Still the Same Man Read Free Page B

fell to one side.
    Even so, Joanes didn’t let go of her. He remained still for a moment until he, too, closed his eyes and bowed his head. Holding on to the body of the chimpanzee, surrounded by that thickset jungle where nobody could see or hear him, he broke down in tears. He let the tears flood out, until his throat hurt from so much crying. In between sobs, he coughed, spluttered, and spat out curses and insults, many of them directed at himself.
    Afterward, he slowly freed his hand from the chimp’s. He inspected the collar, hoping to find some sort of identification. There wasn’t any. The monkey had a bracelet on her right wrist, a little trinket made of pink and blue plastic beads. The kind of charm a little girl might wear.
    He was wiping away his tears when the phone rang. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath before answering.
    “Where are you?” asked his wife, clearly anxious. “The busses are here.”
    “I’ve had a little accident.”
    “Are you OK?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, it’s no big deal.”
    “What happened?”
    “I’ll tell you later.”
    “But you’re OK.”
    “Absolutely.”
    “And what about the evacuation?”
    “You two go on ahead with your dad and the others.”
    “And you?”
    “I’m staying.”
    There was a pause, then she said she didn’t understand.
    “I’m staying,” he repeated. “I’ll catch up later. On my own. I’ll see you in Valladolid.”
    “Today? You’ll come today?”
    He told her no, that he’d spend the night in the hotel and leave the following morning, once he’d gotten some rest. Before his wife had a chance to object, he added that the wind wasn’t going to hit until the afternoon. If he set off at sunrise, he’d have more than enough time to get there.
    “You should really think about this.”
    “I told you, I’m staying.”
    There was another pause, and then she said, “Fine. Just be careful.”
    In the background, Joanes could hear his father-in-law grumbling away.
    “What’s your dad’s problem now?”
    “He wants to know what time you’re going to arrive.”
    “Gee, it’s nice to hear he’s concerned about me for once.”
    “Yes, well. I’ll call you tonight, from Valladolid.”
    “Did you turn in my computer for the hotel staff to keep safe?”
    “I was going to do it now.”
    “Leave it in the room. Since I’m staying, I’ll use it to go over some things.”
    “Is there some kind of problem?” she asked.
    And lowering her voice, she added, “Is it work?”
    “No. I just want to go over a couple of things, for my own peace of mind.”
    “Are you sure you’re OK?”
    “Of course! We’ll talk later, when things are calmer.”

    He went back to the car to look for something he could dig a grave with. On opening the trunk, he realized why his father-in-law had been so concerned. His golf clubs were inside. Clearly, he’d wanted to put them in a safe place before leaving for the evacuation hotel, where, in order to speed up the relocation process, nobody was allowed to take any large pieces of luggage.
    He picked the club used for getting out of sand bunkers. It had a smooth, iron head fashioned at a sharp angle, about forty degrees, to the shaft. He returned to the chimpanzee. In that same spot, he began to dig the grave, using the exorbitant golf club alternately as a shovel and a pick. The earth was spongy, damp, and perfumed, and bright black like caviar. But it was also intertwined with roots he had to work around or, if they were small, break up with his hands or by hitting them with the club. He spent hours digging a grave big and deep enough.
    He carefully laid the body down, in a posture he deemed somewhat dignified. He used his hands to push the dirt back on top of it. He would have liked to cover the tomb with stones, so that no vermin could pull the body out. But there were no stones around other than bits of highway rubble, which were too small and, in some inexplicable way,