Ganado: a novel

by Manolo Mario

  Pedro Itani and his sons ran the bakery. They had done so for ten years and were successful at it. Pedro came from a Lebanese family, who were thrown out of the Middle East by the Turks twenty years earlier and somehow found their way to Cuba. There were many others that exhibited the natural talent for trade and enterprising in many different fields. One thing in common is they were not shy to work and took a lot of pride in their accomplishments.

  The bakery emptied by ten except for a few stragglers who stopped by to order cakes. The oldest son and a couple of employees were busy loading the deliveries required at restaurants for lunch. The youngest son had overslept when his brother had awakened him early in the morning. He spent time reading economics and chose to stay in the back of the bakery overnight. When the rush ended, he put his cot away. He returned to the counter to take a cake order from an older lady. She headed out the door when he spotted the police lieutenant bidding good morning to her as he was ready to enter the store. He turned to his dad. “Here comes our favorite cop, dad. I hope you have his bread ready?”

  With a smile still in place, Pedro reached for the loaf and stepped around the counter to greet Santiesteban as he entered the store. “Good morning, Lieutenant! I hope your day goes well. Here’s some bread for you and your family. I hope you all enjoy it in good health.”

  Santiesteban looked at the loaf in his hand. “Thank you, Itani. I do expect my day to go well for it is a good day. It is good to be alive and thriving in this land.”

  “Well, that is fantastic, officer. Not too many people are happy these days. You know a war is going on. The news is terrible. Everyone is concerned with family in Europe; especially those who are traveling to the new world on ships. They say Germany has wolf underwater boats that eat all types of ships.”

  “Itani, ships are sunk and the problems of the world are not my concern. For all I care, they can annihilate themselves. My concerns are different. Today at this time, these concerns are about me and you.”

  “Me? What could possibly involve you and me, officer?” Itani raised an eyebrow.

  The cop pointed. “Come, let’s sit down and we can talk about it.”

  Pedro turned back to his son, “Hijo, two cafes, please,” and he pulled a chair out from the small table against the wall. He noticed Santiesteban looking around the shop. “Itani, you have a fine bakery here. All I hear is how great your bread is, which I concur wholeheartedly.”

  “Thank you.” Pedro smiled.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” continued Santiesteban. “You may not be aware of this, but crime is up in the city and many shops have become targets. Many businessmen are concerned and some are directly panicked about a loss of earnings. I have felt that concern and have taken it upon myself to make sure that nothing happens to any of them in our part of this town.”

  “You are most noble and my thanks are sincere. In the ten years we have been here, there have been many waves of all sorts. Perhaps because we are not greedy and share the bread with some of the less fortunate, we have been able to avoid any unpleasant situations. I am comfortable that we will be fine despite what goes on.”

  “Yes, it has been true in the past, but can you guarantee it?” He leaned forward lifting a finger. “Are you in a position to make sure it doesn’t happen?” He pointed.

  Itani stared directly at the tip of the cop’s finger. “Well, of course not, but I have to trust our time here is respected.”

  The coffees arrived allowing for a quiet moment as both men sipped. The cop cleared his throat after swallowing, “Well, Itani I can guarantee that nothing will ever happen here.”

  Pedro gave a bit of a cut off laugh and sheepishly said, “Officer Santiesteban, I told my sons the first day you came through the door you were a dedicated policeman. I felt then, as I feel now, we are well protected.” Again looking down in an even more shy fashion, Pedro concluded, “that is why we are sure to have a fresh loaf of bread ready for you everyday.”

  Santiesteban choked. “Bread Itani? Are you serious or are you mocking me?”

  Pedro looked stunned for a moment. He did not seem to understand. The silence hung longer than anyone could imagine. Pedro broke it. “If you are being funny, I will laugh. If you are asking directly, I am mostly respectful of authority and of you, Lieutenant.”

