Giles Blunt - Breaking Lorca

Behind him, two sliding doors parted and Helen Viera appeared. “Dinner’s ready,” she said. “What are you all talking about? Everyone looks so serious.”

“Just politics,” her husband said. “Nothing you have to worry about.”

Helen’s face hardened at this brush-off, and Victor felt a sudden sympathy for her. She was the outsider in the family, not Lorca. “Don’t let it get cold,” she said, and retreated to the kitchen.

Viera rose. “Gentlemen, we have our orders.”

They seated themselves around the dining room table while Lorca and Helen brought in the food. There was baked ham, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and some other vegetables Victor didn’t recognize.

“Tremendous!” Bob shouted. “Absolutely tremendous, Helen!”

He would be the kind who always remembers people’s names-also the kind to use the first name on first meeting. But even Helen slowly warmed under the onslaught of his bonhomie.

The wine was poured, they clinked glasses, and then the next few minutes were filled with the passing of dishes and jokes about how much Viera and Bob put on their plates, and how little Lorca put on hers.

“You couldn’t keep a rabbit alive on that,” Bob said. “Six, seven days, you’d have one dead bunny.”

“Oh, Lorca has to make her little points,” Helen said.

Bob smiled, ducked his head to his wineglass to avoid the sudden chill. His bearish hide was apparently not too thick to sense female hostility.

“I am not making any point,” Lorca said. “I am simply eating what I can. It’s not to make any point.”

“Sure, Lorca. I believe you.”

“Why do you say such things? The meal is good, and now you accuse me of something.”

“Good wine,” Viera said. “Good choice, Ignacio.”

Victor felt his cheeks redden.

“God, I meant to bring some wine myself,” Wyatt said. “Left it too late, and then the damn store was closed. The one near me, anyway.”

“Don’t think about it. We have plenty to drink,” Viera said. “But these Appropriations people-the committee. You talked to them in Washington?”

“God, no. Not the committee. The hearings aren’t till June. But I want them to know we’re coming.” He took a sip of wine, his ease implying that Bob Wyatt was a force to be reckoned with around Capitol Hill. “I’ve been hustling administrative assistants, smoothing the way for people from TVA-people like Lorca, if she’ll come-to testify at the hearings.”

“I will never do this,” Lorca said quietly.

“Testify?” Victor’s heart was racing. “A person could get killed, testifying against the military. The Guardia is not going to let-how much? fifty million dollars? — get away without doing anything to stop it.”

“I understand your concern, Ignacio, believe me I do. It’s not unfounded. But the fact is, you’re not in El Salvador anymore. You’re in the United States. We do some bad things around the world, real bad things. God knows, we have a habit of backing the wrong people. But in our own yard? Different story. They’re not going to let anything happen to any witnesses. No, sir.”

“I am sorry to disagree with you. The Guardia will not stand by and do nothing. I know them. They will not let such hearings take place. Such testimony.”

“They’ve already taken place, Ignacio. They’ve held three of these hearings over the past eighteen months. True, it hasn’t stopped any actual military aid. Not yet. The hearings are loaded with so-called experts from the State Department. Those guys will lie through their teeth to get what they want, they’ll say anything. Anything! They get up there and testify that the number of killings has gone down since the last hearing. That the number of disappearances has gone down. And actually, they usually have-just prior to the hearings. I mean, they’re not stupid down there. And the only people testifying from the other side are organizations like Amnesty. I mean, bless their hearts and all, I love those people, but they just roll in with their own facts and figures and it’s like, believe the expert of your choice.”

“And you want Lorca to testify.”

“I will not,” she said.

“Oh, not just Lorca. I want every Salvadoran I can find. Every man, woman and child whose rights were abused down there. We have three Salvadorans in our group. One of them witnessed a massacre in her village-horrific story, horrific-and another had to watch while her husband was set on fire right before her eyes. They broke his legs and set him on fire, can you imagine?” He put his fork down with a clank. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m spoiling this wonderful meal with this stuff.”

Lorca was not even picking at her food now.

Victor tried to change the subject. “They say the Yankees have a good chance to win the pennant this year. What do you think of the team so far?”

“Oh, sports,” Helen said. “I don’t know what’s worse-torture or sports.”

Victor rifled through the contents of his mind to come up with another topic. But Wyatt, chomping his food and gulping his wine, got in ahead of him. “God, that’s good ham, Helen. I haven’t had ham that good since some faraway Easter of my youth. But let me just say one thing-” Now he tipped his great bulk toward Viera and Victor. It was like being addressed by a mountain. “Just let me say that if I can get those two to testify-those two women I mentioned-and Lorca ,” he added with heavy emphasis, “it’ll toss one big fat monkey wrench into the works of that committee, you bet it will. They won’t be able to ignore testimony like that. Call me an optimistic fool, but I think we can stop that military aid. I think we can stop it on the fifty-yard line.”

“They will not let Lorca testify,” Victor said. “Or any of the others. They will not. You don’t know them.”

“All right. You’re raising a cogent point there, Ignacio. Very cogent. Part of the reason for my trip to D.C. was to organize security. You would not believe the red tape that involved. It all has to be approved by the State Department, of course.”

“The State Department? But you said the State Department favours the military. They provide the liars and experts, no?”

“The State Department employs twenty thousand souls, Ignacio. Not all of them have a stake in seeing your country ruled by a gang of thugs. I assure you, every precaution will be taken to ensure the security of our witnesses.”

“Perhaps Ignacio should testify,” Viera said. “Did you know he was a prisoner in the same place as Lorca?”

“That so-called school?” Bob turned to Victor and laid a heavy hand on his forearm. “Well, damn, Ignacio. Maybe you should trundle on down to TVA sometime. Come with Lorca one night.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. I just want to forget.”

“Can we please stop talking about torture and murder and the military,” Helen said. “I mean, there is a limit. There really is.”

“Okay, that’s it. That’s all,” Bob said, holding up his hand like a traffic cop. “Our Blessed Lady of the Table has spoken, and I for one have no intention of violating her wishes.” For the next twenty minutes or so, Bob devoted himself to getting back into Helen’s good graces. He suggested she think about teaching a cooking course at night school, probed her about her childhood in Minneapolis, asked if she had any sisters as attractive as her. My God, Victor thought, you may be dangerously naive, but you sure are a first-class politician.

Viera, too, appreciated his efforts, as men do whose wives are difficult. The lawyer became relaxed and thoughtful-something he could not do when straining to surround everyone in good humour. Gradually Bob steered the conversation back to Washington, and Helen was so charmed she pretended not to notice.