Ganado: a novel

by Manolo Mario

  When the train came to a stop at the Camagüey station a little after two, Frank’s ears were worn. Despite the perceived ill manners, he asked permission and stepped over the ladies, reached up on the overhead for his bag and exited the train in a hurry.

  Galo waited for him at Ofelia’s. He talked with ranchers and excused himself when Frank walked in. They sat at a table far from the counter with no one around.

  “So, how did it go, Frank?” Galo noticed Frank was untimely quiet.

  “First, Elio, Fiona, Rico and the team send their greetings. However on the outbound trip, I happened upon a meeting from the buyers.”

  Through clenched teeth and holding his head, Galo fretted. “Oh, no! Did they see you? Are we done?”

  “No, nothing like that. We are still in business and your plans are in tact. The message was clear. They are going to teach you a lesson! They are not coming back in December. It’s their aim to break the ranchers, starve them for cash.”

  “Well, good, bad or ugly, they’re talking about me. That’s good! I’m assured that they are taking things seriously.” Blood rushed back into his system and Galo relaxed instantly.

  “How can you take this so casually, Galo? This is some serious shit. You are changing their whole world and that doesn’t sit well!”

  “It’s fine Frank. It’s their time to suck some horse dick. I can take care of myself.”

  “You better be careful. Look, there’s more for you to know. They sent buyers west for novillos, but, Elio learned from one of his workers that the animals were quarantined.”

  “Quarantined?! Holy shit, Frank! We have won the lottery!” Galo almost jumped in his seat.

  Matos was unaware at the time, but got his surprise the next day. The courier system was not timely, but Elio proposed one of the workers traveling incognito. Galo was still jubilant when he ordered glasses of papaya juice.

  “Frank did Elio respond to my note?” Frank quickly reached into his bag and dug or Elio’s note. He handed the letter to Galo who opened the sealed envelope and read its contents.

  Elio’s letter assured Galo he supported the pricing efforts and knew Ortiz would get in trouble if the price were met. He detailed the moves he was making to gain information to relay as quickly as possible. There was a man at the stockyard. There were at least five butchers who would report. He also found a source at the port, in case novillos showed up from off shore somewhere.

  Until that point of time, no one suspected there would be a drop in supply except for Elio. He would increase prices as a result. He doubted he would get takers, but the move would cost other houses to run out before he did. That was the business part of the letter.

  The next part gloomily discussed of Alonso’s condition and his disposition. He described Frank’s visit. It had animated him somewhat, but he was not enthusiastic about helping with the numbers. This latter part told a lot about a man who lived for numbers. Elio felt he might never recover and may lose his leg anyway. He also stated the legal situation. Galo felt the pain of his friend in the pit of the stomach. He thought about the funny man and how he put his balls on the line and took the blame for the demise of the God-awful beast of a cop. If he went to jail, Galo didn’t know what he would do.

  In the final part of the letter, Elio implored his friend to be careful. He felt these agents were ruthless and would definitely kill for money. He confessed to having sleepless nights thinking something had happened to his friend. Galo looked up and asked Frank.

  “So, Elio was concerned about me?”

  “Concerned? Hell he woke me up in a pure panic when he saw me sleeping on the office sofa thinking you were dead!”

  ***

  The afternoon train on Monday arrived a bit early. As opposed to other times, Ortiz did not bother to feign his non-association with others. He was alone. He didn’t share a cabin and exited the train, rode a buggy to his favorite hotel. After a little refresh, Ortiz headed out to revisit some guajiro cattlemen and left the Big Five for the next day. He took a private buggy for his encounters, not the one from the hotel.

  Ortiz reached his first destination, the small ranch of Emilio Sastre. He stood against the fence of the ranch and pulled out a looking glass and surveyed the animals. It did not take long for Emilio to notice the man and he came out to meet him.

  “Beautiful animals, Señor Sastre.” Ortiz lifted his hat in greeting, but still held the binoculars to his eyes.

