Subscribe to our Newsletter for more artworks and coupons

---

Find my work at:

Chapter 9 The Silver Goblet

Spring came, and with it the daily sameness. It was the year 1983, and Fidel Castro had awoken in a particular happy mood, one cool April morning. It was thanks to his general good disposition that the rationing got a little bit loose. The Cubans were finally allowed to fatten a little. The market was flooded with chicken. Irina was the first to go to the chicken lines. After getting a couple of chickens. While there, she negotiated with a farmer for the purchase of one little piglet. She had the intentioned of fattening it. The children did not bother too much about the pig. They saw it as a future food. All their attention was preoccupied with their new toys and games.

At the moment, they were playing with the tricycle. The sister would sit, and the brother would get impulse and then jump on the back of it. At other times, they would drop from the incline that was a block over. Lucero was not too keen on going down from that spot, because she would pick up too much speed. Whenever she was feeling uncertain, she would plant her sandals square on the ground. When playing with the tricycle, she preferred to wear shoes to help control the speed.

It was around noon, when Irina returned home with her purchase. She had six new chickens to cook, and the piglet. She found her daughter taking a nap in preparation for her night duties. Meanwhile, Eduardo was busy with the Atari. He was supposed to have called the kids when it was installed. Instead, he had gotten caught up in a game of Combat.

Irina frowned, and she asked, “Where are the kids?”

“They are playing outside,” said Eduardo.

Irina seemed inclined to say more but chose to remain silent. She did not know what to make of that silly game. It just seemed like a bunch of blocks moving left and right, while the screen made weird sounds. She started walking, but she stopped a moment as if remembering something.

She placed a game in front of Eduardo and then she said, “Look son, mother bought you a new game.”

Eduardo said smiling, “Ms. Pac Man! Neat, I heard from my coworkers that this was real fun.”

“The Atari was meant for the kids you know,” reminded Irina.

“They will play it when I call them. I want to at least enjoy it for a couple of more hours before I must relinquish ownership of the joystick forever,” said Eduardo sighing.

Eduardo had been born before the age of video games. He would have been a gamer, had such systems come out sooner. Now, at the age of 41, his inner child was reawakening. The feeling was only temporary. He eventually rose from the ground with a heavy step. He went to the window and called for his children.

After doing so, he went to the bedroom to nap with his wife. Since Eufrasio was familiar with the Atari, he allowed Lucero to try the game out first. The first game they tried was Ms. Pac Man. It was intuitive enough, just eat all the blocks and don’t let the ghost eat you. The game Ms. Pac Man was actually rare in Pinar del Rio. Through it, Eufrasio and his sister were able to play many of the other Atari games. There was no game rental stores in Cuba. If kids wanted to play new games, they had to trade them with one another. It was common for kids to discuss what games they owned in the playground. When it came time to buy new games, they tried to get different ones from one another. This could only be done among the best buddies, and Eufrasio had by now four of them already.

Lucero had friends as well. Aside from Yenifer, Lucero had made a new friend.

Her name was Yazmin Perez. She was 3 years old, and the toddler of Eufrasio’s teacher. The girl had straight black hair, and bright gray eyes. Lucero played with her the same way she did with her own dolls by brushing her hair and picking out clothing for her. At other times, she would let Yazmin ride on the tricycle, or she would give her a piggyback ride. To Lucero, Yazmin was a living doll, and Lucero lately only got along with children that reminded her of inanimate objects. As for Yazmin, she was a little bit attention starved, ever since her mother had gone back to work.

Since Lucero was tall for her age, Yazmin used to call her Big Girl. They usually played in front porch of Ms. Perez’s home.

The hours rolled by rather slowly inside the Mason house. Eventually, there was a symbolic knock on the door. It was symbolic because the house was usually open during the morning to allow for the breeze to permeate the house. From the kitchen, one could see the entrance of the home when all doors of the garden where opened.

Irina saw the familiar face and she said, “Ignacio! Come in.”

Ignacio was a farmer from la Palma. He had one of the those extremely long last names and middle names too. For the sake of brevity, he will be called Ignacio Lopez. He was 57 years old, stout, and short, as was common for people who descended from Galicia, Spain. From his mother, he had inherited his red hair that was mostly white and his green eyes. From his father, he had gotten a face that reminded you of a pug. The beard also helped complete the pug look.  

He noticed the children playing. He gave a cursory look to the television and then he returned to the task at hand.

He asked, “Do you have the thing?”

