Chapter 7
The heavy rain began to slow. Hector and Noribel now looked at each other and thought about how the journey would be different since Hector had found his new power. Arecibo lay ahead; there was not much time, or so Noribel thought, to find out what was the reason for the sudden change in Hector. As the rain continued to fall, the two young lovers thought about how different the way would be since the change.
Hector was still savoring his new-found independence. He watched out the window for the first sign of the city. He could not wait to visit more shops and find more clothes like the ones they had bought in San Juan. He would require another pair of shoes, or maybe a pair of boots like the ones he had tried on but decided against at the last minute. He thought he would also like to go out at night after they had eaten a big dinner. Noribel had told him that there were clubs in the cities where a young couple could go to dance and drink. She had said that these clubs were often very crowded with people of their age who attended the schools in the area and that these people were fun to be around sometimes. Hector had asked how she had known this, but she had shrugged and changed the subject. Hector also had asked how she had gotten the money for the journey, and again she had quickly changed the subject. But he was not so stupid that he did not know when a person was avoiding questions; he had seen his brother do it often enough, and Jose had said that to do this was a sign that a person was dishonest.
He thought about the money and the clubs they might go to and decided that it was time to hear how she had gotten the money and when she had gotten to know so much about the clubs of the cities.
"Sweetheart," he began in a soft tone, "you never told me how you were able to get enough money for the both of us to travel."
Noribel did not know exactly how to answer the new Hector, but she knew he would no longer accept her avoidance of the topic. She decided that perhaps now he would be better able to understand what she said and not be a simple country judge for her more sophisticated background and her families covert wealth. She turned to look at him as she spoke so as to gauge the effect of her words and shut down or distill as the situation dictated.
"Okay," she said, "I'll tell you straight out how I got the money. And, if after that you still want to hear how I know so much about the city, then I might as well tell you that too."
Hector nodded and said, "Go on."
"First I should tell you about my parents and how we came to live in Quebrada Seca. My mother was a teacher in San Juan — before I was born. She grew up there. Her parents were, well, not exactly rich, but not poor either. They made sure that their daughter, my mother, was educated in the finest schools available at that time. So, they sent her to private school in San Juan and then college in the states. She lived in the states for a time after she finished school, then she moved back home to teach in the San Juan school system. She lived well and did not bother herself with finding a man. She was, and she still is, a very independent person. Anyway, she taught for ten years living alone not two miles from where her parents lived, and she told me that she enjoyed her freedom and thought she would probably live this way for the rest of her life. She did not want to marry because most of the men she met wanted her to follow their rules and raise her children. Then, when she was convinced she would live by herself forever, she met my father. He was also a teacher, but he taught at the university in Carolina and he was much older. Well, to make a long story short, they fell in love and got married. They lived in happiness for some years before she found that she was pregnant with me. By this time she was already forty years old and the doctors told her that she may not live if she decided to give birth to me. As you can see, she had me anyway."
"But that does not explain how you got the money for the trip," Hector said.
"I'm getting to that. My parents had both lived very frugal lives both before and after they got married. My father had been raised in Quebrada Seca, and he had little use for the money he made at the university. My mother had gotten all of her parent’s money when they died, and she did not spend any of it. Add to that the money she made from teaching, and you have a great deal of money. My mother had always approved of you, and when I told her that I wanted to travel with you, she gave me the money without me having to ask.”
"Didn't she want to know if we intended to get married?" Hector asked.
"No. She said that if I loved you enough to travel to the states with you, then I had her blessing."
"So she just gave you a pile of money?"
"Yes."
"And you say we are going to the states?" Hector asked as though he were conducting an interrogation. He did not intend to sound as though he was angry, but it was the only way he knew how to ask a series of questions. He had seen his father ask questions of Jesus in this same manner, and he imitated without thinking about it.
"Mother gave me four thousand dollars for the trip. She said that when that runs out, we are on our own. She said that we should be able to live off that if we watch what we spend, and that there are many good people in the states who will help us to find jobs. I thought you wanted to go there to see your brother and to see where he goes to school. Mother said that she has never been to the North, but the people are probably the same there as they were where she lived. You do want to go there, don't you?" She asked as if she knew he was going to say no, and fear began to build inside her. His questions had added to her fear that he would want to go somewhere other than the states, and she knew that the trip would be ruined before they got off the island if he insisted on going somewhere else, or if he decided he wanted to spend too much time wasting money seeing his homeland.
