“Well, uncle,” Miki said, blinking very quickly, his finger in the air moving toward his mouth, “I think the moment has come for us to take the bull by the horns and move on to some sad topics.”
With a gargling sound, Escobita continued to drink the mineral water in his half-empty glass. He scratched his forehead ceaselessly and his eyes darted from his brother to Rigoberto.
“Sad? Why sad, Miki?” Rigoberto assumed a surprised expression. “What’s wrong, boys? Are we having some more little problems?”
“You know very well what’s wrong, uncle,” Escobita exclaimed, an offended tone in his voice. “Don’t act dumb, please.”
“Are you referring to Ismael?” Rigoberto played the fool. “Do you want to talk about him? About your father?”
“We’re the laughingstock of Lima, the talk of the whole city.” Miki assumed a melodramatic expression, zealously biting his little finger. He spoke without taking his finger out of his mouth and his voice sounded affected. “You must have known, because even the stones knew. No one talks about anything else in this city, maybe in all of Peru. I never imagined the family would be involved in a scandal like this.”
“A scandal you could have avoided, Uncle Rigoberto,” Escobita declared, almost pouting. Only now did he seem to notice that his glass was empty. He placed it on the table in the center of the room with exaggerated care.
“First melodrama, then threats,” Rigoberto thought to himself. He was uneasy, naturally, but increasingly intrigued by what was happening. He observed the twins as if they were a pair of incompetent actors. His expression was attentive and courteous. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to laugh.
“I?” He pretended to be baffled. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, nephew.”
“You’re the person my papa always listened to,” Escobita stated with great emphasis. “Maybe the only one he always listened to. You know that very well, uncle, so stop pretending. Please. We’re not here to play guessing games. Please!”
“If you’d advised him, if you’d opposed him, if you’d made him see the great mistake he was about to make, the wedding would never have happened,” Miki declared, slapping the table. Now he’d changed, and a small viper zigzagged at the back of his light-colored eyes. His voice had become heated.
Rigoberto heard some music down below, at the seawall: It was the knife grinder’s penny whistle. He always heard it at the same time. The fellow was a punctual man. He’d have to see his face some time.
“A wedding, by the way, that’s worthless because it’s pure garbage,” Escobita corrected his brother. “A travesty without the slightest legal standing. You know that too, uncle; you’re not a lawyer for nothing. So let’s talk turkey, if you don’t mind, and call a spade a spade.”
“What’s this imbecile trying to say?” Don Rigoberto wondered. “They both use clichés however they choose, like wild cards, not knowing what they mean.”
“If you’d let us know in time what my papa was planning, we’d have stopped it, even if it meant calling in the police,” Miki insisted. He still spoke with a forced sadness that couldn’t hide the trace of fury in his tone. Now his partially hooded eyes were threatening Rigoberto.
“But instead of warning us, you took part in that fraud and even signed as a witness, uncle.” Escobita raised his hand and made an enraged gesture in the air. “You signed along with Narciso. The two of you even involved the driver, that poor illiterate, in your ugly, ugly intrigue. So cruel, to take advantage of an ignorant man like that. Frankly, we didn’t expect anything like this from you, Uncle Rigoberto. I can’t get it into my head that you’d go along with this pathetic farce.”
“You’ve disappointed us, uncle,” was Miki’s finishing touch; he moved as if his clothes were too tight. “That’s the simple truth: dis-ap-point-ed. Just as it sounds. It makes me sad to say this to you, but that’s the way it is. I’m saying it to your face and as frankly as I can because it’s the sad truth. You bear a huge responsibility for what’s happened, uncle. And we’re not the only ones who think so. Lawyers are saying it too. And to be perfectly frank, you don’t know what you’ve let yourself in for. This could have very bad consequences in your private life and in your other one.”
