Swift as Desire Read Free Page B

little sailor and, well, let me tell you! All the kids in the neighborhood started making fun of him. We asked him if he’d lost his ocean. And where the costume party was. You know, kid stuff.”
    “And what did my father do?”
    “Nothing. He just laughed along, and said, ‘There’s no costume party, but didn’t anybody tell you that I brought the ocean along with me?’ He pointed behind us. ‘Look, there comes a wave!’
    “And like young fools, we all turned around to look, and your father just laughed. From that moment I liked him, and our friendship just grew. We lived on Calle Cedro; your
papá
lived in number fifty-six, and my family was across the street, so we spent our days together. We were never apart. And when my family moved to Calle Naranjo, Júbilo would come over as soon as he got home from school. We loved to play in the street; back then there was no danger of getting run over, because cars only came by every now and then, and buses, never! Life was very different then and the neighborhood was beautiful, but now, well, you can’t go out at night because you’ll getattacked. Like they did to me. I even had to go to the hospital. It’s so unsafe that the drugstore on the corner—remember it, Jubián?—well, now it has bars on the windows to prevent robberies. I remember when the González girls lived upstairs and at night your father and I would go to see if we could watch them undress when they went to bed. You’re listening to me, aren’t you, Jubián? I’m going to take advantage of the fact that you can’t talk back: I’m going to tell your daughter some stories, you’re not going to sock me, are you?”
    “Ha, ha. I…wish…I…could.”
    “I don’t doubt it for a minute! The only advantage I now have over you is that you can’t move,
’mano
, otherwise …! Did you know that your
papá
had a great boxing arm?”
    “No.”
    “Man, was he good! One day he even landed a punch on Chueco López, a boxer from those days, who was after your
mamá
’s bones.”
    “Really?”
    “Sure. We had a party one evening, back when we lived on Calle Naranjo, and the three of us were out on the balcony. Chueco climbed up a pole just to see your
mamá;
your
papá
gets so mad he picks a fight with the guy, and wins!”
    “But why was he so angry? Was he already dating my mother?”
    “No, not at all, I had just introduced them. No, according to Jubián the problem was that Chueco hadshown your
mamá
disrespect, but the truth is I was there too, Jubián, and I never heard anything that sounded like an insult.…”
    “He didn’t say it out loud…but…he thought it.…”
    “Ha, ha, ha…Oh Jubián!”
    “So, don Chucho, you introduced my parents?”
    “Yes, and your father still hasn’t forgiven me. Right,
compadre?
”
    “Noooo …”
    “Ha, ha, ha…it’s time you forgave me, it was all your own fault after all. That night, instead of hitting Chueco, you should have gotten out of his way, so that he could have married Lucha instead and you’d be singing a different tune now.…”
    “How could I…do that…? I liked the guy!”
    “Ha, ha, poor Chueco López, he was a good guy. He taught me how to box. He was a great boxer, he even made it to the Arena México and the Arena Libertad. Because I was little, they used to pick on me at school, so I asked him to show me how to fight and he said yes. He had a punching bag and a boxing ring in his basement, where he gave me my first lessons. He told me the main thing in boxing is never to close your eyes, because that’s when they get you. That’s why I told Jubián, ‘
Mira compadre
, when Lucha hits you, don’t ever close your eyes,’ but he never listened to me.… Oh well, that’s life. Poor Chueco had a rough life too. He really liked to drink and he ended up as a
jicarero
in a bar, a
pulquería.
…”
    “What’s a
jicarero?
”
    “Someone who serves pulque, similar to tequila, from a
jícara
, or gourd. But that was in