THE WOMAN WHO HAD TWO NAVELS
475
"No," said Paco woodenly and, rolling over, lay still with his face
on the grass.
They were alone in the park. Mary had taken the children home;
it was colder, and time for supper. She had told them to follow in a
moment: the soup would be waiting ... The moment had become
hours.
Pepe said: "We had better go. Mary has been waiting and waiting."
Paco did not move. When he felt Pepe's hand on his shoulder he
said dully, not lifting his face from the grass: "Oh, leave me alone."
"But Mary will be worried."
"I can't go home."
"Don't be silly, Paco."
"It's no use. She knows I'm just waiting to go back."
"To those women?"
"They're not through with me yet."
"Are you in love with them?"
Paco lifted his face from the grass. "They're waltmg for me," he
smiled. "They've followed me.
If
I were in love with them I'd have
gone to them by now."
"If
you're not in love with them you wouldn't be afraid to go."
"It's not love-how could it be? I know they're vile, I know
they're evil. But they've got some kind of a hold on me-oh, a strangle–
hold, I know. But I also know that, sooner or later, when they call
I'll come running. And Mary knows, too. We're both of us just
waiting."
"Paco, you've got your own will-"
"No, I lost that over there, too . ..
Oh, leave me alone!"
"It's too cold to stay out here any more-"
"I don't mind."
"And Mary's waiting."
"You go and tell her not to wait. Tell her I've got a headache
and need this air. I'll be along in a moment."
"Then I'll wait for you."
"Oh, go away--ciamn you-go away!"
"Okay, man."
Pepe stood up and, after a glance at Paco, who was lying very
stiII again on his face, walked away across the park. The light fog,
always a gleaming sheet a step away, made him feel like Alice, stepping
through mirrors. But it wasn't I who stepped through the mirror, he
thought.
It
was Father and Paco-and the glass broke. They can't step
back any more; not Father anyway ...