  “Yes, they are. Who are you? What is your name?”

  “I am Ortiz and I’m a cattle buyer.”

  “Oh, you are another buyer from La Habana? I had three visitors last week. I made a sale of steers with the first one. The other two wanted novillos, but unfortunately, I could not sell them. They are not mine.”

  Ortiz set the binoculars down and in a less than pleasant way interrupted. “I am aware of that; very well aware of that. Now, I understand the buyers offered you five pesos per hundred for the novillos and you refused.”

  It was Sastre’s turn to show a little red and respond not too kindly. “I couldn’t entertain the offer. The animals were not mine. It wasn’t that I refused!”

  “You can put it that way and say it often, but it’s a technicality. The novillos are there, with your brand. You can do whatever you want with them.”

  Sastre lifted a pointed finger in order to interject, but Ortiz continued … “What you don’t know is that we offered Bartolo seven pesos per hundred for the novillos and he refused to sell them. Let’s see, it cost you approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand pesos. Whew, that’s a lot of money. Perhaps, we could share the information with your wife?”

  Sastre smiled widely and Ortiz became confused. He didn’t know if he should get angry, but his indecision was quickly resolved. “Señor Ortiz, my wife was the one who urged me to deal with Bartolo. Yes, I would love to see you tell her what you just told me, but first you should prepare for her wrath and let me tell you, she has a mouth on her! She will figure out that the other buyer screwed us out of two and a half pesos per hundred pounds, if Galo was offered seven!”

  Ortiz told a deliberate lie planned with Matos and had no response. He swallowed his embarrassed anger, tipped his hat and told the driver to go on to the next ranch, where Ortiz repeated the same story. He would do so five more times before nightfall.

  The next day he began with Dos Pasos where Arturo Gutierrez threw him off his ranch when Ortiz couldn’t produce a consistent story of the offer to Galo. “Sr. Ortiz, your numbers and your story don’t make sense. I think you’re making the whole thing up! Then show me the carbon of the draft if Galo indeed tore the paper?” The buyer could not leave fast enough.

  A short ways at El Sereno, he approached the managing foreman with the tale. Unfortunately for the foreman, he wasn’t bright enough to see the ruse and walked Ortiz to meet with Pedro Rodriguez directly. This would have been the second time in two weeks Rodriguez saw Ortiz and he didn’t like him one bit.

  The foreman didn’t lose his job by a millisecond when Rodriguez was called to resolve his daughter’s latest dilemma. At the interruption, Rodriguez laid into the foreman as to his impertinence of allowing the thieving prick onto the property. He knew the novillos were Bartolo’s and that is whom this person needed to see.

  “Get him out of here!” Pedro’s last statement echoed. Neither the foreman nor Ortiz ever got a chance to tell Rodriguez that seven pesos were on the table. The foreman, embarrassed and demeaned, told Ortiz never to come back again and put him in that position with his boss.

  This was not going well for Camilo Ortiz. He was losing his confidence and was unused to dealing with the Big Five in this manner. Matos kept this group to himself more than not. He knew he couldn’t present to Quintero; that left Sanchez and Luna. He had to try or else Matos would have a real problem. After speaking with them, he would call on other independents. Despite his feelings, he hoped he scored some points and created an inkling of doubt in some of the ranchers. Mayb
e one would break and others would follow.

  ***

  That same morning, six guajiros stopped Galo outside Albergue’s office. He had just delivered the remaining contracts. Quino was with him and they were headed out to see how the earring tags were holding up. The six men acted somewhat shy and looked at one another before respectfully, one of them spoke.

  “Señor Bartolo, forgive us for bothering you, but we have been told you were offered seven pesos per hundred for our novillos and you declined to sell. Do you know how much money that is for our families? Is this true?”

  Galo was caught by surprise, but he needed to hold steady without sounding defensive. He raised an eyebrow and took a moment to look at the men one by one.

