. This is at least what Irina believed. She was a bit of a romantic at times, always hoping to find her true love.

As Irina saw the waters of the river pass by, she abstracted herself in that elusive idea. Alas, all people must wake up at some point in order to survive. In this respect, Irina had a perfect balance of having the head in the clouds, while having her feet firmly planted in reality.

The day rolled by rather peacefully, and slowly. Most days in Cuba moved at a normal pace. At night, Eduardo came home to find his family together. He smiled when he noted that Eufrasio and Lucero were in one piece. The smell of roasted chicken was filling up every bedroom. The scent of chicken was a good sign. It was common for the Cuban government to relax its grip every once in a while. The trick to maintaining hegemony was knowing when to choke, and when to allow for the people to breath in air.

Eduardo’s day had been pretty busy. After working for 10 hours, he was finally able to return home around 9 P.M. Things had been slow, up until dusk. Suddenly, every woman in an 8-mile radius was giving birth. It was one of those full moons. Usually, after the eight month, most healthy women in Cuba tended to give birth during the full moon. When a lot of women synchronized their pregnancies, it tended to get pretty busy. Eduardo had only come home for a couple of hours to rest, and to check out the family. He would then have to return to finish the night shift. He was working himself ragged for a pittance. Still, it was the easiest way to get milk for the family.

All newborn mothers always got a healthy supply of milk. Whatever they did not drink was collected in a bottle for Doctor Mason. He would then smuggle the milk bottles out of the hospital hidden in his socks. This was the reason why his socks always smelled of milk.

Aside from treating the ladies, Eduardo had to deal with the poor bastard that got mauled by the dogs. Every exposed piece of flesh had been bitten. There was some loss of muscle tissue on one of the legs, and the belly fat had been partially devoured as well. It was this sight that helped developed Eduardo’s fear of dogs. When he was small, his family did not have pets, since his mother thought them messy. As such, he never learned to understand dogs, or even like them.

This sudden fear of dogs could easily cause Eduardo some problems in the future. While operating on the man, he commented, “What sort of vicious dog could do such a thing?”

“Silver Eye, doctor,” said one of the gossiping nurses.

“Silver Eye? Did you name him?” asked Eduardo.

“That is what the children call him,” said the nurse.  

Chapter 7 The Ceiba

January came and with it the promise of getting the presents for the children. Since Lucero was finally in school, Eduardo felt it was time to get her started in catechism. The Cathedral were all the children were taken was uphill. It had an elegant baroque design, a large grassy field, and some elegant ceiba trees. The local witch doctors were of the habit of turning around the tree. As they did, they made wishes.

The head priest was called Father Carlos. He was named after Saint Carlos. It was common for Catholics who entered the church to adopt the names of saints. The nuns also followed this habit. He was about 57, of medium stature, with balding white hair, with bushy eyebrows, and expressive animated eyes. He was somewhat overweight, which as a virtual sign, that he was well connected. Nobody with connections ever went hungry in Cuba.

Father Carlos would see the parishioners engaging in such pagan practices, and he would shake his head sadly. Since those witch doctors had good connections, Father Carlos could not do anything about them, he could not even chastise them. He did not fear their curses, but he indeed worried about the harm they could do to him and his flock in real life. Through fear and rites, the Santeros could compel their followers to entice the government to close up the church.

Ideally, the Cuban government wanted to get rid of religion. This was easier said, than done. As things stood at the moment, the church, the Santeros and the Cuban government had an unspoken non-aggression pack. Still, efforts were still being made to be rid of the Catholic Church for good, both within and outside of Cuba as well. For the moment, they were slowly infiltrating it.

Father Carlos was one of the few true shepherds left in Pinar del Rio. The rest had all been replaced by wolves. As for the Santeros, many went to the Cathedral, and even took the host into their person. For them, doing their little rituals did not exclude them from the Catholic religion. If it was up to Father Carlos, he would have excommunicated their behinds years ago. It did not make sense to him to pray for salvation on one end, while wishing harm upon one’s fellow man. Jesus taught you to love one’s neighbor, not to steal his hair to do wish him ill.

At the moment, it was close to noon. The children were engaging in choir practice. It was the only time during class setting that Lucero made a sound. This was in part due to her brother’s presence. Whenever there was a familiar face, there was a metamorphosis in her general attitude. Suddenly, she was pleasant to be around with. Eufrasio liked choir practice. He used to sing the loudest, because he wanted God to hear him.

Today, the nun had officially discharged Eufrasio from the choir. He did not care. He left singing rather loudly, “River of life-giving water! River of Life-giving water!”

