The M.exican General
Saul B.ellow
IEY CAME WALKINC,
the whole group of them, along the •hort
pillared, red paved colonnade, the boys in front struggling with
the baggage, the bodyguards behind smiling pleasantly.
"This is your room, the center one Senor el General," said
the clerk who had hurried from the dining room to meet them.
"That on the left is for the ladies and this on the right for the two
gentlemen. Everything is just as you asked for it in your telegram."
"These are like the doors of a church," said Maria. She took
the large brass key from the clerk and tried it in the cumbersome,
old.fashioned lock. It did not open. She twisted the handles and
pushed first with one high heel and then the other.
"You are not strong enough, Maria," Eulalia said. "Give it
back." And Gloria too said, "You can't do it, let him." Everyone
laughed. The General smiled a moment as though he acknowledged
but did not entirely pardon their privilege to be boisterous, and
then he said, "Let the boy open it."
With one hatbox still held under his arm the boy jerked the
doors forward as he turned the key and they sprang open.
"There," said Eulalia. She and Gloria ran to the beds and
rocked them. "They're soft. This one is nearly as good as the one
I have at home," said Gloria pulling up a corner of the sheets to
look at the mattress. "Do you like the room Eulalia?"
"It's a little old fashioned," said Eulalia, "but it's nice."
The wooden walls were painted dark red; the floor was made
of smooth green blocks and the bedspreads were of green taffeta,
rose trimmed. There were two windows, high and narrow, with
panes of starred glass facing the court where they could hear water
rushing over the floor and wet clothes slapped on the washing
stone.
178
"Whose picture is that?" Maria asked the boy, pointing.
"Look there are several and they're
all
the same."
