My Lost Cuba

by Celso Gonzalez-Falla

  “I understand. Thank you for such wonderful company.” Rita’s mother followed Mike to the front door. “Wasn’t that quite a show? The grandfather hasn’t talked yet! We don’t know who her father really is. The tension frazzles my nerves sometimes!”

  “It was a pleasure to watch it with you,” Mike said. “The script and the actors are quite good.”

  “Oh, what talent!” she gushed.

  “Please, do tell Rita that I came by to see how she was doing. I’m glad to know she’s well.” Mike waved back to Rita’s mother, who was standing at the front door.

  “Please call again. I’ll tell her that you dropped by,” she said, gently closing the door behind her.

  — 21 —

  Dinner at La Zaragozana

  DON MIGUEL SPOKE to Patricia in a tentative voice. “My son Mike is back in Havana. I’d like you to meet him and his fiancée, Maria Alicia Suarez. Would you join us for dinner this Friday night?”

  “Yes, of course, I’d love to meet them. It would be nice to meet your son. At what time?”

  “I’ll pick you up around seven-thirty.”

  Mike wanted to meet Patricia, and Friday morning he spoke on the phone with his sisters and Maria Alicia about the dinner. Meanwhile, his father was in excellent spirits; he had even jokingly asked Georgina about her boyfriends.

  Mike and his father arrived at Maria Alicia’s house early and paid respects to her mother, who was polite but chilly. She had been one of Adelaida’s closest friends, and to see her widower going out with a girl as young as her daughter! El Gordo invited them to stay for a drink, but they declined. In his view, his friend should have set up this young hussy as his mistress and avoid all the gossip. Yet he admired Don Miguel. He had principles and he was setting a good example to his son: A true gentleman does not keep a mistress. Amid the strained politeness Maria Alicia appeared, and after the usual flurry of kisses and goodbyes, they left to pick up Patricia.

  Patricia, nervous because Miguel was now late, waited at the street corner below her apartment. The wind had disrupted her careful hairdo, which upset her because she wanted to look perfect before his family. Don Miguel got out of the car, followed by Mike, and introduced her first to him and then to Maria Alicia, who nodded her head. They headed to La Zaragozana, where they ordered paella and beer. At the table, Maria Alicia and Patricia carefully examined each other. Maria Alicia noticed that Patricia’s dress was made of expensive fabric and very well cut, but she did not wear expensive jewelry. Her earrings and necklace blended well with the color of her dress. Maria Alicia could now tell her mother that Miguel’s date at least knew how to dress. Patricia’s delicate features and graceful manner surprised both Maria Alicia and Mike.

  Patricia also analyzed Maria Alicia: She had the physical assurance of a person who had never lacked for anything, even though she wore a simple dress. Her only possible affectation was a necklace of perfect pearls, not too big in diameter, which she wore with the ease of someone born to it.

  Mike and his father talked about baseball and about the price of sugar and cattle, the minister, and Comillas. His father carefully watched Maria Alicia’s reaction. Eventually, the women started to make small talk and later they left together to powder their noses.

  Don Miguel leapt at the opportunity. “What do you think?”

  “She seems shy,” Mike commented neutrally. “She’s very pretty, though, has class, and knows how to behave, but she seems so young, younger than me, I’d guess.” He gave his father a probing look. “What do you know about her? Her family? How she feels about you? What do you plan to do?”

  Before his father could answer, the two women returned to the table, laughing.

  When Maria Alicia returned home later that evening, her mother was waiting in the living room.

  “What do you think of the girl? Is she a tramp?”

  Maria Alicia was shocked at the question. “She’s very attractive, but she told me she’s surprised that Don Miguel is calling on her. Right now, she’s studying computers, and then she’d like to work at a bank.” She saw her mother’s face start to relax. “She got along with Mike and me, and I liked her, too. I don’t think they’re lovers. I may invite her one night to have dinner with us, if you don’t object.”

  “But what kind of girl—?” her mother interjected.