Since he started departing, Lucero followed in suit. The nun said, “You do not have to leave, Lucero.”

Lucero did not turn around. She left pretending that she had not heard her. The brother and sister left to sit beneath the Ceiba tree. There was a pleasant wind, and everything was peaceful in the church. From time to time, people dressed in white would come to do their little rounds. They gave a cursory glance at the children, before returning to their worshiping activities.

Lucero said to her brother, “Do you remember when we were smaller? We used to lay down on the roof of the apartment, to see the clouds pass by?”

“We were small children then,” said Eufrasio sternly.

“I suppose, but don’t you wish to go back to that?” asked Lucero.

“I dunno. I have plenty of other things I could do, than just sit down and see the clouds passing by,” said Eufrasio getting up.

Lucero’s face darkened. She rose from the ground and the children made their way back to church, to wait to be picked up by their grandmother.

Aside from the church, the Ceiba tree was also found in the cemetery. It was somewhat of an uncommon tree. It was usually found in places of spiritual significance. It was common for Catholic settlements to build on top of the sacred sites of the Indians. They would substitute all their symbols and beliefs with their own. Even if there were no Indians left in Cuba, at least many of their sacred Ceiba trees remained.

Near one of the last remaining Ceiba trees in the cemetery, there was a lonely grave. The graves in Cuba were built above the ground. The water table was too high for proper burials. It was common for the children visiting the graves, to play hide and seek while the adults mourned. Eduardo was visiting his father’s grave. He always visited his father on the anniversary of his death. He did not see the man much. During the time his father was sick, his mother would take him out to the shopping center or to the park to distract him and his siblings. She felt that it would scar such small children to see the man suffering from the chemotherapy. After many years, Eduardo barely remembers anything good about his father. He only had two vivid memories of the man. The first was when his father returned from his operation. Eduardo saw his father with his shirt open. There was a surgical scar going from his chest to below his naval.   

His blood froze, and it took all his strength to come near his father after his mother beckoned him to welcome the poor man home. For some reason, Eduardo knew that his father was not going to survive. He did not have any hope on the matter. It just felt like a matter of time.

Eduardo looked upon the marker of his father’s grave and read his epitaph out loud. He then slowly read the man’s name. After remembering the incident with the surgical scar, Eduardo remembered the last few hours he spent with his father. It was common for Eduardo and his father to do laundry together. The man had told him that for the first time in a long time he was feeling better. When night fell, his father was rushed to the hospital. Days passed before Eduardo’s mother told him what he already knew.

To make his mother feel better, Eduardo lied and said he had dreamt of his father. He told her that his father was in heaven and in peace. In response to his kind gesture, his mother told him that his father’s last words were, “You putted on the wrong medicine.”

When he was young, Eduardo though the nurse had murdered his father. After he got to know the culprit nurse a little better he realized that she did not care. She would thoughtlessly, accidently kill patient after patient, and nothing bad ever happened to her. Her bad karma eventually caught up with her, and she too died because of the criminal negligence of a nurse.

This belated justice never brought peace to Eduardo. His father was dead, and what occurred to that nurse did not change this fact. Eduardo thought of this, and many other things while sitting beside the grave. A graverobber noticed Eduardo by his father’s tomb and he decided to pick a different target. Graverobbing has always been common in places like Cuba. The carcass of a human holds some value. At times, the government exhumes random bodies to teach their future doctors some anatomy.

This too had occurred to Eduardo’s father. Little did the poor man know that he was praying to an empty casket.  

In another part of Pinar del Rio, Irina was going to visit her favorite Ceiba tree. It was located in the garden of the first house she ever lived in. The house was in ruins and abandoned. Nobody lived there aside from the occasional bum. Her earliest memories were of the Ceiba tree. She was lying down in bed looking out the window. It was a stormy, windy night, and she saw faces inside the tree. These faces naturally frightened her, so she did what any normal girl would do. She hid under her covers, and she turned her back on the Ceiba tree. The following night, she saw that the faces in the tree making mocking, scary faces. It was at this point that Irina figured that she was being a little bit silly.

The current Irina looked up into the tree foliage. The dark shadows and the play of light made it seem like there were tiny creatures moving about the tree. As she had done many times in the past, Irina spun around the tree, three times. She wore an elegant white dress, and white turban. The only color decoration came from the necklace and bracelet. Both were decorated by beads with red and black patterns. Red and black is the color of Elegua. One cannot do any Santeria ritual without summoning the fellow. He holds the keys that connect the human world, with the world of the Saints. He also acts as a translator. Depending on his mood, he can mistranslate your message, thus angering the Saint you are trying to summon.

