Jim Kane - J P S Brown (28 page)

"
Adelita,
preciosa!
"
Chato announced.

"
Isn't she the lovely one?" Placido said
confidentially in Chato's ear. "Isn't she the fine one?"

The girl walked directly up to Kane and he saw how
trim and light she was.

"Move over, Chato," she said. Chato and
Placido moved over one chair, leaving the chair next to Kane. Adelita
sat between Kane and Chato.

"
Senor Kane, you are not dancing," she
said.

"
I'm not very good at it," Kane said.

"
Let Adelita show you," Placido said.

"
You have not danced with me yet,
preciosa
,"
Chato said.

"
You have not asked me,
borrachito
,
little drunk, " Adelita said.

"
But what could I do now that I am drunk? What a
shame!" Chato said.

"Adelita, you should show our
jinete
how to dance," Placido said. "He is a very
good
jinete
. He fell
off today because he was not prepared. I let the buckskin out of the
chute before he was ready," he lied nobly.

"
Why do you not dance?" Adelita asked Kane.
'"All the girls of the
escaramuza
want to dance with you. They are waiting for you to
invite them."

"
That seems like a good idea," Kane said,
"but I'm taking care of Chato and Placido at the moment."

"
Leave them to get drunk. They will do nothing
worse than that for the rest of the night. They aren't going to dance
with anyone. Don't you want to dance with me?"

"
Yes. I like the idea," Kane said.

On the dance floor the girl was tiny. She could have
weighed no more than eighty pounds. Kane thought this over for a few
minutes.

Suddenly the girl shrilled in the artificial voice of
the
mascarita
, "You
are American?"

"
You are
my mascarita
,"
Kane laughed.

"
Yes. Your
mascarita
friend."

"
It was you I danced with the night I fought
with Juan Vogel."

"
Perhaps. Maybe I tell you someday," she
said in English.

"
This is a joke on your brother-in-law, Juan
Vogel. You should have heard what he said about the
mascaritas
?

"Don't say anything. My brother would hit me if
he found me out. Decent girls don't go to the Paris de Noche
cantina
."

"
If it is so bad what were you doing in there?"

"
We saw you go in with Juan Vogel and the Lion.
I wanted to dance with you."

"
What if I had removed your mask?"

''You would have gone to jail. The identity of the
mascarita
in
Carnaval
is protected by law. "

"I wouldn't have. But some other drunk might
have. Anyway, you were safe knowing the Lion and Vogel would have
protected you in the Paris de Noche."

"Oooooooo, Vogel would love to find out
something like that about me. He would have threatened to tell his
wife and my brother and would have made us go all night all over town
with him."

"That would have been fine."

"
You don't know him. He would have kept us out
all night and the only all-night bars are in the zone of tolerance."

"The zone of what?"

"
Where the prostitutes are."

Kane laughed.

"
Don't laugh. It isn't funny."

"
Why did you go in the bar then if it was so
dangerous for you."

''I told you. To dance with you. All of us wanted to
dance with you."

"
I bet. Who were the other girls?"

"I won't tell you. The one that had to dance
with Juan Vogel was afraid that Juan Vogel knew who she was."

"He didn't know who she was."

"
Well, she has stayed far away from him since.
He was sticking his hands where they didn't belong."

"
What did she expect?"

"
Nothing better. My
cuñado
,
Juan, is an animal when he is drunk."

"
Who were the other girls that were with you
that night? There were three of you."

"
Why do you want to know? It is none of your
business.'"

"
You said they wanted to dance with me."

"Forget it. You don't know how to dance. They
wouldn't like you."

"Teach me."

"
Move your hips . . . up and down . . . move
your feet too . . . with the music . . . forget it. Come on. I want
to show you something." She held Kane's arm through hers and
walked him off the dance floor. They passed Mariano standing alone
under the
portal
watching
an
escaramuza
girl
dancing with Vogel and laughing. Mariano stared at Kane.

Kane knew that whatever had been started toward a
friendship between Mariano and himself might end now because Kane was
leaving the dance with his sister. The girl walked Kane out the rear
passageway of the house.

"
Hurry, Señor Kane. Right now is the best hour
for what I want to show you," the girl said. She took him to the
center of a corral completely surrounded by
pitahaya
.
The silhouettes of the long, symmetrical stalks climbed in clusters,
curving, thrusting, toward a full moon.

"
This is my favorite place on the night of the
full moon. I have always wanted to show this place to someone,"
the girl said.

"When did you decide to show it to me?"
Kane asked.

"
I don't know. Maybe since the first time I came
to this place. Maybe all day today. Maybe just a minute ago."

"
This is a beautiful place. Thank you for
showing it to me," Kane said.

"
They say the fruit of the
pitahaya
is good for potency and fertility. Do you think it is
true?" she asked.

"
It must be. All the Mexicans I know that eat
pitahaya
have plenty
of
buquis
, children."

"
Do you have any, Señor Kane?"

"
No."

"
Do you have a wife?

