Adios Muchachos by Daniel Chavarría Read Free Book Online Page A

week to keep both the houses clean. Victor? Well, he either eats out or cooks for himself. He’s a real first-class gourmet. Yep, he speaks it perfectly, but with a strange accent. What do I know? He says that’s the way they talk in Quebec. Yeah, he spent about five years in Montreal. No, I haven’t been to the other house, but Victor’s told me that it has its own squash court and a family sauna. Alberto? Oh shit, I completely forgot that he was coming … No, wait, if he calls again, tell him I’m in the middle of exams at the university and that I’m at a friend’s house in the country and I can’t see him until Saturday … No, no, no, all my friends know that I get furious when people interrupt my studies. That’s it, have him over for dinner on Saturday. And you can tell Otto the same thing, and have him call me on Sunday, in the afternoon. Don’t be silly, Mom; you have nothing to worry about; I know how to handle these guys. The less time you give them the hotter they get … This one? Well, as long as I’m with him I don’t want to see anyone else. Of course, Mother, he’s the best one I’ve ever had, and the best lover, powerful, creative. Yes, by a mile. He’s good-looking, he’s nice, and he cooks marvelously … No, he just went over to the other house … What? Mother! Ha, ha, ha. Now, what’s that to you? Well, OK, normal, ha, ha, ha. Damn, Mother, you’re worse than I am. Yes, he loves my dancing classes and he says he wants to take me to the Palacio de la Salsa tonight. No! No one is going to recognize me. Besides, Alberto and Otto don’t go to those places. No way! His wife has a whole collection of wigs here. Victor? I told you he went next door to get some firewood for a roast he wants to make out in the barbecue pit. Oh, Mother, how many times do you want me to repeat it? No! I have never had anyone better. But there is one thing that worries me. Well, the problem is I like him too much. What do I mean? What I mean is that I like him too much. That I’ve always dreamed of spending my life with a man like him and I’m panic stricken that I might fall in love. I would be completely defenseless.”

Chapter
Eleven

    Victor walked in rapid strides into the double mansion in Siboney, not through the house with the pond, where he had taken Alicia, but through the front door of the adjoining house.
    “Yoo-hoo, Elizabeth! Where are you?”
    He took off his jacket and climbed the stairs to the second floor. He opened a door and stepped into the shadows of a large, heavily curtained room. The only source of light was the bluish reflection coming from one corner of the room where a TV set was hissing at a non-existent audience.
    There was a large lump on the bed under a bundle of silk sheets and comforters. Only the long blond hair indicated that the lump had its back turned to the door.
    Beside the bed rested an ashtray overflowing with half-smoked butts, and on the floor stood a half bottle of vodka with the top off. Victor sat on the edge of the bed and gently shook the shoulder of the sleeping woman.
    “Elizabeth?”
    No answer.
    Victor probed the bundle of bedclothes to try to find the remote control. The screen displayed a still announcing the end of a skin film.
    Victor turned the TV off, put the remote back in the bundle, and ran one of the curtains to flood the room with daylight. He approached the lump and murmured into its ear, “Good news, Eli: I think I’ve found the broad we were looking for.”
    More asleep than awake, Elizabeth rolled over. Blinded by the light, she covered her eyes with the sheet and sank her face between Victor’s legs.
    A hoarse and pasty voice asked, “Are you certain?”
    “I’m certain. She’s the one we need. In a few days you’ll be seeing her in action.”

Chapter
Twelve

    Somewhere off the coast of Cayo Largo, a diver was videotaping images of the coral reef. He had aqualungs on his back and was shooting with a conventional 8mm camera.
    As