With each turn, Irina asked for a wish. In order not to be disappointed, Irina never asked for something impossible. She also was not of the habit of wishing people harm. What did Irina wish for?

Elegua only knows.

After concluding this little task, she started making her way toward the Grand Cathedral to pick up the children. Father Carlos saw her dressed in white, and he commented, “Celebrating the saints?”

“Yes, like any good Catholic should,” said Irina flatly.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night child. God be with you,” said Father Carlos.

“And with you as well,” said Irina as she entered the church.

“How odd,” said Father Carlos chuckling.

Irina did not make any remarks. She was already familiar with the usual trend of the teasing conversation. Despite being a priest, Father Carlos did not believe in such petty, superstitious nonsense. He was a practical Jesuit man, who believed that belief could not be force upon another person. If it wasn’t in the person to believe, then all a priest could do was pray.

Regardless of their belief differences, Father Carlos respected and admire Irina. He knew she was a good person. Every once in a while, Father Carlos would visit Irina and her family to dine at her table. She was just that amassing of a cook, in spite of the scarcity as far as ingredients were concerned.

Before looking for the children, Irina looked around the church. Despite coming here every Sunday, she did not get tired of looking at the decoration. The place was called the San Rosendo Catholic Cathedral. San Rosendo was a Catholic Saint from the 10^th century. Like most saints, he was said to be a healer. He taught people with both words and deeds. Why was this church built in Pinar del Rio? Well, because San Rosendo is said to the patron saint of that region. Each saint is believed to have a particular region, or country that they care a lot about. The region that has a patronage with a particular saint, always has a church dedicated to the fellow. The Catholic church usually arranges the patronages based on where the Saint was born. How or why Pinar del Rio got this medieval saint’s patronage is something that nobody ever thinks about?

Though, Eufrasio was thinking about it for a bit. He had recently run into a book about the lives of the Saints. It seemed odd that Pinar del Rio would have a medieval saint as its Patron. It would make more sense to dedicate the church to a Saint that was actually born or worked in this region. Then again, after reading the book a little bit more, Eufrasio realized that there were no Saints in Cuba, with the exception of Saint Anthony of Mary Claret. However, he was from Barcelona, Spain, and he worked in Santiago de Cuba.

As for the Cathedral of San Rosendo, it was built in 1903. It had an elegant mix of Neoclassical, and Baroque design. It has a balanced composition, with the two main bell towers in the front. The interior was pretty straight forward, with the columns holding up the barrel vault roof. The windows were decorated stained glasses. One of the them featured La Caridad del Cobre. Behind the altar, inside a large golden frame, there was an image of San Rosendo. Though to Irina, it seemed like an icon to Saint Lazarus. To the left of him, there was a replica of La Caridad del Cobre. To his right, was Saint Joseph with the Baby Jesus. The balance of red and white inside was quite eye catching. The exterior of the church had nice manicured lawn, and steps leading up to the entrance. Behind the church, there was large grass garden, with a couple of Ceiba trees. At the moment, the facade was painted white, with yellow on the decorative moldings, and around the small windows. The roof was painted red. The best aspect about the entire church was the immaculate marble floor tiles. The red and black tiles were such a treat. They ironically had the same colors as Elegua. On the exterior, there was a statue of Jesus.

Irina admired the floor and many other things while her footsteps echoed across the marble floor. She heard around her the familiar footsteps of the children, but she could not see them. Guessing that they were hiding, she said, “It is almost 6 o’ clock. You are going to miss your cartoons.”

Neither of them responded.

It was then that Irina remembered that on the weekends, the cartoons started earlier. She was forced to play hide and seek. After looking around a bit, she found her charges and she was able to return home. Along the way back, Irina started remembering what the old altars used to look like. Before moving to Isabel la Catolica, the family used to go to the Cathedral of San Rosendo. It was common for people in Cuba to marry to a specific church. Even if they moved, they still tried to visit the same place. Irina was never much of a church going type of person. She had not even bothered to have her children baptized. She had only started going regularly when she moved in with Angelica.

Angelica had become a Catholic thanks to her cousin. By the age of 11, Angelica was already baptized. By 13, Angelica was already Confirmed. Irina did not mind the change in religion, since to her Catholicism fell under the big umbrella of Cuban religiosity. She was just happy that her daughter had found something to spiritual to believe in.

Anyhow, the old altars were made of lovely wood. One day, Father Carlos was putting candles for San Rosendo when the weight of the candle caused to wood to collapse. This caused the big saint to fall on the fellow, who caught it before it smashed on the floor. Low and behold, the altars had been attacked by wood’s ancient enemy, the terminates. The altars were fixed by a pious man who died some time later, after completing his masterpiece.

