A Corpse for Cuamantla by Harol Marshall Read Free Book Online Page A

you."
    Antonia Sánchez sat motionless, rigid as the rocks under her feet.
    " ¡Caramba, mujer! " her husband exclaimed. "You can't let this dog ruin your life. It's fiesta time! ¡Vámanos! Let's join the festivities. Forget your grief and rejoin the land of the living. I implore you woman as your faithful spouse of twenty-five years. Do this for me."
    Antonia lifted her sullen eyes, glancing momentarily at Arnulfo while he continued his pleading. She knew him to be an unpredictable man and wondered what prompted his festive mood hours before the drinking officially began.
    "I'll go with you," she submitted, "but first tell me the results of your meeting with our compadre, the Municipal President."
    Arnulfo grinned. "I was keeping it a surprise for later, for that time between the blankets when a husband could be shown proper gratitude for avenging the honor of his family!" He stroked the top of his wife's head as though she were a small child. Obviously pleased with himself, he surveyed his sons for approval. The two boys, seventeen-year old Francisco, and his older brother, nodded solemnly. Their teenage sisters blushed at their father's suggestive comments and looked away.
    "Then out with it." Vibrancy returned to Antonia's voice with such vigor the whole family jumped to attention. Lately, her moods came and went varying with the degree to which she had contact with the school officials, or which favor she wished to wangle from her feckless husband. Until he settled the score with the school Director, her poor husband would know no peace.
    The family's social standing in the community had suffered a serious blow as a result of their elder daughter Olivia's unwise liaison with the despicable Morning School Director. The only bright spot seemed to be her boyfriend. He continued to show an interest in both her and the child who, Antonia reasoned pragmatically, might be his offspring as easily as that of the despised Director. In her heart of hearts, she couldn't say for sure and neither, she guessed, could her daughter.
    The boyfriend even moved with her to Mexico City, but as long as the Director remained in the village the couple couldn't return to marry officially or to assume their rightful place among the boy's family. To make matters worse, the boy's father, an important official in an adjoining barrio, was deeply distressed over their children's troubles.
    "Tell me which grand solution have you found this time for ridding my sight of the coyote of a Director who pretends to be a leader of children but is only fit to lead dogs?" Antonia spit the question at her husband. If she meant to challenge his manhood Arnulfo chose to ignore the implication, if he even noticed.
    "Calm yourself, woman. This time the solution is a permanent one. Our compadre met with an important official from the teacher's union in Tlaxcala and for a small price, he has agreed to transfer the Director out of town. The Director will go to some snake pit of a school in one of the Indian villages where the women are not so attractive nor the amenities so pleasurable. Now, does that not satisfy your desire for revenge?"
    Arnulfo strutted across the patio detailing the Director's proposed banishment by the education officials. The news disconcerted Antonia momentarily. True, she wanted nothing more than to avenge the Director's mistreatment of her daughter. Nevertheless, she was shrewdly vexed at the prospect of losing this new means of control over her husband, which months earlier so fortuitously arrived at her disposal. On the other hand, retaliation would rejuvenate her and a clever woman she knew, could always dream up new ways to manipulate her spouse.
    "And from which thriving enterprise of yours," she said, "will the small price come to pay the esteemed official in Tlaxcala? From the barren corn fields surrounding these courtyard walls, which even the birds have abandoned? Or, perhaps from that pitiful stack of knitted sweaters resting beside