BRADSHAW'S TOMBSTONE
327
Senor Orquienz was late, but Bradshaw took consolation in the
papers on his table. Chief of these was a map of the isthmus impres–
sively decorated with ideographs, demographic symbols and little
squiggles representing new industries. For Bradshaw, the creator and
familiar of this document, it was more palpable than the mirage of
reality outside the cantina. In its terms he saw rectangles of glass and
clean masonry in the jungles; the whole isthmus became a coherent
enterprise, organized, useful and busy; imperceptibly the climate had
changed for the better. A few planes with DDT would defeat the
ruin of centuries. But soon the edges of his vision blurred. The siesta,
that nutritional phenomenon, had stepped across the dietary lines
and claimed the well-nourished Bradshaw.
The wall telephone set the flies rising in a cloud from the bar.
Somewhat slower, the barman's head rose, and he moved like a man
in deep water toward the noise. The croaking box took some time to
make its meaning clear.
uEl Norteamericano? El Senor Pratsore?"
Obediently, he peered about his cerulean cave as if the answer
posed a problem of infinite discrimination. Amid this non-crowd
there was no one who met the requirements of the telephone.
Bradshaw solved the problem by taking the instrument from the
man's hand. Yes, he assented, of course busine.c;s must take priority,
that perhaps later, a meeting might be consummated, certainly, yes,
at Senor Pratsore's Hotel, Hohkaye.
Thus it had always been in Bradshaw's dealings with the enig–
matic Senor Orquienz. Nothing in Culture Shock had quite prepared
Bradshaw for Senor J e.c;us-Maria Orquienz Contreras. This local mag–
nate-landowner, importer and as his card stated,
Uingeniero/'
in–
sisted, for reasons which Bradshaw deeply re.c;pected, that his meet–
ings with the North American should be at the hour of the siesta.
Senor Orquienz professed contempt for the unbusinesslike habits of
his fellow countrymen and, in theory, kept
yanqui
busine.c;s hours.
However, if it was necessary for him to show his superiority to the
Rafaeleanos, it was .also necessary to show his superiority to Bradshaw,
so that it was only on their first meeting that Senor Orquienz had
observed his principles to the actual point of keeping the appointment.
On that occasion also they had met at the Polar and Senor Orquienz