“What’s the other one?” thought Don Rigoberto. Both of them kept raising their voices, and their initial affectionate courtesy had evaporated along with their smiles. The twins were very serious now, no longer hiding their resentment. “Will they offer me money? Threaten me with a hired killer? Pull out a revolver?” Everything was possible with a pair like this.
“We haven’t come to reproach you.” Escobita suddenly changed strategy, sweetening his voice again. He smiled, caressing one of his sideburns, but there was something twisted and belligerent in his smile.
“We love you very much, uncle,” Miki agreed with a sigh. “We’ve known you since we were born, you’re like our closest relative. Except…”
He couldn’t finish the idea and was left with his mouth open and an indecisive, disheartened look in his eyes. He opted for nibbling furiously on his little finger again. “Yes, he’s the stupider one,” Don Rigoberto thought to himself.
“The feeling is mutual, nephews.” He took advantage of the silence to get a sentence in. “Calm down, please. Let’s talk like rational, civilized people.”
“That’s easier for you than for us,” replied Miki, raising his voice.
“Of course,” Don Rigoberto thought. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying, but sometimes he gets it right.”
“It’s not your father but ours who married his maid, an ignorant, lousy half-breed, a chola, and made us the laughingstock of all the decent families in Lima.”
“A marriage that isn’t worth a damn besides!” Escobita reminded him again, gesturing frenetically. “A farce with no legal basis at all. I suppose you’re well aware of that, Uncle Rigoberto. So stop acting like a boob, it doesn’t suit you at all.”
“What should I be aware of, nephew?” he asked very serenely, with a curiosity that seemed genuine. “And I’d like you to explain the meaning of that word ‘boob.’ It’s a synonym for imbecile, isn’t it?”
“I mean you’ve gotten involved in a huge mess out of pure ignorance,” Escobita exploded in anger. “A motherfucking mess, if you’ll pardon my language. Maybe without meaning to, thinking you were helping your good friend. We grant your good intentions. But none of that matters, because the law is the law for everybody, in this case most of all.”
“This could mean serious personal problems for you and your family.” Miki’s voice was filled with pity, and as he spoke, he put his little finger back in his mouth. “We don’t want to scare you, but this is how things are. You never should have signed that paper. I tell you that objectively and impartially. And with all my love, of course.”
“We’re telling you this for your own good, Uncle Rigoberto,” said his brother, adding nuance to their argument. “Thinking more of your own interest than of ours, though you may not believe it. I only hope you won’t come to regret your mistake.”
“Soon they’ll be in a rage, and these animals are capable of hitting me,” Rigoberto realized. The twins were letting themselves be carried away by anger, and their looks, gestures, and expressions were increasingly aggressive. “Will I have to defend myself against these two with my fists?” he wondered. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been in a fight. In the Academy of La Recoleta, surely, during some recess.
“We’ve consulted the best lawyers in Lima. We know what we’re talking about. That’s why we can assure you that you’re now involved in one huge goddamn mess. Forgive me for using such ugly words, but we men have to look truth in the face. It’s better that you know.”
“For complicity and concealment,” Miki explained in a solemn tone, saying each word very slowly to emphasize its hostility. His thin voice kept breaking and his eyes were ablaze.
“The annulment of the marriage is under way and
the judgment won’t be long in coming,” Escobita explained. “That’s why the best thing you could do is help us, Uncle Rigoberto. The best thing for you, I mean.”
“In other words, it’s not us we want you to help but my papa, Uncle Rigoberto. Your lifelong friend, the person who’s been like an older brother to you. And we want you to help yourself and get out of this fucking predicament that you’ve gotten yourself and us into. Do you understand?”
“Frankly, I don’t, nephew. I don’t understand anything except that the two of you are very upset.” Rigoberto chided them with serenity, affection, and a smile. “Since you’re both talking at the same time, I confess you have me a little confused. I really don’t understand what this is about. Why don’t you settle down and calmly explain what it is you want.”
Did the twins believe they’d beaten him? Is that what they thought? Because their attitude became immediately more temperate. Now he saw that they were smiling, nodding, exchanging complicit, self-satisfied glances.
