statements already indicated the rarefied terror to come.
Such folly deserves a long hiss from decent folk, theoretically and otherwise, though not from Mireya, for whom a string of such phrases must sound perfectly harmless, poor gentleman, dear me, it wasn’t as if after his outbursts he’d threatened to kill her with a paring knife, not in a million years, just lust, gushing, and nearly idyllic pleasure. In the end, his behavior was quite original and not wholly beyond the pale, so, returning to “I have something to tell you,” let’s get right to the words that ensued: she and her calculations: her somewhat fearful ahems. At issue was a new command from Madam, one that redounded to her benefit: from now on Demetrio would have to pay an additional fee for each lay, for the simple reason that no prostitute could be reserved for anybody’s exclusive use; if he visited the brothel on a daily basis he would be obliged to sleep with others.
Ouch. Capricious, given his steady patronage. Such unhealthy devotion was causing universal unease at the Presunción: this was the first time in its history a client had come to sin as punctually as he went, with intrepid daily devotion, to his job…. His needs, oh yes—but why with Mireya, when there were much hotter ones to be had? He’d fallen in love, by an arrow pierced: a catastrophe. This was a business, not a marriage agency: hence the extra fee: let’s see: five pesos the first day; the second, five additional pesos; the third, five more, and that makes fifteen; by the fourth, it was already twenty; the fifth, twenty-five; the sixth, thirty, and—enough already! because the seventh: remember he took a rest? The thing was, by letting one day pass, just one! he effected a return to the reasonable price of five pesos. Great idea. Ouch. A whim. He had no choice! Precise disclosure of the facts accompanied by a lowered head and a tied tongue. Demetrio considered it unfair, this madcap lack of proportion, and decided he would face down the madam that very day: I’ll give her a piece of my mind when I go to pay her. I know her bodyguards will be with her, but I don’t care. Then, footfalls; in anger, one could say. The agronomist did not dress or groom himself carefully; he’d dashed out ungirded. Was he in the right? Then, he entered brusquely and encountered Madam and her bodyguards in slothful indolence, lounging in armchairs with springy backs and plush pillows: and: three (incidental) guffaws: and without further ado:
“Listen, Mireya just told me that you …”
“If you want to talk to me, you’ll have to make an appointment. Today I can’t. Tomorrow either. In a couple of days if you want … Do you? Tell me now, because if not …”
“Okay … The day after tomorrow.”
“Come see me at five in the afternoon.”
“At five?”
“Yes. That’s the only time I have free. I’ll see you here.”
“Good. We’ll be alone?”
“Alone. I promise.”
3
He’d made a strategic gain, small but accompanied by the happy thought that an appointment is an appointment. Even so, Demetrio still had to invent a decent pretext for departing from the orchard long before five in the afternoon. Later, when he took stock of the strength of his position, and considered that he had never left work early before, he concluded that any excuse whatsoever would suffice. All he had to do was throw out an “I have to leave,” and, how could his subordinates, those lowly hicks, possibly reproach him? Power gave him elbow room: ah! self-sufficiency, daring, a dose of disdain, and other attributes that help us understand that his personality consisted of not offering explanations. The hour had come. Face-to-face, Madam and the agronomist. Tentative preambles. Alone in the aforementioned room. And he, finally, straight to the point:
“With all due respect, I’d like to say that your decision to steadily increase my fee doesn’t seem fair.”
Faced with such boldness Madam’s anger (and amusement) were sure to ensue, and without pausing she fired back:
“Look, all my girls are hot, though I admit, some more so than others. If you want only Mireya, you know how things stand, and if you don’t like it, go somewhere else! Otherwise, you won’t get Mireya …”
“What?”
“You heard right. I won’t rent you Mireya. And now I’m going to call my bodyguards.”