FELISBERTO HERNANDEZ
395
T he boys were a lso sil ent , till one of them thought of emptying hi s
g lass of wine a t a swa ll ow and the others imita ted him . Then ano ther
sa id :
"T e ll us somethin g more a bo ut yourself : your persona l tas tes, fo r
in stance."
"Ah , as for tha t," sa id Ho race, " I don 't think it'll be o f any help to
you in making up your scenes. Fo r instance, I like to wa lk on a wooden
fl oor sprinkl ed with suga r. Tha t lillie crunching noise.. ."
Just then Ma ry came in to as k them a ll out into the garden .
It
was
a da rk ni ght and the gues ts were supposed to form couples and ca rry
torches. Mary took Ho race's a rm and showed the way. At the door tha t
led into the ga rden , each gues t pi cked a sma ll torch from a table and lit
it a t a fl aming bowl on ano ther ta bl e. The glow a ttracted the neigh–
bo rs, who ga thered a t the low hedge, their faces like shiny fruit with
wa tchful eyes among the trees, glinting with di strust. Suddenl y Ma ry
crossed a fl ower bed , fli cked a sw itch , and Da isy appeared , a ll lit up in
the LOp branct1es of a hi gh tree .
It
was one of Mary 's surpri ses and was
met with claps and cheers. Da isy was h o lding a white [an spread on her
breas t. A li ght behind the fan turned it into a bri ght co lo red web.
Horace ki ssed Mary and thanked her [or the surpri se. T hen , as the
g ues ts scallered , he saw Da isy staring o ut toward the street he LOo k on
hi s way home every day. He was leading Ma ry a long the hedge when
one of the neighbo rs sho uted a t o thers coming up the street: " Hurry!
The dead woman 's a ppea red in a t.ree!" They made it bac k to the house,
where everyone was toas ting Da isy. Mary had the twin s-her ma ids,
who were sisters-get her down fr om
t
he tree and change her wa ter [o r
bed .
Abo ut an ho ur had gone by since their return from the garden ,
when Ma ry sta rted loo king around fo r Horace and found him bac k in
the showroom with the boys. She was pa le and everyone rea li zed
somethin g serious had happened. She had the boys excuse Ho race and
led him up to the bedroom . T here he found Da isy with a knife stuck in
her ches t. The wo und was lea king ho t wa ter down her dress, whi ch was
soa ked , and dripping o n the fl oor. She was in her usua l cha ir, with bi g
o pen eyes. But when they touched her a rm , they felt it gellin g cold.
Ho race was holding Mary, who had burst into tea rs saying:
"Who could have dared to come up here and do such a thing?"
After a whil e she ca lmed down a nd sa t in a cha ir to think o ver
wha t was to be don e. Then she sa id:
' 'I'm go ing to call the po li ce."
" Yo u 're o ut of your mind," he sa id . "We ca n 't do tha t to our