  “Report concluded. I’m going to bed now. I have the feeling that you’re going to be very busy tomorrow morning, or maybe tonight, calling all your friends and giving them a detailed account of this conversation. Please, be gentle. She’s a very nice girl. I love you. Good night.” With that, she stood up and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and left the room.

  Patricia felt that Don Miguel was nervous that night, and when he kissed her at the door, he was more aggressive, more forward than any other time before. He held her in a tighter embrace. He was not the shy man she had met before. She did not reject his advances. She enjoyed them, because they showed his interest in her. She might even want to be closer with him.

  She went into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and wrapped herself in her favorite old robe. She found herself reflecting about Maria Alicia and Mike. She felt at ease with Maria Alicia. She thought that they could confide in each other, or at least it seemed that way when they were together in the ladies room. Maria Alicia seemed so open, or maybe that was the way those girls talked. “Let’s get together. I’d like you to meet my friends.” Was this just all talk?

  Mike, she couldn’t read. He was so reserved with her, but open with his father. They acted liked equals, laughed the same way, loved the same cigars, but there was a certain reticence. She had so much to consider.

  She opened the windows of her room to let the breeze in and heard the reassuring sound of the waves hitting the Malecon and the honking of the cars: sounds of the night, the sounds of her Havana. She had planned to study that night, but her sister knocked, and they ended up talking until the soft light of a new morning illuminated her room.

  Lourdes called Mike at seven-thirty in the morning. She was not pleased by his abrupt answers to her anxious questions. In desperation, Mike said, “Well, why don’t you ask Father what his plans are? I don’t think he knows. I don’t think she knows, either.”

  Lourdes hung up the phone and immediately dialed Adelaida. Mike had just enough time to go to the kitchen to ask Estrella for his first cup of coffee when the phone rang again; it was Adelaida this time. “Lourdes just called me. She says that you approve of our father seeing and going out with this girl! How can you do that? You don’t know her family. You don’t know where she comes from, her background.”

  “Hold on, you’re going too fast. I just met her for the first time last night.”

  “Lourdes also told me that she is very young, younger than Maria Alicia! No more than twenty-one years old!”

  “Yes, she’s young. She’s also beautiful and seems to have a gentle disposition.”

  “I don’t care. Father should not be dating such a young girl. And you’re approving of his behavior. You men!”

  “I just met her. I haven’t talked to Father about her. It’s his life.”

  “Have you gone crazy? Are you sick? Is that what you learned at your American university? Mother would be offended by your behavior.”

  Mike got irritated. “Look, I haven’t approved or disapproved of my father’s dating, if that’s what you want to call it. If you want to call her by her name, her name is Patricia. Yes, Patricia Menendez. She’s getting an education, which is better than what a lot of your friends have done with their lives.” He paused to let that sink in a moment. “Please, leave Father alone. He seems to be in very good spirits. You should have seen him at the farm. Both of you should meet her, and then make up your minds after that.” He knew what his sister’s continued silence meant: disapproval. “I have to go to the office now. I leave for the farm tomorrow. Don’t worry. It’s not that bad. And I love you. Bye.”

  After he hung up, Estrella p
oured his cup of coffee, and she asked him, “Well, you met the young lady. What do you think?”

  “She’s fine,” he said curtly and left for the office, leaving his coffee untouched. Why wouldn’t these women leave his father in peace?

  Maria Alicia got calls from her future sisters-in-law. Maria Alicia’s mother called her friends, and her friends called their friends. That afternoon some of the ladies who played Canasta voiced their belief, based on excellent sources, that Don Miguel had eloped with a stewardess of Cubana Airlines, or that he was engaged to the daughter of a tobacco grower from Vuelta Abajo, or a that he was leaving the country and moving to Paris with a fifteen-year-old girl.

  Mike, now at his office, had a phone conversation with Maria Alicia about his sisters’ reactions. He was disappointed with his sisters and the way they had condemned Patricia without even meeting her. Maria Alicia was conciliatory. “Mike, it’s difficult for them to see your point of view. My mother is upset as well. They’re imagining all sorts of horrible consequences. Your father is not gaga. He knows what he’s doing. I think we’re all creating a fait accompli where one doesn’t exist. Patricia hasn’t made a decision to either marry or not marry your father. He hasn’t even asked her! Everyone is causing a big uproar about a situation that’s not what it seems to be. You know how much I love Adelaida, and yet she was almost rude to me on the phone. She was so upset. She’s just worried about taking care of your father, about making sure he’s not taken for a ride.”