Chapter 8 Foreign Buyers

In another part of the neighborhood, just past the bakery, there is a huge line starting at a Ceiba tree. The tree is providing shade for one of the few toy stores in the locale. Since it is January, there is a huge line to buy the new toys for the year. The latest ones are usually released in January. Each year, each family is allowed to buy a main toy, and two other toys per child. Just as the food is rationed, so too are the toys. The reasoning behind it, is pretty obvious with the force egalitarianism and whatnot. Still, equality is only forced on the people, not on those in power or well connected. Influence is indeed the true currency of Cuba. With influence, you can get everything your heart’s desire. How does one gain influence? By being like El Che, a charismatic, murderous bastard, who did not care who he had to ruin to get what he so desired.  

Anyhow, waiting in line like the rest of the mortals was Angelica. She sighed as she noticed that she was just at the entrance. She reclined against the nearby tree, only to flinch away from the spiny torn. She noted that there was barely anything left to take home with her. It was then she heard a friendly voice say, “Mrs. Teacher. How’s it going?”

“Hey, Faye? How you doing?” said Angelica.

The pair and hugged and kissed on the cheek, as was the costumery greeting among friends. The man standing before Angelica was named Mamadou Faye. He was from Senegal, West Africa. It was common for people of Africa to go to Cuba for training. Cuba had a weird relationship with the people of Africa. It was one of those work in progress type of deals. Fidel Castro in the early days campaigned a lot for the liberation of the African people. It is part of the reason why there is a lot of African and African American folks with El Che shirts. All they know is the propaganda, and not the reality of the man. Back in those days, Fidel Castro sold himself as a freedom fighter. He was democratic, and he was pro church. He said anything to get people to rally behind him. Once he solidified his power, he gave the Cubans his big surprise. None of it matters anymore. The past is the past, and the country is on life support, though technically clinically dead.

Anyhow, Mamadou was 5’4’’, with amber eyes, short curly hair and ebony skin. Since he was studying to be a doctor, he had developed a delicate complexion. The lack of meat in his Cuban diet had helped to reduce his muscle mass. Still, he was kept relatively healthy, since he was a foreigner.

Mamadou said to Angelica, “So, how’s work going?”

“Just the same daily nothingness. Though there was an interesting incident the other day,” said Angelica.

“Any rare, diseases spotted?” asked Mamadou.

“Nothing of the sort,” said Angelica, “Just that they found a baby in the graveyard. It still had its umbilical cord and placenta attached as well.”

“What sort of animal would do such a thing?” said a person waiting in line.

“That’s what the CDR is itching to find out,” said Angelica.

“Did the baby die?” asked another gossiping, bored fellow.

“The baby is fine. A little healthy girl. If it was a boy, he would have died,” said Angelica.

“How so?” asked Mamadou curious.

“Well, it is just my visual experience that things that would normally kill babies, seem to kill girls a lot less,” said Angelica thoughtfully.

“Mmm…” said the fellow behind Angelica. He added, “I have noticed the same thing with poultry.”

“Maybe baby girls are born stronger,” said Mamadou.

“It must have something to do with estrogen, or the fact that it is the same gender as the mother, so the body doesn’t see it as alien,” said Angelica.

“It is thought for concern when antibodies do that,” said Mamadou.

“More the pity,” said Angelica.

“I don’t get it,” said the fellow behind Angelica.

“Nor are you supposed to, little man,” said Mamadou smiling widely. He added, “I could spend the rest of the day explaining it to you, but I am not one to amuse strangers for very long, so if you are bored, have the courtesy to intrude in someone else’s conversation.”

“Mmm!” moaned the farmer.

Mamadou lingered beside Angelica for a bit. He enjoyed talking medicine with her. It served as a good refresher for his exams. His professor was knowledgeable, but a little cynical with his explanations. At least Angelica did not make him feel like an idiot.

When they reached the end of the line, Angelica was disappointed by the slim pickings. Shaking his head sadly, Mamadou said, “What a shame.”

The farmer said, “If there is nothing you like, pick something cheap, and I will trade you for some compota.”

“Fine,” said Angelica.

Compota was a type of baby food that kept well. In a pinch, it could provide a good, nutritional supplement. Angelica acquired the six toys for her children. Since the famer had boys, she picked out some cars, marbles, and a plastic machete. Machetes had become quite the popular toy among the boys, thanks to Elpidio Valdes. All his episodes ended with him doing a mad charge with his army, while wielding a machete.