“Yes,” said Irina handing him a brown paper bag. She added, “Don’t forget you have to throw it in the river, otherwise it is not going to work.”

“I thank you,” said Ignacio removing his hat, and bowing.

“Oh! Ignacio, you are far too simple for your own good,” said Irina returning to the task she was performing before the arrival of Ignacio.

She had been busying herself by polishing the silver. She was currently making some headway on the silver goblet.

Ignacio asked, “Where did you get such a goblet?”

“I found it. There was a crack in the back-garden floor, when we lifted the tile, there was a cache with some silver hidden away,” lied Irina.

“Do you think there could be more loot hidden around here?” asked Ignacio.

“It is possible, but there is no way to be certain without opening random holes all over the house,” said Irina.

“Maybe there is another way of going about it,” said Ignacio thinking out loud.

“Well, if you come up with a solution, I would be quite happy to implement it,” said Irina.

Ignacio left the house quite thoughtful. A month passed, and Irina had completely forgotten about the conversation. One day, Ignacio made another appearance. He only came down to the city portion of Pinar del Rio when he needed something. When he entered inside the house, he had a large backpack. Some of the visible objects included a pike, a shovel, a lantern and a metal detector. He also had headphones on. He started scanning the floor over the top a bit. He eventually made his way to the kitchen.

Angelica, who was home, was the first to react. She said, “What in the world!”

“Ignacio, what are you doing?” asked Irina.

“I am looking for silver. I did as you asked, I went home and gave it some though. After I threw the spell into the river, the Saints revealed to me the solution of how to find out what is hidden beneath the foundation of your home,” said Ignacio smiling happily, “You see, this is a metal detector. I am getting some strong readings over here…from the response, I am listening for cobalt, or maybe iron. No, I am certain it must be nickel. It is quite smooth, so it must be manmade. I am certain of it.”

“Look, crazy person, you are not digging a hole in our kitchen,” said Angelica sternly.

“I beg your pardon. Your mother asked to look into this,” said Ignacio.

“I did no such thing! Look, whatever I may or may not have said, it was purely in jest. I am certain, I never asked you to dig up holes in the house,” said Irina.

“Don’t you remember the silver! The goblet. The hidden loot!” insisted Ignacio.

“Oh! Wait now I remember,” said Irina laughing, “One cannot simply joke with you, Ignacio, and I am ever so much sorry to have made you carry so many items over nothing.”

“Oh, I see. So, there isn’t any treasure?” asked Ignacio deflated.

“Nope,” said Angelica almost apologetically.

“If it makes you feel better, I can make you some dinner. You must be starved after walking from so far away, with all those heavy items,” said Irina.

“I look forward to it,” said Ignacio putting the backpack down, and moving the metal detector to the side of the garden.

Meanwhile, Eufrasio had gone into the kitchen to open the fridge. Inside, he found the silver goblet with gelatin inside. He placed his index finger inside the gelatin. He noted that the texture was still not there yet. He licked the red liquid of the treat, and he tasted sugar slightly. Other than being used for gelatin. The silver goblet served no other purpose.

Chapter 10 The Little Park

Aside from the Cathedral of San Rosendo, the family went from time to time the Hermit of Charity. This church is one of many dedicated to La Caridad del Cobre. La Caridad is one of the manifestations of the Virgin Mary. In English, she is known as Our Lady of Charity. Still, her name refers to a region in Cuba known as El Cobre or The Copper. Ergo, her literal name means Charity from Cobre. When this hamlet was founded, the Spaniards had found copper. The mine dried out about 100 years ago. Most of the people there are descendants of African slaves who worked in the mines. Anyhow, this Charity manifested in 1612. Three folks who all had the name of Juan, had gone to sea to collect salt. Along the way, there was a storm, and the folks feared for their life. The youngest Juan had a pendant with the image of the Virgin. All three started praying and the storm subsided, as the storm died down, a little statue of the Virgin Mary came upon their boat, floating on a raft.

The Jauns took this as sign, and they brought back the statue with them. The governor after hearing their story ordered for a Church to be made for the Virgin. When the slaves were finally freed in 1801, the decree was read in front of the Lady of Charity. This story is the reason why almost all Cuban churches are dedicated to this Virgin. For those living in the States, one can see a nice replica of the Our Lady of Charity in the Hermita de la Caridad, in Miami.

Today, the Mason family had made the effort to go to this church, even though it was a little bit farther than San Rosendo. Since the parents had some free time, they though to bring the children to El Paquito González. The children did not bother to enter the church, since they preferred playing in the side garden.