  Santiesteban straightened further and despite Itani’s explanation, he continued in a serious and gruff manner. “Don’t you ever mock me for any reason. Now listen, bread doesn’t cut it. I am guaranteeing nothing will happen to your store and that has a cost. As most of the owners in the area have recognized, it is best for them to provide me compensation for the security than to accept the risk. Clearly, it’s your turn to provide the same.”

  Pedro swallowed hard and turned red. “Compensation? What compensation?”

  “How much money do you make here? How much would it cost you to start over? How much would it cost you to rebuild this from scratch? You tell me how much it’s worth to you?”

  Pedro’s red turned to a dark shade of purple. He looked across in silence. He turned to an employee behind the counter. “Eva, get us some water, please.”

  He remained silent as the water arrived quickly and he gladly took a swallow with a noisy gulp. Santiesteban never lost his stare into the man. Itani took a deep breath and stared back. “Interesting question officer. I would have to say such peace is worth a” He gulped again, “loaf of bread.”

  Santiesteban stood rapidly and knocked the chair back. He reached for his nightstick. He turned beet red with anger and began to tremble. Pedro leaned back with a left arm reaching to cover his face. Then, the front door opened with loud sounds of two ladies. Santiesteban caught himself with the nightstick half way out and managed to push it back in and face away from the door.

  The ladies entered smiling joyously and one of them closed the parasol they carried. “Why Señor Itani, how fortunate am I to see that you don’t spend all of the time sweating by your ovens. You actually get a chance to step out from behind the counter.”

  Pedro stood a bit frail. “Good morning, Miss Nevy and Miss Carmen, welcome.” He leaned over to pick up the fallen chair. “What can we help you with this morning?”

  Despite the interruption of the ladies, Santiesteban kept his unnerving deep stare. The ladies turned to the officer. He glanced at the ladies, and tipped his hat. He then walked close to Pedro and whispered. “Our conversation is not over. You will provide the compensation I need or you will have bigger problems, I promise!” He turned and headed for the door.

  “Oh, Lieutenant Santiesteban,” exclaimed Pedro, “you are forgetting your loaf of bread!” Pedro walked up extending the loaf to Santiesteban, who was stunned under the eyes of the ladies. His hand found his nightstick, but again he swallowed hard and remained quiet. Without another word he grabbed the loaf and left. Pedro returned to his counter.

