Almost Never A Novel

22


To descend one staircase then climb another that would take him much farther: Demetrio had found that this image portrayed—and summarized—his current plan. The hand-holding on the bench, as usual. No more than one half hour of decent love … A consequence of his showing up when she was not presentable … Thus the suitor had understood the need to schedule dates ahead of time. Because otherwise … too bad! … The subtleties of being out of favor, transformed into something that, fortunately on this occasion, became only a minor obstacle. Or rather the mother told the daughter: Go ahead, but I’m going to call you in … (already mentioned); resulting in: the consequences of haste: blocks of information from the suitor about his new job on the ranch out there in Sabinas; herewith we see the nature of the abbreviated because: his need to be near her so he could see her more frequently—how’s that? As it turned out, the half hour passed in a trice. Then the immaculately platitudinous good-byes we can well surmise: no embrace, no fleeting kiss (not even) on the sweetheart’s forehead: a most respectful one on the face (still so far away), nothing! then, damn, both their hands moving at chest level (arms bent) while he sketched out his plans to return to Sacramento soon to see her—see her! see her!! The looks in the eyes of two saints who, buried deep down in their spirits, longed to be a bit like dirty devils. But that’s another story.

Finally, to avoid giving Doña Zulema the opportunity to air her lament about having remained a spinster (that night she had told her nephew the idyllic story about her and her second cousin, Dr. Abelardo Rubiales), let us set Demetrio down in Monclova, where we must picture a well-lit scene in a rural living room full of objects that conjure up the most presumptuous rusticity; the new employee, sitting with a bottle of beer in his hand, and his new boss, who never stopped eating canapés and drank nothing. They were discussing all the chores that needed to be carried out in the places under discussion. Demetrio would live at the ranch called La Mena, but he would have to pay daily visits to the ranches called El Origen and La Igualdad, for which he would have at his disposal a well-maintained pickup truck. A pickup truck he could also drive on weekends … ! What a boon, thought the one who had reason to think such thoughts, and still more: On Saturdays I can go to the red-light district in Sabinas, if there is one, and have Sundays free to visit Renata! To think so much: to get entangled only to get disentangled, easy as it goes, and, what a good job he had landed!