Lucero noted some interesting new plants. When she touched them, the leaves shied away. The plant was called Mimosa Pudica. Lucero had seen them in one of the old Taxology books. The book had colored illustrations that were glued on. Many years later, Lucero would regret not looking through the entire library, at least once. While Lucero poked the plants, Eufrasio was with a stick trying to get a mango. There were some fallen mangos on the floor, but he thought they were dirty. Slowly, some of the sap of the tree had fallen on his elbow. After much tenacity, Eufrasio had acquired his mango. He clawed at the tip, and then started sucking at it, to get the juice. He said to Lucero, “Do you want a bit?”

Lucero nibbled at it, and then returned it to her brother. She rarely ate much of the food offered to her, but she would feel offended if the people did not at least let her try some. On the meantime, the parents were listening to a gripping sermon about humility, and the service to your fellow man. Irina had not been in the mood for attending church. She had just gotten some correspondence from her friend from Peru, and she was busy writing back.

Ever since she was 10, she had been writing to her Pen Pal Boris Lynch. Before the 21^st century, people used to communicate with one another using letters. The reason for this was that talking on the phone long distances costed lots of money. It was really expensive to do so, if you were a person living in Cuba. Many people in Cuba did not have a telephone line. The person who happened to have the telephone line was the one in charge of monitoring all communications that left the country.

At the moment, Boris Lynch was working as a Cubist painter. Through his artwork, he sustained his family, and his wife’s family. Sometimes it seemed to him that he was the only fellow that actually worked. His latest letter, he was bemoaning that his daughter had changed her last name. She had done so when she became a citizen of Spain. Instead of Lynch, she had gotten for herself the name Hussain. This last named belonged to Boris’s ex-wife who had remarried to a Turk. Little Adriana Lynch was trying to make it as a playwriter. She thought that the name Hussain made her sound more distinguished.

Irina was busy trying to tell him not to make a big deal about it. Irina had never met Boris in the physical world. Both had gotten in contact with one another through one of those silly school, pen pals project. Most kids never wrote to one another ever again, but Irina and Boris just clicked. They had a healthy, long distance relationship. They wrote to one another once a month.

Noon finally came, and with it the mass was finally over. Lucero said to her father, “I am starved.”

“We will eat something soon,” said Eduardo picking up his little daughter.

Angelica came to take her son’s hand. She stopped when she noticed the brown spots on Eduardo’s arm and hands. Frowning, Angelica said, “You should be careful with the tree sap in the future.”

She then came to a nearby water faucet and she cleaned the sap from Eufrasio’s hands and arm as best she could. After doing this, the family made their way towards El Paquito. Most of the people who visited the park thought that Paquito meant little park. They found it odd that such a large park, would be called Little Park. El Paquito González owns its name to a pionero or pioneer student who died in 1933. At the age of 12, he was already part of the Communist party. He was a useful tool for spamming all their propaganda. During one of their marches, he was short dead for causing a riot with his mates during a funeral procession. Using children as political tools is nothing new. All countries at some point have done it. You give them a little tie, and a sign and suddenly they feel all important, not knowing the true implications of the values they are representing. All that there is left to remember this tool by is this children’s park. The majority of the people who visit it are not even aware of why the park is named El Paquito González.

The park itself had a Carousel, a Sky Diver, a Rock-O- Plane, some Swing Boats, and the ever-popular Teacup. Like most things in Cuba, the place was falling apart. Only the Carousel and the Sky Divers worked well. The Swing Boats worked too, but only because they were made of iron. There was also the Merry-Go-Round, the Teeter-Tooters, the Metal Slides, the swings and the Animal Springers. There were a couple of vendors in the park selling sweets and pizza.

Rumor had it that the cheese sometimes had preservatives. In Cuban, preservatives was another name for Condoms. Nobody knows who started the rumor, but it made some people think twice about biting down into a cheese pizza slice. The first ride the children went to with their parents was the Carousel. It was common for parents to ride along when they had small children. This was part of the reason why there were large sleds behind every couple of horses. Angelica sat on the same horse as Lucero, and she held onto her daughter with one hand, while holding onto the column of the horse for balance. Eufrasio could be trusted to hold on for dear life, so Eduardo sat down behind him.

