The Scared Stiff

26

Friday. Another slow day, alone in Luz’s house. I was running out of photo novels, and the river was running out of different kinds of boats to show me. The Rolex said it was only eleven-thirty, too early for lunch, but I decided to eat anyway, just for something to do. I got up from the saggy living room sofa, meaning to go to the refrigerator and spend a long time choosing my menu, when a car stopped out front.

Oh, no. The cousins again? I didn’t want to go back in that miserable river, this time with all my clothes on. Crouched over, I ran to the front window and looked out and saw Arturo just climbing out of his Impala.

Arturo! I’d forgotten all about him. I’d asked Luz to phone him, so this morning she must have, because here he was.

I forgot lunch. I hadn’t actually been hungry anyway. I went to the door and opened it and said, “Hey, Arturo, how you doing?”

“Better than you,” he said, and gave me a grim smile, and shook his head as he came in. “I hear you had a rough night here.”

“You bet.”

He shook his head again. “Those bufóns from Tapitepe.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Manfredo and Luis and the other Luis with the bad arm and José and Pedro and poco Pedro.”

“Yeah, them. They’re stupid as shit,” Arturo said, “but they can be dangerous.”

“I got that,” I assured him.

“You told Luz to call me,” he said, “so she did, and I come down and had a talk with her.”

“And?”

“And they could come back, hermano. That story, how she’s dancin’ with a truck driver from the factory, that don’t hold up.”

“It don’t?”

“How come nobody around here knows this truck driver, never seen him before? Manfredo’s stupid, but he ain’t that stupid. He might ask around, Who’s this truck driver? Then he comes back.”

“Would he hurt Luz?”

“Not if you ain’t here. Luz can talk her way out of it, unless they got you right here like evidence.”

“I suppose so. You got any ideas?”

He said, “I’ll take you back to Sabanon, to begin with. You got stuff to pack?”

“Not much.” I felt a pang at the thought of leaving. Two days ago, I’d thought the house a hellhole and Luz a dangerous tramp, and now I realized I was going to miss them both. I said, “I’d like to say so long to Luz.”

“I said your so-longs,” he told me. “Luz says to tell you she liked having you around; you’re a funny guy. And a good dancer.”

“She said that, huh?”

Arturo grinned at me. “You never know, hermano,” he said. “A few more days around here, you might begin to forget Lola. Good thing I’m takin’ you away.”

“Saved again,” I said, and went to get my stuff.