“Yes, yes, forgive us, we went a little too fast,” Miki apologized. “You know we love you very much, uncle.”
“His ears are as big as mine,” thought Rigoberto. “But his flutter and mine don’t.”
“And forgive us above all for raising our voices to you,” Escobita added, waving his hands in the air for no reason, like a frantic monkey. “But things being the way they are, it’s just as well, you have to understand. This craziness of my doddering old papa has Miki and me running around in circles.”
“It’s very simple,” Miki explained. “We understand perfectly that while my papa was your boss at the company, you couldn’t refuse to sign that paper as a witness. Just like poor Narciso. The judge will take that into account, of course. As an extenuating circumstance. Nothing will happen to either of you. The lawyers guarantee it.”
“In his mouth, the word ‘lawyer’ is like a magic wand,” Rigoberto thought with amusement.
“You’re wrong, Narciso and I didn’t agree to be your papa’s witnesses because we were his employees,” he replied amiably. “I did it because Ismael, besides being my boss, is a lifelong friend. And Narciso did it because of the great affection he’s always had for your father.”
“Well, that wasn’t much of a favor you did for your dear friend.” Escobita was angry again; his face turned red, as if he’d suffered sudden sunstroke; his dark eyes were flashing. “The old man didn’t know what he was doing. He’s been senile for some time: For some time he hasn’t known where he is, or who he is, and least of all what he was doing when he let himself be bamboozled by that damn worthless chola who he wanted to get his rocks off with, if you’ll excuse the expression.”
“Get his rocks off with?” Don Rigoberto thought. “That must be the ugliest expression in the Spanish language. A thorny, reeking phrase.”
“Do you believe that, if he was in full possession of his faculties, my papa, who was always a gentleman, would marry a servant who, to make matters even worse, must be forty years younger than he is?” Miki backed up his brother, opening his mouth wide and displaying his large teeth.
“Do you believe that?” Now Escobita’s eyes were red and his voice was breaking. “It’s not possible, you’re intelligent and well educated, don’t kid yourself or try to kid us. Because not you and not anybody else can pull the wool over our eyes.”
“If I’d believed that Ismael was not in full possession of his faculties, I wouldn’t have agreed to be his witness, nephew. Please let me speak. I understand that you’re very concerned. It’s to be expected, of course. But you should try to accept the facts as they are. It’s not what you think. Ismael’s marriage surprised me a great deal too. As it surprised everyone, naturally. But Ismael knew very well what he was doing, of that I’m certain. He decided to get married with complete lucidity and absolute knowledge of what he was about to do, and of what the consequences would be.”
As he spoke he saw indignation and hatred intensify on the twins’ faces.
“I’m assuming you wouldn’t dare repeat the bullshit you’re saying now in front of a judge.”
Escobita got up from his seat, in a rage, and took a step toward him. Now he wasn’t red but ashen and trembling.
Don Rigoberto didn’t move from his chair. He expected to be shaken and perhaps hit, but Escobita controlled himself, turned, and sat down again. His round face was covered with perspiration. “The threats have come. Will punches be next?”
“If you wanted to scare me, you’ve succeeded, Escobita,” he acknowledged, as calmly as before. “You’ve both succeeded, I should say. Do you want to know the truth? I’m dying of fear, nephews. You’re both young, strong, impulsive, and with credentials that would strike terror in the heart of the cleverest man. I know them very well because, as you recall, I’ve often helped you out of the situations and difficulties you’ve gotten yourselves into since you were very young. Like the time you raped that girl in Pucusana, remember? I even recall her name: Floralisa Roca. That was her name. And naturally I haven’t forgotten either that I had to take fifty thousand dollars to her parents so you two wouldn’t go to prison because of the charming thing you’d done. I know very well that if you wanted to, you could make mincemeat out of me. That’s perfectly clear.”