Eduardo was never too much of a fan of riding horses. He had pretty big hemorrhoids, and so mounting a horse was always a problem. As for Angelica, she rode horses often when she was younger. When she was small, one of the neighbors had a farm, and a horse she would ride. The lady of the house allowed Angelica to ride the horse, because it kept her special daughter amused. The girl did not ride the horse, but she liked seeing Angelica do things. When Angelica was not ridding the horse, she was on the swing. The two girls never spoke to one another, for one was the actor and the other the spectator.

After ridding the Carousel once, Eduardo and Eufrasio left to try other rides. Lucero did not like any other rides in the park. They twirled and turned a couple of times, before Eduardo said, “Fetched the pair to eat something.”

Eduardo bought a large cheese pizza for himself, Eufrasio and Angelica. For Lucero, they got some spaghetti with meatballs. She would have liked some steak, but the guy did not have any. Following the tradition, the parents proceeded to cut the food into small pieces. The spaghetti was also cut into smaller bites. The people of Cuba do not twirl their spaghetti with their fork, rather, they cut it, and then they eat it with a fork and knife. For drinks, they got for the kids Coca Cola. Pepsi had not made any headway in Cuba. The choice soft drink for many decades was Coca Cola. Aside from being drunk, the Coca Cola was used to make an amassing ice cream treat called Vaca Negra or Black Cow. It was basically coke, ice cream, whipped cream and sprinkles. It was also used to make the Drink Cuba Libre, which was Coca Cola and Bacardi Rum.

While the parents ate, they spoke sweet nothing to one another. As for the children, they discussed the latest giant robot movie. Eufrasio was trying to remember the name of the movie. Meanwhile, Lucero was complaining that the robot only appearing twice in the movie, for like 10 minutes each time. After rattling his brain, a lot, he finally remembered.

Smiling, he said, “I got it! The movie was called Yaltus and the Loss of Innocence.”

This was the title it got in Cuba. For the rest of the world, Yaltus was known as Space Warrior Baldios. How or why was his named change to Yaltus is a matter of some debate.

“Yeah, it sucks that the girl died in the end,” said Eufrasio.

“Well, it wasn’t as bad as that that black and white little mermaid movie,” said Lucero, “A real, bummer film.”

“I have been noticing a general theme with the children movies they put in the theater,” said Eufrasio.

“Yep, I am starting to see it too, now that I think about it,” Lucero took a sip of her soda and then said, “The guy running the theater is just sad as all. And he has no hope for the future.”

The Little Mermaid they had seen was the Japanese 1975 version. The film reel for this movie was in black and white. As for Yaltus, it was a lack luster anime science fiction movie. It was first released in Japan in 1981. It eventually made its way to Cuba.

As for Yaltus, Eufrasio and Lucero at first did not get the movie. As they got older, they understood its message. For Lucero, it seemed to her just Romeo and Juliet in space, with the robot Yaltus playing the role of the MacGuffin Mercutio. Eufrasio got a different message from the movie. To him, it seemed like a critique to fighting for your ideals. The couple represented the Soviets and the Capitalist.

Both loved one another, but they were being kept apart by their ideals. For Yaltus, ideals just get in the way of true love. It shows the futility of fighting for your ideals. Such wars are never ending. Overtime, Yaltus became Eufrasio’s favorite kids movie. He eventually saw it again, after having it restored in 2016. After seeing it, he was disturbed by the nudity in the movie. He wondered if the theater guy from Cuba was a sick bastard, after all. After doing a bit of research, he also noted that Return of the Yedi had stolen some interior scenery from Yaltus, since Yaltus had come out in 1980, while Return of the Yedi was a film from 1983.

This movie may seem trivial, but sometimes movies affect an entire generation. Most Cuban kids barely remember Voltron or Luke, but all still remember Astorgas.

After lunch, the family returned to the rides. Around two hours before sunset, the parents decided to call it a day. Eufrasio saw an ice cream stand and said, “Can I have some ice cream?”

“Sure,” said Angelica before Eduardo had a chance to answer.

He whispered to Angelica, “We don’t have the money for it.”

“Its fine, I found two American quarters on the floor,” said Angelica smiling.

Angelica was always on the prowl, looking at the floor for any spare change. She had picked up that habit from a little girl character from a textbook she had read ages ago. She spent most of her time looking at the floor to see what she would find. Over time, she had gathered a large collection of knickknacks. Lucero would eventually read the same story and pick up the habit as well.

Lucero walked a pace ahead of the line. She noted that the vendor only had chocolate ice cream. Since she did not like chocolate, she said to her father, “Well, since they don’t have ice cream I like, I am going to the Cachumbambes, you can find me there once Eufrasio finishes eating.”