  “Alright Nevy and Carmen, what are you are looking for?” Pedro went about his customers with the cordial smile his trade required.

  ~~~

  Santiesteban walked away from the bakery and briefly looked back through the window to see Pedro smiling with the ladies. He was furious and thought, ‘you are going to eat that smile Itani. Who the hell do you think you are? A loaf of bread? Really? I am going to teach a lesson to this Arab like he’s needed for some time.’ He marched about his beat with a scowl on his face that caused a couple of vagrants to get out of the way long before he had a chance to tell them to move along.

  The issues of the morning were building in him and he debated returning and finishing the lesson. He could not let it go. Imagine if others in the neighborhood found out the squirmy Arab challenged and repudiated him. What would it do to the rest of the enterprise? No, this could not be left alone. Santiesteban ambled to his strategic corner, acted as if he was looking at the trash in the basket and lifted it up on the light pole. ‘I hope those idiots get the message.’

  ***

  Later that evening after fi
nishing his supper, the usual berating of Esperanza, and kissing his princess, Santiesteban worked his way in the shadows to meet up with Pablo and Leo. Time had passed since their arrangement began. In the time, he let them handle several thefts, which afforded the Lieutenant the customers he required. Though unsure if Pablo handled the jobs or used other men, he enjoyed that Pablo asked permission and he allowed him to handle a couple of moonlight jobs for a cut. Santiesteban managed to curtail the usual police presence making the job easier. With the money earned, Pablo and Leo obtained newer clothes and managed to keep clean, which made them more presentable and less conspicuous than before. Leo’s face remarkably healed, but the scar gave him an air of danger.

  At the scheduled hour of eleven, Pablo and Leo stepped out of the shadows at the entrance to their alley to meet Santiesteban. Pablo spoke first. “Good evening, jefe. I saw your signal. What job is there to do?”

  “Men, do you know the baker, Itani?” Both nodded they did not.

  “This Itani is a real problem. He has refused to make the payments we need and we cannot have the rest of our patrons learn that someone is not abiding.”

  Pablo tugged at his earlobe. “What would you like us to steal from a bakery, jefe? Cake?”

  Santiesteban slapped him with a quick backhand. “Are you all of a sudden a funny man, Pablo? Who do you think I am some kind of an idiot?”

  Pablo straightened himself up and rubbed the side of his face. “No, jefe. I was being curious as to the job.”

  “I have had a hard time thinking about what to do to teach this guy a lesson. I can’t hit him because there are people around. We can’t steal bread, cakes or pastries. They are worth nothing. So, we have to be a little more drastic and scare him.”

  Both Pablo and Leo shared looks. Santiesteban lowered his voice to a whisper with his last sentence. Pablo and Leo closed in to the Lieutenant as he continued. “I need you to go around the back of the bakery and light a fire to the back door.”

  “A fire, jefe. How?” Pablo asked. His eyes wide open at Leo who seemed awestruck. He nudged him a little so as to get his mouth closed.

  “Yes, men, we need to set fire to the place. It needs to be enough to scare him into submission.”

  “How do you want us to do this? I don’t know how to control fire.”

  There was silence for an awkward moment before Santiesteban answered. “Well, you can’t control it. We can start it small and it should alert some of the neighbors to put it out. Tomorrow, that flour-covered bastard will have learned not to fool with me. Listen carefully, I want you to get some papers and bunch them together. Take this little bottle with benzene. You need to wet a few of the papers and light a match. Be quick to back away before you get burned. At the back of the store, there is a wooden door leading to the alley. You will need to put a little of the benzene on the door. No wait. Better yet, break in the door and set the fire inside by the door. It should do the trick. Make sure you leave quickly. Don’t get caught!”

  “We understand, jefe,” replied Pablo again looking at Leo, who nodded. “We will take care of this job. Do not concern yourself. Where is the place?”

  Santiesteban told them the location and where to look for a way to the back of the store. They agreed not to do anything until late. In this manner there would be fewer people awake and about. As a contingency, they agreed if anyone saw them at that hour or if there were anyone stirring, they would not go through with the plan. They were to wait for the next night. With the details in place and the fallback discussed, Santiesteban mumbled his good night and headed back to his apartment.

  ~~~

  Pablo did not have time to get another man to go with Leo. On this night, he and Leo slipped into the shadows of their alley until the appointed time.

  Pablo and Leo had difficulty finding their way to the back of the bakery. At one moment before they reached an opening between the buildings, a dog barked from across the way. It startled both men into ducking behind a wall. A street dog protected its territory. They looked for any signs of light coming on from the buildings and houses, but after a few minutes nothing happened. They continued on and finally found themselves at the appropriate door. Along their route, they gathered plenty of trash paper and began rolling the papers up into a pile. Once completed, Pablo readied to pry the door open. He saw it was not bolted and by pushing slightly on the door it gave. He took a steel file and carved at the catch. He pried in with the file and using the jamb as leverage, pushed the latch back and the door slid open towards him. He signaled Leo to push the papers inside and whispered for the benzene bottle. Leo reached in his pocket as he swept in some left over paper into the threshold. He lost perspective in the dark while reaching out to Pablo with the bottle and it fell to the floor. The bottle took one bounce to the right and shattered, spilling its contents.

  “Leo, you fool!”

  “Bbutt Iiii thththoughttt yoouu had had itit.”

  “No I didn’t have it. Let me get some papers on the liquid.”

  Pablo began patting the paper over the reflection of the benzene liquid as it spread away from the door. Leo dropped to his knees to help in the process. After a few minutes, Pablo stopped and turned to his friend.

