38
PARTISAN REVIEW
Pronouncing his name,
Sebasti~n
Rengifo, was like opening
the door of a bird cage, letting his name flyaway forever. He waited
beside the back door, in an alley where the trapped wind was
howling.
Sebasti~n
pulled his triangular paper hat down farther and
tied the old rags covering his feet tighter. Without a face now,
without a name, he sat in the doorway to wait .
At last the door opened. Aquiles Marambio, who had grown fat
over the years, had a white napkin knotted under his double chin.
"Did you wish to speak to me?" he asked.
"Yes . ... Don't you remember me?"
Marambio wiped his glasses with a corner of the napkin. Be–
hind him, in the part of the room revealed by the door, some people
were laughing at a table laden with food.
"I can't remember. Hurry up and tell me what you want . It's
damn cold and the flu is going around. "
He waited. Then Marambio threatened : "If you don't tell me
what you want, I am going to close the door. "
"You
don't recognize me,"
Sebasti~n
stammered .
"No, I do not recognize you. How am I supposed to know all
the bums in this city? Besides, under that beard and filth . .. "
"I came to ask you to give me food and a place to live for a few
days, sir. I'm going to die but I can't before I see the door
open ... please ... "
A cloud of recognition darkened Marambio's face .
"Until what? What door?"
" ... the door and I can see ... "
"No, no, no . Go away. You aren't going to die. You are not too
old to find work. You wanted to be what you are. Go away. Good
night. I won't have anything todowith you." And he closed thedoor.
Sebasti~n
curled up as best he could to sleep in the doorway.
During the night the sky cleared and the stars, barely twin–
kling, looked down sharply from the fearsome black depth of the
sky, which let a hard frost fall on the earth. The next morning,
Sunday, the sky was fragile and thin, like an immense blue paper
kite. The sun didn't warm up the streets but its clear light revealed
all the edges and contours of things.
Don Aquiles Marambio, his wife, and his two little daughters,
six and seven years old, went to Mass early. They took communion