Hector sat considering what he had just heard as his father had considered what Jesus had said on those first nights when his brother had returned home full of stories and determined to tell how great his life was now that he was away from the farm and the old way of life.
"Well," Hector finally said as he stared at the back of the woman's head in the seat in front of him, "we might as well go to the U.S.but we do not have to see my brother right away. I think we should try and get settled first. Perhaps we can get married soon after we get there so that we do not live in sin. And yes, we should be able to get work. With you as my interpreter, we will tell them that I can do any labor all day every day. There must be farms there that I can work on."
Noribel smiled and relaxed her shoulders against the seat. Of all the things she had heard him say since they first met, nothing had been as sweet. Yes, she though, I will marry you if that is what you want. Yes, the new Hector is still the simple Hector that I fell in love with. She moved closer to him as the buildings outside the bus became more numerous and the traffic alongside became thicker.
"Yes," she said, "we can do whatever you want when we get there. We'll be just fine...better than fine; we'll be great." And she closed her eyes and pictured their new life.
The transition from the old, timid Hector to the new, outwardly independent Hector had its effect, and now the two were fit and able to adjust. Noribel followed Hector off the bus and quickly into a cafe a short distance from the stop. They were in a section of Arecibo where Noribel knew her way around quite well, and she had hoped that he would head for this particular cafe for it was her mother's favorite and they had always started their visits to this city with a big meal there. Hector stood for a moment in between the rows of booths. He did not, though he had the will to do so, have an idea of how to seat them properly. She would still be in charge of many things. That is all right, he thought, I have a great deal of time, the rest of our lives, to learn how to pick out a place to sit in a restaurant. Noribel did not pick up on his lack of experience, and she simply strode past him and sat in the farthest booth from the door next to the window and opposite the entrance to the rest rooms. That was where she and her mother had always sat. She placed her bag on the seat of the booth before she sat down; sliding in next to the ba
g, her eyes were on Hector. Hector returned her gaze, but he misinterpreted it to mean that she wanted to become intimate there in the cafe. He stood for a moment not knowing what to do, then he bowed his head, took off his shoes, and started to undo his pants. Noribel could not get out any words until he was almost unzipped.
"What do you think you are doing," she gasped. All thoughts of her mother sitting across from her on their many visits disappeared.
"I thought you wanted..." Hector blushed and looked slightly confused as a waitress walked up from behind him and cleared her throat. He quickly re-zipped his pants and sat opposite Noribel.
"Why did you think I wanted you to take your clothes off?" Noribel asked after the waitress had left.
“I don't know," Hector said and he laughed. I thought you were looking at me the way you do when you are naked."
"Well, I was. But I didn't mean for us to...I wasn't thinking about here and now. I was just looking, that's all. You just caught me." She was a little embarrassed by what he had done, but it did not matter; all that mattered to her was that he was happy and comfortable and going along with her plan.
She looked in his eyes and shook her head. My little jibaro, she thought. All you think about is me naked and eating large amounts of food. But Hector had not thought about food yet; he was thinking about what it would have been like if she had done the same and they had made love there on the table. To hell with the waitress, he thought.
Hector had not eaten much in the cafe, and he had not felt like eating since he had looked down and saw his shoes and felt his new freedom back on the bench in San Juan. He also did not have to think about his freedom; he felt it through his whole body. Everything about his person seemed to change as time went on—even the way he felt toward Noribel. He now felt as though he were walking on air as he had when he had dreamt of their journey by the brook the first night he was away from home. And he looked at Noribel with more lust than he had, with more steam in his lungs, and with more heat in his heart. He longed for her like he had never been with a woman and was desperate to experience love-making for the first time. As they walked, he could feel the pressure to hold her build within him.