  “This will not get the door as the jefe wanted it, but it will have to do.”

  Pablo stood cold and touched Leo’s lips to prevent him from speaking. He thought he heard a movement. They stayed as still as could be and heard nothing else. Pablo signaled Leo to get away from the door. He followed and closed the door half way so as to cover his remaining work. He lit a match and tossed it towards the papers and shut the door at the same time. No chance for anyone to have seen the little light. They both turned and moved quickly to exit the way they came.

  The fire quickly took hold of the papers and at any other time would probably burn out as the benzene evaporated. Typical of these old buildings, the floor ran uneven and the benzene followed a rut that traveled to the back of the ovens and the makeshift hose that fed them gas. The fire weakened the hose enough to let out a hiss of gas that quickly lit. It wasn’t distinguishable the amount of the time it took for the rest of the hose to give way. The gas fire shot out towards the back of the store and other fixtures began to burn. Pablo and Leo were five blocks away before they saw the night sky illuminated from where they came.

  “I don’t think it was supposed to happen this way,” said Pablo.

  ~~~

  Itani’s youngest son slept on his cot when he began to cough. It didn’t quite register with his faculties until a blast of fire shot across the foot of the cot. He jumped out and with his blanket slapped at the fire but his blanket lit up. The smoke filled the room and he couldn’t fathom what to do. The fire spread quickly and blocked his way to the front of the store. He retreated to the back wall and lowered himself to the floor where breathing was a little easier. These would be the last breaths the young man would take. By the time neighbors woke up and yelled for help, the fire spread throughout the store and turned it into a raging inferno, threatening the adjacent businesses.

  Eventually, the fire department responded and pumped water. The fire captain worked his way around the buildings and noticed the stream of fire being projected by the gas. He directed his men to close the gas main at the end of the block. The gas in the line burned off and they were able to effectively douse the rest of the fire.

  ~~~

  Dawn broke when Pedro and his oldest son reached the corner of the street and ran towards the firemen. The fire leveled the store. There was no structure left, just a pile of metal, stone and charred wood still smoldering. They were panting when they stopped by the gathering crowd and the firemen. No one could answer them about the whereabouts of his youngest son. Water was still being sprayed on smoldering wood. The smell of burnt sugar dominated the scene. From a distance, a fireman yelled, “We have a burned body back here!”

  Pedro’s oldest son caught his father when he fainted.

  * * *

>   18 Milk and espresso; a latte; or a café au lait.

  Chapter 14

  For days the neighborhood buzzed with chatter about Itani’s son. There had been a mass and a burial. A despondent father and mother and a broken-hearted brother idled before they packed and moved out of the city altogether. The fire department issued their report and blamed the fire on a broken gas line. They presumed the younger Itani woke too late and became trapped, the latter being correct.

  The day after the fire, Santiesteban was shocked by what he found. The store burned to the ground. There would be no protection fees to obtain. He was not happy at what should have been a simple scare tactic. When he learned the younger Itani perished in the fire, he became gravely concerned. At what length would the baker go to denounce him to the police captain? He had threatened Itani and questioned him about the cost of replacing his bakery. Surely if Itani went to the police, they would have to investigate and it could open other inquiries that would not fare well. Santiesteban paced back and forth as the firemen picked up their gear not knowing what to think. He stopped one of the firefighters. “What happened here?”

  The fireman looked behind him. “Look, I didn’t tell you anything officer, but I heard several of them talk about a gas line break near the baker’s ovens.”

  Santiesteban felt an immediate sense of relief. There would be no inquiry as to arson. The relief did not keep him from meeting up with Pablo and Leo and slapping them around for their ineptitude to control a simple fire.

  “You imbeciles couldn’t even light a simple fire at the door! You had to burn the place to the ground? It burned so bad that even the baker’s son died!” He let silence sit for a while. He then raised his finger at them. “Do you know how lucky we are? The firemen have blamed the fire on a gas leak of all things! That is luck.”