FELISBERTO HERNANDEZ
415
T ha t ni ght they had dinner in the big dining room . He asked for
the musta rd and kept sampling the wine. Afterwards, he drank his
coffee in the littl e parl or; a nd soon he went into the showroom. The
first scene had no capti on : among softl y lit plants, in a big rippling
poo l, he made o ut a number of loose arms and legs. He saw the sole of a
foot sti ck out throu gh some branches, like a face, fo ll owed by the leg,
like a rov ing beas t. As it to uched the glass wall it stopped and
contracted. Then came another leg, foll owed by a hand and arm tha t
slow ly wound around it as they met, like bored anima ls in a cage. He
stood there for a whil e, absentl y wa tching the different combina tions o f
limbs, till there was a meeting of toes and fingers. But suddenl y the leg
involved bega n to stra ighten o ut in the commonpl ace ges ture of
standing on its foot. He was di sap pointed and fl ashed hi s light a t
Wa lter, as he moved the podium on to the next scene. There he saw a
do ll on a bed, wea ring a queen 's crown . Curled up next to her was
Ma ry's ca t. This di stressed him and made him angry a t the boys for
letting it in . At the foot of the bed were three nuns, kneeling o n prayer
stoo ls. T he ca ption sa id : "The queen di ed giving alms. She had no
time to confess, but the who le country is praying for her. " When he
looked aga in, the ca t was gone. But he had the uneasy feeling it would
turn up aga in a t an y moment. He decided to enter the scene–
wa tchfull y, in case of any unpl easa nt surprises. Bending to peer into
the face of the queen , he leaned a hand on the foot of the bed . At tha t
moment , he felt another-one of the nuns' -hands on hi s. He must no t
have heard Mary's voi ce pl eading with him, because the minute he felt
the o ther hand he straightened up, stiff as dea th and started to open his
mouth and move hi s jaws like a bird trying to fl ap its wings and caw .
Mary took his arm; but he brushed her off in terror and began turnin g
himse lf around with a little shuffl e as he had the day she laughed in his
face, pretending to be his negro mi stress. She was fri ghtened again and
let out a scream . He tripped over a nun and knocked her down. Then ,
heading back out of the scene, he mi ssed the small door and walked
into the g lass wall. There he stood bea ting on the glass with hi s hands,
which were like birds knocking against a closed window. Mary didn 't
dare take his a rm aga in; she ran to call Alex, who was nowhere to be
found. Finall y, thinking she was a nun , he came in asking wha t she
wanted. She sa id, crying, tha t Horace was mad. They went into the
showroom, but couldn ' t find him. They were still looking for him
when they heard hi s steps in the gravel of the garden . When they
caught him, beyond the flowerbeds, he was going toward the noise of
the machines.
translated from the Spanish
by
Luis Harss
