had purchased six new pool tables and several more of ping-pong, for if no betting was allowed—what was the point? So the club closed temporarily, a reopening remaining a possibility until further notice. In consequence, Demetrio withdrew his money from the bank (the fifteen thousand pesos and a bit more of his other capital) so that he could ponder, now in earnest, his business aspirations … What would be best? At one point he even had a notion to open up a high-class cathouse, the first in Parras, for better or for worse, but …
The risk: exuberant!
Where would he get high-quality whores?
Bring them in—but from where? Too difficult!
How many permits? How many expenses?
Evaporation and a mordant grave for such an impossible and indecent idea—right? A tad of regret after the posing of many objections. Immorality as a crappy way of life … What a muddled venture!
It could be said that with money in hand Demetrio glimpsed the thicket of sex, in Torreón: undulations he well deserved, considering his stamina and despite those weekly trips, a few days each; a hypothetical plan to set in motion his underused machinery, but first let’s take note of his mother’s badgering, especially one crucial event around the middle of September, when she reminded her son about going to Sacramento: to wit: what he had promised her and seemingly had no intention of carrying out. The big guy employed no end of pretexts to sharply dissuade her: that he’d go later—okay?, later; naturally, she, for a long time already, had sensed an affective uglification, we could call it, because when questioned about Renata, the aforementioned did his utmost to avoid falling into her unbearable snare of questions and answers, mostly through churlish and curt remarks: I’ll go in October … Or: We had a little misunderstanding and I want to wait … Or: I need to feel really good to feel like going … And more shadowy means to make it stop, but the mother, not satisfied, forced from him a confession. She did it tactfully, as if she were stroking thorns; always leading with tenderness, and success like a blossom: to sit together and talk parsimoniously. She cornered him cautiously. Demetrio spoke, spoke as he moved—with Doña Telma pushing him—backward, until he reached the supposed vulgarity of the kiss on the back of the hand, and, yes, the heartfelt lick; perhaps it was the eagerness of the novice to kiss passionately what never before, nevertheless, the unexpected explosion, how strange it had all seemed to him, because her mother had also insulted him. Demetrio wanted to be as explicit as possible, so he mentioned that the day before, he and Renata had spoken about getting married, and then the unexpected had occurred, as well as the consequences that had already taken place (double-dealing Doña Luisa): the pathology of a Puritanism that served no purpose, on the contrary, it messed things up, holding out, always, the path of forgiveness, which also served no purpose. At that point Demetrio had nothing to say other than that he had gone to see Renata the following day and no, just no, and Doña Telma, herewith:
“I know those Sacramento women. I am certain that Doña Luisa and Renata planned the whole thing the night before in order to find out how deep your love for her was. Maybe mother and daughter thought you would make a wrong move because you had spoken about marriage, you might put your arms around her or caress her or squeeze her hand a little bit too hard; any of these gestures would have been normal for you, but you chose a precipitous kiss, with no bad intentions, I know, especially because of where you did it. In any case, Renata must have interpreted it as indecent and especially because of the lick—what a shame!”
“So, what’s your advice?”
“You shouldn’t give up … You should go to her. You’ll see, she’ll forgive you.”
“What a pain! really … I must admit, at this moment I have absolutely no desire to go anywhere.”
“I understand how you feel. Just remember that she is still in love with you, but she wants you to fight for her, she wants to be absolutely sure of you before she takes the next step … Hmm … I know all about those Sacramento women.”
“They are too complicated.”
“But they’re worth it. As soon as she’s yours, you’ll see, everything will come right.”
What’s to say other than that this onslaught left Demetrio bewildered. It