And they were finally in Arecibo. They walked down a palm-lined avenue amid the crowds of locals and tourists. They looked like two young students, as Noribel had hoped they would look, and they mutually felt like singing as they went. For Hector, everything was new; for Noribel it was new too, but it was also a stroll down an old avenue she had seen when she was with her mother, her hero, and the image of them walking together made her feel slightly homesick for the first time. They reached the end of the avenue as it ended when it reached the harbor. The sun was out now, and they faced the light as they sat on a bench with the harbor before them. This was the first time Hector had seen ships from such a short distance and he was amazed at their size. But he did not ask questions about them. He started to, but he checked himself when he thought that they would sound like the questions of a child. Maybe that is why she has treated me like a child, he thought. Maybe I sounded like one and acted like one. With this lesson learned in his head, he decided that questions about this or about that which he had not seen before would have to be held until he could learn the answers for himself. And Noribel thought too; she wondered which of these they would ride to the states.
Noribel had reserved a room at a hotel where she and her mother had often stayed. When she called from the hotel lobby in San Juan, she had told Hector that she was calling to get information about Arecibo; this was before he had changed. Now she did not have to hide her plans. She told Hector that she had chosen a hotel that she knew to be good and not too expensive, and that they would stay there until they could arrange to take one of the boats to the states. It all sounded simple enough to him, so he went along with the plan and did not ask questions. They got up from the bench where they sat looking at the harbor and walked along the boardwalk that lead to the park and then to the street where the hotel was.
Hector had not thought about how Noribel knew so much about these cities and the ways of city people since he had asked the questions about the money. Now walking on the boardwalk, he thought again of how well she seemed to know where she was going and how easily she walked among the crowds of people. Surely she has spent a great deal more time here than she has lead me to believe, he thought. Perhaps she lived here for a time. Perhaps not too long ago. She must have seen other boys while she was here, how could it be otherwise? He decided to ask.
"Noribel,• he began, "when you were here last, did you have a boyfriend?” He did not stop to ask his question.
"Why do you ask?" Noribel asked not knowing how to take his directness.
"I was just thinking that if you knew this place so well, you must have spent some time here. And if you spent some time here, then you must have met other boys.
Noribel knew she would eventually have to answer such questions, but she had not expected him to wonder about such things for a while. The old Hector, she thought, had no need for this. They continued walking at the same slow pace, and she was careful not to hesitate before answering. Instead, she tried to play down the importance of the subject.
She said, "If you want to know if I have had any boyfriends since I met you, the answer is no...of course not."
"But I don't mean since you met me,' he said. "I want to know if you had other boyfriends before you met me."
"Why do you want to know?'
'Because I do," Hector said as he became more irritated at her avoidance.
"Okay," she said, "you are not my first boyfriend. There, now do you know what you wanted to know."
Hector had not hoped she would say this, and he became nervous and did not know what question to ask next. They were nearing the park, and he waited until he had gotten to an empty bench before he stopped and sat down. Noribel did not like the looks of this. She knew that his questions would now be more specific. She sat next to him and tried to decide whether or not to tell him the whole truth or just some of the truth.
"I should just ask what you know I have to ask eventually before we get married," Hector paused before going on, "because if I do not ask you now, I will have to live with the truth, no matter what it may be, after we are married. So tell me, was I the first boy that you took your dress off for that time on the beach?"
Hector was scared now. He did not want to ever know the answer if the answer was no, but he could not stop himself from asking once he had started his line of questioning. Noribel knew the answer well enough; she would have to say yes if they were to stay together.
"Yes, Hector," she said, "I would not have done that with any boy if I did not think that he was the only one I would ever have in my life. If I did not love you, would I have done that?
If you were not my first, would I have left my family to start a new life with you in a strange country? I don't think these questions are very nice, you know. Why don't you ask me if I ever killed a person while you are at it?"
Noribel started to cry and Hector regretted having started the whole affair. He did not know how to feel, so he sat still and stared down at his feet. I wish I had just trusted her from the start, he thought. He tried to put his arm around her, but she would not let him. She sat looking out over the harbor. The tears filled her eyes, and she no longer knew what she wanted to do. Hector had never seen her cry before, and he did not know how to talk to her, or whether or not he should stand and ask if she wanted to get going. They sat for a long time, neither knowing what to do, before Noribel stood and started walking toward the hotel. Well, she thought that is over. I did what was best, and now it is over. The tears dried, and she began to feel better.