"
No."

"
Do you ever want to marry?"

"
I haven't been thinking about it," Kane
said. "Is that what you want?"

"
Yes, someday?

"
And now what?"

"
And now I would like you to kiss me."

"
All right, " Kane said and he kissed her.
"And now we go back," he said.

"
Let's give more first."

"
This is your day, your fiesta. Your guests will
miss you."

"
For that reason. This is my day."

"No. Go back now. I'm not your novio, your
suitor, nor will I ever be. Do this with a novio. Then marry him."

"
All right. Later then."

"
Not later," Kane said.

"Later," the girl said. "I'1l go in
now but I'll see you later."

She took off the high heels and carried them. She ran
across the corral and back to the house in her stocking feet. Kane
lit a cigarette and walked back slowly. Here you go again, and what
the hell are you doing here, he thought. In the passageway he heard
the girl arguing with someone.

"
I asked you where you had been," Mariano
was saying.

"I told you. Are you deaf? In the corral."

"
With the
gringo
!"

"
Exactly. The same one you saw me go out there
with."

"You fool! He fooled you."

"
Fool? I like it. I am a woman. The
gringo
is a man. You hear? A man. Do you know what that is?"

"He will leave here when he is finished with you
and with all of us and go back to the United States to his
gringa
."

"
So what?"

"
So he will make fools of all of us."

"
Speak for yourself. Don't worry about me."
The girl put on her shoes and walked away.

"
Is everything all right?" Kane asked. He
had walked up and surprised Mariano close in the dark.

"
¡No hay problema!
There is no problem!" Mariano said.

"
Is there anything you need of me? Any way I can
be of service to you?" Kane asked him quietly.

"
No.
Nada. No hay
problema
, Señor Kane," Mariano said.

Kane walked away from him and joined Chato and
Placido, who were sharing a large glass of tequila with Don Tomás.
Don Tomás handed the glass to Kane.

"
How do you like the dance?" Don Tomás
asked Kane.

"
Everyone is happy and enjoying himself,"
Kane said.

"
The
jinete
is
happy diverting himself," Placido the
vaquero
announced. "He has found friends here."

"
Hee, hee, hee, Jim Kane," Chato said.

"
Have you danced, Señor Kane?" Don Tomás
asked.

"
Twice. With Chato's daughter and with your
daughter. My duty dances. I don't know how to dance these
rancheras
very well," Kane said.

"
All in good time," Don Tomás said. "
Poco
a poquito.
Little by little. You must take
your time and take everything at its own little pace. Slowly and
carefully. That is the way everything is done here in Mexico."

"
¿Qué chiste?
What
fun would he have in doing it our way?" Chato said.

"
In dancing or in anything, the slow, careful
way is always the more diverting," Don Tomás said.

"
It is true what Don Tomás says," Placido
said solemnly.

"
True. Very true."

"
I think I'm too old now to learn to dance in
your way," Kane said.

"
But you are not," Don Tomás said. "You
are young, presentable. You should have no trouble finding girls to
give you their slow, careful lessons."

"
But then I would have to go around in the role
of a suitor. I am past the age of the control, patience, and
long-suffering necessary for being a suitor. No, I believe I will let
the others do the dancing. I have retired as a dancer."

"
¡Lástima!
Too bad!
A man so big and so impatient!" Don Tomás said.

"Life is short, Don Tomás. Too short for a man
to press suit to girls to teach him dancing."

Don Tomás laughed. "I enjoy your views, Señor
Kane. They are different, but they carry reason."

"
Thank you, Don Tomás."

Don Tomás rose from his chair and stretched. "Now
I must retire. Placido, you take Chato and some blankets to the
clubroom. Señor Kane will sleep in the bedroom in the corner next to
my room. Build him a fire in the fireplace. Good night!"

He shook hands with Kane and walked away.

Placido staggered ahead of Kane and Chato, leading
the way to Kane's room. He wanted that chore out of the way before he
passed out. He turned and motioned Kane to follow him each time he
remembered what his errand was. The
mariachis
were still playing. The dance floor was crowded. Mariano
and the other young
charros
were
still dancing. Adelita was dancing. This was the shank of the
evening. Placido muddlingly chose a key from a ring on his belt and
unlocked the heavy door of a corner room. The room contained an iron
cot with mattress and blankets rolled at its foot. A small table with
two chairs stood beside the bed. An oil lamp was on the table. The
fireplace also served the adjoining room, Don Tomás' room, and when
Kane sat down to share the glass of tequila with Chato he could see
into the other room through the fireplace.

Placido built a fire and sat down on the bed. The
three men, at the end of their fiesta now, smoked and watched the
fire as they finished their last glass of tequila.

"
What a good fiesta we had!" Chato said.

"
A good fiesta! Good fiesta!" Placido
repeated, smiling now again because the fiesta was over and he would
not drink any more after this glass he was sharing with Kane and
Chato.

"
With this drink I will go and sleep with the
little angels," Chato said.