Blooms of Darkness

43

Now come the days they had all been looking forward to: everyone sleeps late, eats breakfast together, shares pleasant dreams, and keeps asking what good food is left in the kitchen.

Mariana doesn’t stop drinking, obviously seeking to recover what she had lost during the time of her abstinence. She often speaks about her youth, about the moves from brothel to brothel until she arrived at The Residence. She talks and talks, but her words make no impression. Her friends look at her as if to say, We’ve all been through that. What’s so special?

But when she says, “Now I want to introduce my young friend to you,” everyone is silent. Most of them already know the secret, or have guessed. Hugo is stunned. His mind always pictured the women of The Residence in the image of Mariana. Now they sit in the hall around the table, seventeen young women, each with her own hairstyle, looking like girls at a class reunion. At first glance, they remind Hugo of Sofia’s friends, young men and women who used to gather in their home on her birthday. They had come from the village and also went shopping while they were in town, thereby combining practicality with amusement. Hugo had been charmed by their way of speaking, their gestures, and their colorful village language.

After inspecting Hugo from head to foot, one of the women asks, “What’s your name?”

“Hugo,” he replies, pleased that he didn’t lower his head.

“A nice name. I never heard of a name like that.”

“It doesn’t sound Jewish,” another woman comments.

Kitty stands out in her childish clothing and with her big eyes. The others are wrapped in colorful robes, as though they just got out of bed.

“Shall we make Hugo a cup of coffee?” one of them asks.

“Hugo drinks milk,” says Mariana.

Mariana’s comment provokes loud laughter.

“What’s so funny?” asks Mariana.

“He’s a big boy. He’s a sturdy lad, a boy for coffee and not for milk.”

“Why don’t you say something?” one of the women asks Hugo.

“What do you want him to say?” Mariana tries to defend him.

“I thought he was a child. It turns out I was wrong. He’s a lad by any standard.”

“You’re wrong. He’s just tall.” Mariana protects Hugo again.

“I’ve learned the difference, thank God, between a child and a lad.”

That argument displeases Mariana. She takes his hand and says, “Hugo’s got a cold, he has to rest.”

“He doesn’t look as if he’s got a cold,” the woman replies provocatively.

“He’s got a cold, and a bad one,” says Mariana, extricating him from the women’s covetous gaze.

Hugo has hardly entered the closet when he hears the women’s laughter. His name and Mariana’s rise from the laughter. The laughter keeps swelling, and for a moment it sounds like gloating, because they managed to raise the veil from Mariana’s secret.

In the afternoon, Mariana prepares a hot bath and says, “Now I’ll wash my puppy. My puppy’s growing from day to day, maturing. In a little while he’ll be Mariana’s height. In a little while he’ll be even taller than her. I’m looking forward to that moment. Don’t be afraid, honey. Mariana’s swallowed a good bit, but she’s not drunk. I hate drunks.”

When she puts the big towel on his shoulders, she says, “You’re maturing. You’re maturing very nicely. It’s a pleasure to see you.” Hugo hears a didactic tone in her voice, as though she were explaining something to him about the laws of nature. Then she rubs his body with fragrant lotion and says, “My puppy smells like first fruit.” The phrase “first fruit” captivates him. He remembers another phrase, “bud and flower,” that Mariana also uses sometimes.

Now Hugo sees that most of the clothes in the suitcase are too short for him, and in some of the outfits he looks ridiculous. Mariana inspects the clothes and says, “Mariana will get you some older boy’s clothes. These clothes are simply too small on you. You’ve grown up properly.”

That night, after the bath, is a whirl of pleasures and dreams that come one after the other. Hugo has learned that dreams aren’t uniform. Pleasure is mingled with fear. Suddenly Mariana says, “Too bad we can’t stop time: if only we could always live this way, Mariana with her puppy. Mariana doesn’t need anything else. This is exactly what she needs. Hugo will grow up and defend her. The brave puppy.”

In time Hugo will say to himself, It was too hasty. For that reason the experience wasn’t absorbed in full detail. He regrets that the decorative bottles were lost. Sometimes bottles are no less important than their contents. Mariana’s marvelous mouth always gives off a smell of brandy and chocolate, sweet to the palate, and the passage from her neck to her breasts is short and full of softness. “Delight, dear,” Mariana keeps saying, “that’s what a woman needs, the rest is dessert.”