Disconcerted, the twins looked at each other, grew serious, tried to smile, but without success, became exasperated.
“Don’t take it like that,” Miki said at last, taking his little finger out of his mouth and patting him on the arm. “We’re all gentlemen here, uncle.”
“We’d never lay a hand on you,” Escobita declared in alarm. “We love you, uncle, even though you don’t believe it. In spite of how badly you’ve behaved with us by signing that filthy paper.”
“Let me finish,” Rigoberto said, pacifying them, moving his hands. “In spite of my fear, if the judge asks me to testify, I’ll tell him the truth. That Ismael made the decision to marry knowing perfectly well what he was doing. That he isn’t doddering, or demented, and didn’t let himself be bamboozled by Armida or anyone else. Because your father is still more alert than the two of you put together. That’s the absolute truth, nephew.”
Another dense, thorny silence fell in the room. Outside, the clouds had turned black, and in the distance, on the ocean’s horizon, there were electric shafts that might have been a ship’s reflectors or the lightning bolts of a storm. Rigoberto felt the tumult in his chest. The twins were still ashen and looked at him in a way, he told himself, that meant they were making a great effort not to attack him and beat him to a pulp. “You did me no favor at all when you got me involved in this, Ismael,” he thought.
Escobita was the first to speak. He lowered his voice, as if he were going to tell Rigoberto a secret, and stared into his eyes with a look that flashed with contempt.
“Did my papa pay you for this? How much did he pay you, uncle, if you don’t mind my asking?”
The question took Rigoberto so much by surprise that he was left openmouthed.
“Don’t take the question the wrong way,” said Miki, trying to smooth things over, lowering his voice as well and gesturing to pacify him. “There’s no reason to be embarrassed, everybody has his needs. Escobita asked you this since, if it’s a question of money, we’re also prepared to reward you. Because, to tell the truth, we need you, uncle.”
“We need you to go before the judge and state that you signed as a witness under pressure and threats,” Escobita explained. “If you and Narciso testify to that, everything will move much faster and the marriage will be annulled one two three. Obviously we’re prepared to compensate you, uncle. And generously.”
“Services are paid for and we know very well what kind of world we live in,” Miki added. “With absolute discretion, of course.”
“Besides, you’ll be doing my papa a great favor, uncle. The poor man must be desperate now, not knowing how to escape the trap he fell into in a moment of weakness. We’ll get him out of the mess and in the end he’ll t
hank us, you’ll see.”
Rigoberto listened, not blinking or moving, petrified in his seat, as if lost in wise reflection. The twins waited anxiously for his answer. The silence lasted close to a minute. In the distance the knife grinder’s penny whistle sounded faintly from time to time.
“I’m going to ask the two of you to leave this house and never set foot in here again,” Don Rigoberto said at last, with the same serenity he had maintained throughout. “The truth is you’re worse than I thought, boys. And if there’s anyone who knows you well it’s me, ever since you were in short pants.”
“You’re offending us,” said Miki. “Don’t make a mistake, uncle. We respect your gray hairs, but only so far.”
“We won’t let this stand,” declared Escobita, banging the table. “You have everything to lose, just so you know. Even your retirement is on the table.”
“Don’t forget who’s going to own the company as soon as the crazy old coot kicks the bucket,” Miki threatened.
“I asked you to leave,” said Rigoberto, standing and pointing at the door. “And above all, don’t show up here again. I don’t want to see you anymore.”
“Do you think you’re going to throw us out of your house just like that, you lousy hustler?” said Escobita, standing as well and clenching his fists.
“Shut up,” his brother cut him off, holding him by the arm. “Things can’t degenerate into a fight. Apologize to Uncle Rigoberto for insulting him, Escobita.”
“It’s not necessary. It’s enough if the two of you leave and don’t come back,” said Rigoberto.
“He’s the one who’s offended us, Miki. He’s throwing us out of his house like two mangy dogs. Or maybe you didn’t hear him.”