Eduardo did not hear this, because he was bickering about money. Eufrasio did not listen to this declaration as well, because he was focused on getting his ice cream. He kept looking around, guarding his spot in line with zeal. After waiting in line for 7 minutes, Eufrasio got his ice cream. Eduardo asked the vendor, “Do you have strawberry ice cream?”

“No, just chocolate,” said the vendor.

Eduardo turning around said, “Well, I am sorry Lucero, we can get you some cotton candy if you…”

Angelica said frowning, “Where is Lucero?”

Eufrasio feeling sheepish shrugged his shoulders in response. With heart palpitations, Angelica cursed in a typical Cuban fashion by saying, “Pinga, cojone, mierda.”

Eduardo’s malediction came in the form of, “Me llevan…”

The first malediction meant stick, balls and poop. And the latter meant they are taking me. Where were they taking Eduardo? Since this was a Catholic country, the usual place most people felt they were being taken was hell by demons.

They started looking about yelling, “Lucero! Lucero! Has anyone seen our little girl.”

Each person they ran into, they asked, “Have you seen her? She is this small. She was wearing a white dress, with green polka dots, with black shoes. The dress had a kitty cat brooch.”

Eufrasio was dragged along by the hand by his frantic mother. She kept whispering when she was not talking to a fellow, “I am such an idiot! I should have known! One should never trust children stay were you tell them to. I should have, I should have kept holding onto her hand.”

Eufrasio said, “Mom.”

“Not now, Eufrasio,” said Angelica.

Eufrasio stopped, and yelled, “Mom.”

He half dragged her to where he thought Lucero would be at. The brother knew his sister well. She was in the Teeter Totter or Seesaw, though in Cuba it was called Cachumbambe. Seesaws are usually a two-person deal. Since Lucero’s gloomy face did not inspire much confidence, she had spent quite couple of minutes waiting for a kid to come play with her. In the end, a crazy person passing by sat down on the Seesaw to play with Lucero. His name was Judas Ramirez, he was the crazy person who lived next door.

From time to time, he would see the girl looking through a picture book outside. He wanted to be friends, but he had enough sanity to know that this could not be. Judas was no longer a child, and so his only option for friendship were either his elders, his contemporaries or his cat Mica.

Judas was not aware of this, but he showed an interest in Lucero because she reminded him of a childhood crush. The day he was going to confess his feelings to the girl, he saw her frolicking with the teacher. This was a big disappointment for Judas. It was not too uncommon for girls to seek out their more experienced teachers. It never went as far as mating, still, it was enough to perverse anyone. This was at least what Judas thought. To cope with the disappointment, he turned to karate and eventually he joined the army.

The special training, he received eventually caused him to crack. He was discharged from the army for making a big fuss and pointing his gun to a superior officer. His sanity comes and goes, as well as most of his memories. It was a side effect of the electric shock therapy he got from time to time. He was not institutionalized because it was a death sentence to anyone sent to Mazorra. The crazy people who had family members to look after them were the lucky ones. The rest starved to death, eventually.

Judas was currently living with his sister, and his great aunt. From time to time, he had a semblance of a normal life. This was one of such days. He was currently going on a date with a teacher, and her little 3-year-old daughter. Some people just do not want to live alone, and Judas was a handsome loon, with a deep masculine voice, blue eyes, a stout form and a stubble beard. Since he spent a lot of time training in the garden, his skin had a healthy tan glow. When he was not punching the walls, or bricks, he would amuse his time with a silly stick. He would also practice boxing with his cat. He never went as far as to punch his cat. Rather, he lightly studied the techniques of Mica to apply it to his form.

When he spotted Lucero, he was standing bored waiting for Ms. Perez to get off the Carousel with her daughter Yazmin.

Angelica came to Lucero and she said, “Don’t run off by yourself!”

While still going up and down, Lucero said, “I did not run off. I told you were I was, but you never listen!”

“We are going home,” said Angelica.

She gave a glance to Judas. He got off slowly from the Seesaw, so he would not cause Lucero to drop quickly. Angelica knew of his condition, and she knew that it was best not to rattle up crazy people. Instead, she pretended he was not there. Judas was used to people pretending he did not exist, so he did not take any offence.  

He saw Angelica carry Lucero away with one hand. With the other, she dragged Eufrasio. It took another hour to locate Eduardo who was running up and down the park like a maniac. The family reunited by sunset, and so they walked home together.