The farmer followed Angelica to her home. Mamadou followed along because he was formulating a plan. One could almost hear the gears of his mechanism working. By the time the exchange was done, he had come up with a plan. When the farmer left, Mamadou pulled Angelica to the kitchen. He frowned when he noticed Irina starring daggers at him. He then moved to the back garden with Angelica, and the two of them were shocked to see Eufrasio and the Penguin playing with fire. They were burning paper and ants right next to the gas tanks.

Angelica said, shocked, “Give me that! Do you want to blow up into pieces!”

She took the magnifying glass from him and she placed it inside her pocket. Frowning, Eufrasio said, “I am bored.”

“It is better to be bored than to be dead. And if that gas tanks gets a little bit of fire on it, it will go kaboom, killing everyone in a six-mile radius. Do you want all our deaths on your conscious. Also, its mean to burn animals to death. It is a slow, and painful way to die. Don’t do it again! You hear!” said Angelica.

“Ok,” said Eufrasio.

“Do not talk back to me!” said Angelica folding her arms.

Eufrasio said nothing.

“Tell me you understand,” insisted Angelica.

Eufrasio opened his mouth to say something, but instead he nodded in response.

Angelica hugged her boy, and said, “I am just messing with you. Go play in the park, you little Firestarter.”

Eufrasio ran out of the house, along with the Penguin.  With both children gone, Mamadou said, “Well, about my plan.”

“What are you scheming now,” said Angelica.

“As you know of my condition, and the current climate both here, and back home, it would do me well to be seen with ladies such as yourself,” started Mamadou.

“I am thinking you are overthinking things,” said Irina, “This is Cuba. Nobody cares.”

“But there are people from back in the village who do know me, and who have been spreading false rumors about me. I need to nip this problem in the bud, before my parents catch wind of it,” said Mamadou.

“I don’t like where this is going. I am a married woman,” said Angelica.

“Since when do you care what other people think of you?” asked Mamadou, “Those who like you well, will think good, and those who despise you, will think evil of you. No amount of good, honorable behavior will change this simple truth of the world.”

“If it is a date thing. I haven’t got the time for it,” said Angelica.

“Nope. I have an even better idea,” said Mamadou smiling, “It will solve both your problem, and mine for the moment.”

“Go on,” gestured Angelica with her hand.

“Do you know of Las Tiendas de Amistad?” asked Mamadou.

“Oh! Those silly places, but you have to be a foreigner to buy there,” said Angelica.

“Not necessarily. I see often the local Quinceañeras with their Gringo Truck Drivers lovers buying all sorts of little knickknacks. As long as there is a foreigner there, the owner doesn’t care,” explained Mamadou.

Quinceañeras is Spanish for 15-year-old maidens. In most English-speaking countries, the Sweet Sixteen is king. In the Spanish world, they make a big deal about the sweet fifteens. As for the Truck Drivers, it is common for them to visit Cuba every so often to predate on the little ladies. The maidens never ask for too much because they cannot appear to have luxury, otherwise the government takes it from them to give to it to their favorite human pets.  The girls prefer this game for there is no incentive to getting normal days job to earn a pittance. This was but the early symptoms of decline. Many Cubans thought things could not get any worse but given enough time it could. Just as there is always room for improvement, there is always room for things to get a little worse.

Moving along, after much coaxing, Angelica agreed to try her luck in Las Tiendas de Amistad. There was one a couple of blocks away. Before heading out, Angelica thought it would work better to look the part. Angelica putted on a long, black skirt that was cut on the left, way past her knee. Tucked into the skirt, she wore a bulbous silk shirt that was pink. The cut of the chest went past her breast. She removed her bra, and she puffed up her hair. For the final touch, she putted on pink heels, and a golden belt. The makeup was simple, with just an eyeliner, and red lips.

When Irina saw her daughter exist the bedroom, she could not help but comment, “You look like a whore.”

“That’s the idea,” said Angelica.

Angelica started walking out, with her small wallet on hand. Along the way, something grabbed her by the feet, and she stumbled a bit. Lucero bit her mother’s leg, and scratched at her leg, with her tiny feet. Frowning, Angelica said, “I have an errand to run, I will play with you later.”

Lucero released her mother, and she frowned. Getting up, Lucero left the house and crossed the street to play cat with Yenifer.

Mamadou walked with Angelica at an even pace. Keeping his usual respectable distance. He did not make any lewd comments, nor did he flirt with Angelica. As before, the conversation returned to topics of medicine. When they were a block away, Mamadou said to Angelica, “Well, it is showtime. How do you think we should enter? Should we just hold hands?”

“What are you? A fag? Stop acting stupid,” said Angelica, “Just put your arm over my shoulder, almost reaching my breast, and then I put my arm around you, on top of your butt. Capiche!?”