  “Seven pesos!? No, no, men, I was not offered such a rate. It is important and I also want to make sure you understand that I know how valuable the novillos are to your family. It is equally important that you also understand that I would not have sold them at seven pesos either.”

  The ranchers exchanged looks at each other and began to groan.

  “Wait, listen to me. The deal I want to get isn’t a deal that feeds us for the next three or four months until these guys come back. The deal I want is the one that will feed us for life. As I told you separately when we met the first time, this would not be easy and something like this could happen.”

  Galo maintained a friendly and thoughtful face without revealing his convictions. From behind Galo a recognizable voice stepped into the conversation.

  “He’s right. You all should be ashamed for not knowing a liar at your doorstep!” Emilio Sastre came into town to tell Galo of Ortiz’ tactics. He stood in front of his fellow guajiros. “Your word has always been your bond and you do not want to break that word now. So go home and continue your work and be patient. Don’t let anybody else from La Habana come tell you differently!”

  Chapter 50

  “Alberto, I know this is not the solution you were seeking. I promise you that I did my best. Twenty five hundred novillos is not nearly the amount we need, but it is not ‘nothing.’ More important, I planted some seeds of doubt with the cattlemen. Those stupid guajiros don’t know who they’re up against!”

  Ortiz returned to La Habana on the Friday morning train after three and a half arduous days of repeating a story and getting rebuffed more than not. In the quiet office of Alberto Matos, they were able to speak openly.

  “I understand Camilo, perhaps with what you arranged and perhaps with an ease of the quarantine out west, we can make it through the holidays without too much screaming.” Clearly twenty five hundred novillos was a mere pittance. “This is like a small leak on a dam. Perhaps the pressure of the lack of money would knock the agreements down.” It was a start. He shook his right shoulder and continued. “I expect most people will partake in pigs and the need for beef will ease a bit. We can direct the novillos to our friends in the north if they require them.”

  “Will you communicate with the trustee?”

  “Are you out of your mind? I am not going to mention anything unless he asks. Besides, he will leave soon to see his family for the November and December holidays. He will not return until mid January. By then, those pendejos49 in Camagüey will break, damn them!”

  ***

  November passed without incident and without any further visitors from La Habana seeking to create a rift. The steer deliveries proceeded on schedule throughout the month and into December. The news in the papers was not any better. Yes, the American president was re-elected, but by a small margin. A British liner sank from a mine off Greece and the Germans attacked London from the air. The king of Austria Hungary died. He was related somewhat to the King of Spain.

  In Camagüey, Galo dedicated his time to accounting for the novillos under contract. Working closely with Quino and the designated foremen for the Big Five, he made the rounds and observed the rotation of the cattle from one pen to another. On most days he visited with the independent ranchers to make sure they were not for want or need. It was his way of showing concern and developing a stronger bond. Perhaps this would minimize any future influence from the agents when they returned. These were hard days in which he toiled twelve to fourteen hours and mostly on a horse. If he were thin before, this whole venture started, one would find him anemic at this time.

  During one of those visits, Quino mentioned that he lived not too far from where they stood. Galo asked to be shown. With much hesitation, Quino agreed and both men rode to the place. Galo dismounted and immediately recognized Quino’s reason for hesitating. The homes were neatly kept, but they were merely huts with earthen floors and thatched roofs. Cooking was handled with big pots on wood fires in the open air. Children were barely dressed and played barefoot in the dirt. The stream that ran by, supplied all of its water. Galo never thought such a place existed.

  Quino introduced Galo to his wife and his little boy at his hut. There were neighbors and friends who came to shake Galo’s hand. Apparently Quino had spent time telling everyone of Galo’s efforts and that he was a good man. Mulo approached shortly thereafter returning from his tasks and he introduced Galo to his family as well. As he became acquainted with the people from this village, he noticed several ladies were sewing a red cloth. Galo’s curiosity took over, “what is sewing all about?”

  Quino looked down briefly and hesitated before answering. “This is being prepared for Chango. You see, we celebrate the day and our special woman dances and prays to drive bad spirits away.”