  Mike looked forward to the farm, where he couldn’t be reached. He now understood his father’s phone policy. “I want to thank you. I know this isn’t easy for you. Well, now you know my family better. I’m leaving first thing in the morning. The sugar harvest is now in full swing, and I have to be there. I understand that your father has already left for his plantations. Give my regards to your mother. I love you.” Maria Alicia invited him to have an early dinner at her home, and he accepted.

  Lustre entered his office with a copy of a morning paper. He pointed to the headlines. “It’s not getting any better,” he said as he dropped the paper on Mike’s desk.

  — 22 —

  The Girls Meet

  AROUND SEVEN THAT evening, Mike joined Maria Alicia and her mother for dinner at their home. Maria asked him about his father’s health, and then launched into a discourse on how beautiful, kind, intelligent, and generous Mike’s mother had been: a model of Catholic piety, dedicated to her children, loyal to her friends. She recalled that they had made their debut the same year at Sarra’s home; how Adelaida had worn a gown from Worth in Paris; how they had played mah-jong with their mothers. Adelaida, according to Maria, excelled at the game. Shifting directions, she looked at Mike and asked, “Is your father going out with someone? That’s what I hear.”

  Mike smiled before answering, and Maria Alicia quickly interjected, “Mother!”

  Mike casually answered. “Oh yes. Don’t you remember? Maria Alicia and I had dinner with her and Father last night. Her name is Patricia Menendez. She’s from Pinar del Rio, and her father is a tobacco farmer. Let’s see, and also my father has gone out with her several times. She’s around Maria Alicia’s age and is a lovely girl. That’s all that I know.”

  Maria listened carefully but kept quiet, hoping Mike would say more. Mike smoothly moved to another topic. “About Father’s health, he’s actually in good shape. He’s working hard and plans to stay in Havana for a while. As for me, I’m returning to the farm. As you know, the zafra calls.”

  “Are you nervous about the alzados? They aren’t near any of our plantations or the sugar mill. Is anything happening at your farm?” Maria asked politely, now resigned to not hearing more about Don Miguel’s young date.

  “No, not at all. Everything’s very quiet at the farm. Nothing is happening there,” Mike said, pleased that he had successfully navigated away from the shoals. “I’ve heard that the situation is more serious around Sierra Maestra and Trinidad, but not in Camagüey. I wish we had a few hills. It’s so flat there. The land is only good for sugar, rice, and cattle, not for revolutionaries,” he joked.

  “Be careful,” Maria Alicia said.

  Mike then explained his future plans for the farm. Maria, a skilled socialite, feigned curiosity, asking questions, even though she had no interest in Mike’s details of running a farm. After dinner, Maria Alicia and Mike retired to the terrace and sat side by side on a bench. “I’m sorry about Mother. I didn’t expect her to react this way. Your poor father! Everyone is trying to run his life, including me.” She told him about the conversation she had had with Patricia and her plans to have her meet his sisters for lunch the next Friday.

  Mike laughed and put his arm around Maria Alicia. “Do you know what you’re getting into? You’re fearless. You’re not afraid of anything or anyone!”

  “What’s there to be afraid of?” Maria Alicia asked, and then leaned on him. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t meet, for your father’s sake especially.”

  Mike kissed her cheek. “I know you want to do what’s best. That’s why I love you so much.”

  Patricia was surprised that Maria Alicia invited her to have lunch. Maria Alicia, knowing that Lourdes, inevitably, was going to be late, told her to meet at twelve, Adelaida, twelve-thirty, and Patricia at one o’clock. On Friday afternoon, Maria Alicia was the first one to arrive at Kasalta restaurant. She selected a table for four in the corner of the terrace, near the street. She executed her plan like a general, strategically placing his divisions to confront a frontal attack by the enemy. Adelaida arrived on time and immediately noticed the table setting for four.