“Let’s just do the whole, putting your elbow under my arm, and let’s call it quits,” said Mamadou rolling his eyes.

“You are no fun,” said Angelica.

Mamadou was already regretting coming up with this idea in the first place. Their entrance had the desired effect. The shopkeepers eyed Angelica from head to toe, and they frowned and huffed as she passed. They always did the same whenever a lady of the street entered, with their dingy trucker of man. There was also the slight racism that still remained from colonial times. It wasn’t an official rule about, it or anything. Rather, it was common for mothers to whip their daughters whenever they saw them dancing with a dark skin fellow.

The incident described above actually did occur to Angelica. Angelica had grown up with a kid who was part Asian, part African. When they got older, from time to time, they would dance at parties. One of those days, Angelica’s cousin told Irina whom Angelica was dancing with. Since Irina was going through a foul temper period, this sent her on a frenzy after her daughter. She whipped Angelica from the party home, back to her house. It was a good thing that the party was taking place next door.

Angelica could not help but remember this when she entered the store. Those little temper tantrums of her mother was part of the reason why Angelica rarely spent any time at home, as a child. She was either riding horses, or visiting a cousin, or going to camping school. She got into a faraway medical school to get away from her mother. Eventually, Irina did calm down when she found herself a man, but her new boyfriend was another reason why Angelica avoided going home.

After taking a deep breath, the student and the wife of the teacher entered inside the store. As was to be expected, there were no friendly gazes within the store named after friendship. Not desiring to linger there, Angelica made her way towards the toy section of the store.  The first thing that drew her attention was a bicycle. This would make her children a bit more active, but there was no guarantee that they would not get run over, and then there were the dogs to consider. They always attacked you when you went on a bike. It was then when her gaze shifted to a tricycle. Lucero was just the right age for one, though she was a little bit tall for her age. Angelica got the tricycle, and Mamadou brought it to the front of the store. He waited there at the counter with a big grin on his face.

The counter lady said to Mamadou, “It doesn’t take much to please her, does she?”

Mamadou said, “Quoi? Vieille salope?”

This meant, What, you old bitch?  

The lady in the counter figured that Mamadou spoke French. When she was younger, they had her school study French. When she moved, her new school was teaching the students Russian. By the time she got to University, English was all the rage. As far as foreign language was concerned, the Cuban government never committed. Like butterflies, they hopped from one crazy project to another, hoping to hit the jackpot. God forbid, should they ever get out of the claria. The claria was currently a work in progress. It would take another 20 years to finalize. Since gene splicing was the new thing, the Cuban government wanted to get in on it. The first experiments of gene splicing was done in 1971, by Paul Berg from the States. He was instrumental in getting the whole Stem Cell projects up and running.

While the States was doing useful stuff with gene splicing. Cuba developed a fish hybrid called Claria. It was a fusion of a catfish and a tilapia. The idea was to make a fish as nutritious as the catfish, with the Lobito of a Tilapia. The hybrid did have both traits, and it grew big too, like the Liger. The only downside was that it was poisonous to humans, it ate their small livestock and freshwater fish, and it could live outside the water for 2 to 10 hours. This claria problem worsened the food problem, instead of making it better.

Mamadou stood there, waiting, and waiting. Eventually, a fellow from the school entered the store. He recognized Mamadou and the two started a little conversation in his native Bayot language. The fellow said to him in Bayot, “That’s the wife of the professor.”

“And your point is?” said Mamadou in Bayot.

“No. Nothing. Is she any good?” asked the student.

“As good as any local frill. She has experienced, so at least she is not boring, unlike the younger girls that do much, and yet do nothing at all,” said Mamadou.

Mamadou had never slept with Angelica, nor had he ever entertained the notion. He preferred to make it seem as if he was indeed with Angelica, than for his friend to guess the truth. If the people thought he was just helping her, there was a good chance both him and Angelica could go to jail. For this reason, he decided to play it safe with his lewd comments.

The conversation followed its expected trend. All guy conversations about their lovers are pretty much the same. It is only different when the guy is truly in love with the lady. When Eduardo spoke about his wife, he spoke of how she completed him, and what their hopes were for the future, how she made him laugh or what a good mother she was. He never spoke about what they did in the privacy of their own bedroom. They were in love, and so he had no fear of losing her.

While the men gossiped, Angelica picked out other items aside from the tricycle. She would have taken the whole store, but the jealous administrator lady said, “It is only three toys per children.”

Et in Arcadia ego thought Angelica.