  “You are obviously serious. Does it work?” Galo politely inquired.

  “Chango is the African version of the Christian Santa Barbara and she is special to us. It’s a tradition with our village since time began,” Quino seemed to point as he spoke.

  Galo turned instinctively and was shocked to find the spirit woman standing in front of him. She was even smaller in stature, but strong as she grabbed his shoulders firm. She closed her eyes and began moving her hands. They waved all over his head and face without touching, but no more than an inch away. She shook and began to hum. Galo, not knowing what was going on turned to Quino and asked, “What the hell?” Quino signaled for him to stay quiet and still. The spirit lady twirled and began to speak an incoherent gibberish. She stopped suddenly. Exhausted and sagging, she looked at Galo and in short choppy gasps said,

  “You are good spirit.” Abruptly, she turned to the group that had joined Quino and Mulo. “You have to protect him! It is important!”

  Galo turned from the lady and looked back at them as if to say ‘what is she talking about?’ They all fixed smiles back. He turned back quickly to ask her directly, but the spirit lady vanished.

  “Hey, where did she go? She was right here”

  Quino never broke his smile. “Back to her house, of course.”

  ***

  December in Camagüey began a slow down of heavy work as everyone focused on feasting. The hurricane season passed and there was no longer any fear of a bad storm. Every once in a while a storm would appear in then, but it was rare. Cattlemen still had to meet deliveries to the stockyard, but after the fifteenth there would be no deliveries until after the Three Kings’ Day, January sixth.

  The town’s trade people were busy, though. There were dresses for the various social gatherings. These needed to be unique and different for each one. And few people would attend one such event. Besides Noche Buena50, New Year’s Eve was a big fete at the Country Club with all the fine families represented. The galas would continue into the New Year culminating in the exchange of gifts on January sixth, commemorating the day when the Magi reached Christ and brought him gifts. Children needed to behave or the Three Kings would leave them nothing.

  Eriberto Sanchez invited Galo and his family to Cruz Azul for Noche Buena. It was the first celebration Frank would be with the family in a long time and it was to be enjoyed. Frank brought along a handsome woman as a friend. Rona and the girls took kindly to her and along with Maite and Teresa, spent the day
preparing supper.

  As opposed to the fried piglet Galo ate his first visit, Eriberto ordered his men to prepare a hog to slowly roast on a spit. They slaughtered a hundred and fifty pound hog and cleaned it the day before in the traditional way. Its liver and heart were taken to make gandinga51. The rest of the innards where cut up and fed to the working dogs of the ranch.

  The previous day, hot water was boiled and knives were sharpened to shave the hog clean. The skin needed to be crisp after cooking or else the event would be a complete failure. Following, they seasoned the hog with a mixture of limes and sour oranges, garlic, salt, and pepper. They used knifes to stab throughout the various sections of the pig and the seasoning was pushed through to reach deep inside the meat. Today, Noche Buena, a pit was prepared with logs and a fire started. The pig on a spit would spend ten hours being turned slowly by hand. Many people took turns spinning the pig, and the one benefit is the spinner drank a steady stream of rum as long as he worked.

  Another event during the holidays involved the horse races that Pedro Rodriguez produced. Under his direction, an oval track was cut out of a field on the outskirts of the city. The track was fenced and several stands were constructed for spectators. The day would stage seven races. Mostly Quarter Horses would race, but there was also a race for fillies. The seventh was the special race with thoroughbreds. No race involved more than eight horses and those would mostly occur along the front of the track where the spectators sat. The last race did call for the horses to go around the track. Betting was allowed; formally through bookmakers from the local casino; informally from any person sitting near another, sometimes both. Irrespective, the most important betting was the one between the jockeys. Unfortunately for the spectator-bettors, the jockeys were covered for losing not winning. For Pedro, it was his day to show off his fillies and thoroughbreds, which won each of their respective races. When he had five of eight horses running in each, one would have expected a win.