  “Who else is coming?” Adelaida asked.

  Maria Alicia smiled blandly. “It’s a pleasant surprise. Let’s wait for Lourdes, and then we can talk about it.” Lourdes arrived just before one in a frenzy of activity; she gave a quick kiss to Maria Alicia and excused herself to go to the bathroom. She returned with a new application of powder and lipstick. “I’m sorry I’m late. Some last-minute things came up. I had to take care of them right away.” Then she looked around at the table. “Who else is coming?”

  Maria Alicia smiled again, and in a sweet voice said, “I thought you’d like to meet a new friend. You’ve asked so many questions about her. She may be able to answer them personally.”

  As if on cue, Patricia walked in. She wore the same simple dress she had worn when she first met Don Miguel, along with her small alligator bag. She approached Maria Alicia and kissed her on her cheek.

  “Ladies, this is Patricia Menendez,” Maria Alicia said. Turning to Patricia, she said, “You met Mike the other night. These are his sisters, Lourdes and Adelaida. I know you’ll love them,” she said warmly.

  Patricia couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, of course! How nice to meet you. Your father has said lovely things about you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Adelaida replied warmly and extended her hand to Patricia. “How wonderful of you to join us. Please, sit down!”

  Adelaida was taken aback by Patricia’s appearance. She was more than surprised, she was intrigued. She had imagined a cheap-looking young woman in a tight dress with bad makeup, kewpie-red lips, blue mascara, large ass barely enclosed by her skirt, reeking of imitation French perfume.

  Lourdes shifted nervously on her seat and glanced around the room. The restaurant was full of people she knew, and on her way in, she had greeted Julio’s best client at a nearby table with a group of his friends. She bit her lips, played with her napkin, and took small sips from her glass of water. She defiantly looked at Maria Alicia, but determined not to make a scene as she played the role of an aggrieved matron. She was going to show this Maria Alicia that she had manners, more savoir faire, better breeding, and a worldlier demeanor than Maria Alicia and Patricia put together. That Patricia girl was sucking her father dry, she was sure of it. Still, Lourdes eked out a tight smile, a slight nod, and a stilted “Hi.”

  Maria Alicia understood the nuances of the si
tuation and hastily asked for the menu. The more quickly they engaged in mundane chatter, the better. The captain knew the sisters and stopped at the table. He asked Adelaida about her daughter, and she reported how she was doing in school. The captain left and the waiter stepped in. Lourdes broke her near silence and ordered stone crabs, Patricia ordered a chef’s salad, and Maria Alicia, the perfect hostess, ordered the same. At the beginning, there was very little talk. Patricia didn’t want to say something that could be misinterpreted, and watched Maria Alicia for cues. Maria Alicia started chitchatting to lighten the silence suffocating the table. She addressed Lourdes, “How are the children doing now that they’re back in school? They behaved so well in Varadero. I was so impressed by Lourdes. She has so much poise for a girl of her age!”

  Lourdes answered in curt sentences. “Fine. They always like school. Yes. Yes, they’re good. She’s a very pious girl.”

  Maria Alicia tried again, but this time with Adelaida. “How is Jose Maria? Is he in town? We should play tennis when Mike returns. It won’t be so hot then.”

  Adelaida, more relaxed, joined the conversation. “Oh, he’s fine, he’s back from the interior! I’m so glad. This is his busiest season. Now that he’s sold all that machinery to the sugar mills, he worries about it working properly.” She paused to glance at Patricia, and found her paying rapt attention. She turned back to Maria Alicia. “We’d love to play tennis with you and Mike. But you’re far better than I, plus I’m a bit out of practice!” Then to Maria Alicia’s surprise, she turned to Patricia. “Do you play tennis?”

  “No, I don’t, but I’d love to learn. Miguel says he plays tennis, too, but not in a long time. For myself, I enjoy horseback riding.”

  Lourdes looked at her with visible contempt. “Father is an excellent tennis player. He taught all of us how to play. He just doesn’t do it anymore because he feels he’s too old to play.”