Resigned, she made a narrower choices. This is what she took from the store: the tricycle, the Barbie, a blonde baby doll, the Atari, a car, and a set that came with a mace, sword and shield. Mamadou looked at the large objects and he rolled his eyes. He figured he would have to carry most of them. He said to Angelica, “The tricycle is fine, but did you really have to buy a car.”

“I always wanted one since I was little. Since I will never have one, I want my son to at least have one,” answered Angelica.

Mamadou strapped to his back the large, green MGB Roadster. He could hear the peddles rolling inside a bit. One the one hand, he carried the tricycle, and on the other the set of plastic weapons. Angelica carried the box with the Atari on the one hand, and on the other the two boxes with the dolls. On the way out, Angelica looked at the Christmas tree. She asked the shopkeeper, “How much for the tree with the ornaments?”

The shopkeeper said, “I don’t know…let’s say 100 dollaruchos.”

“Ok,” said Angelica, “I will return.”

“Sure, you will,” said the shopkeeper laughing.

Mamadou walked a bit of a pace and said, “Surely you are jesting?”

“Didn’t you want more people to see you with me?” asked Angelica.

“Sure, but this is turning out to be more trouble than it is worth,” whined Mamadou.

“No complaining! I can only do this thing once a year. It is not as if I am going to have you logging about presents all the time, am I?” said Angelica.

“I suppose it would be the gentlemanly thing to do,” said Mamadou somewhat deflated.

Angelica stopped a moment. Mamadou stopped as well. Turning serious, Angelica said, “Thank you.”

“It was nothing to it. I did not even pay for anything. Aside from carrying this stupid car, I did nothing really,” said Mamadou.

“What seems like nothing to you, means a great deal to me. More so than you will ever know,” said Angelica. She opened her mouth to elaborate but remembering herself she decided to be prudent.

When Angelica arrived home, she was relieved to see that the children were not there. She said to her mother, “Do you have a place to hide this?”

“Dios Mio! Are you crazy?” said Irina sternly, “How much did that all cost?”

“Just 300 dollars. It is not as if we are using that money anyway. It doesn’t do any good to have it just rotting there,” said Angelica.

“You are lucky your husband is not here, or he might make you return everything,” said Irina.

“Its fine. I can just lie about it, but for that purpose, I might require your cooperation, and yours Faye,” said Angelica turning to him.

“Leave me out of it,” said Mamadou. He added, “Between husband and wife, outsiders should never meddle.”

Turning to her mother, Angelica asked, “Speaking of money, I need another 100.”

“Why!” said Irina.

“I am going to buy a Christmas tree,” said Angelica.

“We have a nice one already,” said Irina.

“Nice, sure, for someone living in a small apartment. This one is really big, mama! It is almost touching the roof, and it has so many orbs and lights, you are just going to love it,” said Angelica remembering the tree.

“I dunno. Toys are one thing, but a tree. It just seems like too much money for something you are only going to turn on once during Christmas time,” said Irina.

Angelica gave her mother the sad puppy eyes, and she made a fake whimpering. Rolling her eyes, Irina said, “That’s enough Gina Cabrera. Get your 100 dollars, and comeback soon. Though do try to haggle. Take some of those apricots compota, and the tilapia box too. See, if you can get a discount in exchange for these items we are already sick of eating.”

“Ok, mama,” said Angelica.

Angelica only called her mother Mama, when her children and husband were not around. The rest of the time, Irina was called mother. She did so to teach her children some respect. She thought that by respecting her own mother, the her own kids would respect her in the future. As for Gina Cabrera, she was a famous Cuban actress from the 1940s and 50s. She was famous for overacting, and for refusing to kiss her husband on the lips after saying, “I Do.”

Irina hid the presents under the kitchen table. She placed a mantle over them, to hide the toys from sight. Afterwards, she gave Mamadou a box of Tilapias. Meanwhile, Angelica carried the small compotas.

Mamadou was already sick of the entire enterprise, but he was a man of his word. He would carry out this task, come what may. Along the way, he saw a pack mule, and he felt a bit of kinship with the animal.  

It was close to dusk when the delivery was concluded. Since Mamadou had taken longer than he had planned, he decided to stay with some distant relatives who lived a block over, but not before eating some of Irina’s delicious cooking. He saw with mild amusement Angelica fixing up the Christmas tree, while singing. Eduardo had just return home. He greeted his family in the usual Cuban fashion. Eduardo shook hands with his student as a form of greetings. He knew that Mamadou was not a big fan of the kissing on the cheek nonsense.

The children also helped Angelica out with the decoration. They did not get to choose where to put the ornaments. Rather, they placed it wherever they were told to. Angelica was a big control freak as far as Christmas trees went.

On the background, the TV had on a terrible children kids show called Arco Iris Musical. It usually ran on Wednesday. This variety show was a miss most of the time. On rare occasions, they actually had something good. It was just on for background noise.

Mamadou asked Eduardo gesturing to Angelica, “Is she always this cheerful?”

“Most days. She doesn’t smell like cigarettes, so I am starting to think that it is a Christmas miracle,” retorted Eduardo.

“Is smoking really that bad?” asked Mamadou.

“You are my best pupil, Faye, so you tell me,” said Eduardo.

“Mm,” said Mamadou. He was a bit tense near Eduardo today. It was the same tension he always felt whenever, he had thought he had done something wrong.

To change the subject, Eduardo said, “They released Mbaye from prison today.”

“Thank the Gods,” said Mamadou, “For a minute there, I was afraid they were going to lynch him.”

“This is Cuba you are talking about. They do not lynch people. It is tradition to use a firing squad,” explained Eduardo.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” said Mamadou putting his elbow on the forearm of the sofa, to rest his head against his hand.

“Don’t worry about it. The worse he would have gotten was being unceremoniously sent back to his country…maybe,” said Eduardo.

“What a relief,” said Mamadou, “There is nothing worse than being accused of a crime you did not commit.”

“It is not too uncommon. And from what I hear from the truck drivers, it isn’t so different there either,” said Eduardo.

Lucero, a bit curious, asked, “Why was Mbaye in prison?”

“Mbaye had a girlfriend. One day, he told her he was no longer in love and he was leaving her. The girl naturally did not take it too well. The girl threw a fit, and the she accused him of Ideological Diversionism and thus was sent to prison,” explained Eduardo.

This was not the true reason, but it was at least something a Cuban child could understand. As Lucero understood the concept, ideological Diversionism was any idea that went contrary to the ideals of the Cuban government. There was a broad spectrum of activities that where criminalized. Most of the people persecuted under this crime were sent to prison due to petty reasons. Angelica was accused of that too, when she was young as well. Her criminal activity was spready church pamphlets.

She would have been in big trouble, had it not been for her great, great, grandfather. His name was Carito de la Santa Cruz Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz Picasso y Ramirez. Old family patriarchs normally had overly long names. People with such names were descendants of Spanish immigrants. Carito’s parents had immigrated from Spain. His father had made the family fortune selling matches. He had bought all of them in the country. When the War for Independence broke out, he was the only douche with matches for the muckets. Carito had inherited his father’s predatory opportunism. In his case, he pretended to be a dissident. He promised the fellows weapons. During the promised date, Carito hid the guns in his farm. The dissidents were all caught because of him, and they all got a single bullet to the head.

For being that type of a douche, Carito’s family had military privileges, such as never having to go hungry, or having family members get away with things that would send most Cubans to Mazorra.

Irina rarely spoke of him, and when she mentioned something, it was always about how he had gotten someone killed, or how he had ruined someone’s life.  She spoke of him a lot more lately because had finally died, at the age of 117.

Dinner came, and with it cheer into the house. The only minor mishap came in the form of a light bolt breaking and falling on top of a bed. Since it happened during dinner, it did not harm anyone. When the tree was finally lighted up, it flicked in a strange fashion. Almost as if there was not a steady stream of electricity.

Mamadou said, “Uh? It didn’t do that before. Oh, well, whatever. I am going home, good night then, Mason family.”

“Goodbye, Faye,” said both the children not getting up, or turning around. The two were catching up with their readings. Eufrasio was reading the Bible, while Lucero was looking through the pictures of a medicine book focusing on birth defects. 

Angelica said, “Don’t be rude. Say goodbye properly.”

“It’s fine,” said Mamadou yawning, “At this hour, and this full. I really don’t care. Don’t forget to close up all the house to keep the Grinch out.”

“Good night, Faye, and thank you,” said Angelica kissing him on the cheek.

“No, thank you. Mrs. Mason,” said Mamadou after returning the kiss.

With this cordial sign of friendship, Mamadou left.

The night air felt thick and humid. There were dark clouds gathering. There was a faint mist coming from the abandoned house were the dogs lived. Mamadou trembled a little worried about being mauled by some curs. There was no sound of dogs barking, though they never barked when they were on the prowl. Mamadou heard a strange creaking behind him, and the sound of a bell. When he turned around, he saw a fellow who said to him, “Toasted Peanuts?”

“Sheesh! Isn’t it a little bit late for that?” asked Mamadou.

“There was an election up in La Calle Real. And so, I was pretty busy for most of the day. Only now was I able to start making my way back home,” said the traveling peddler, “Which reminds me, Toasted Peanuts?”