Felipe Alfau - Chromos

“This porrón is empty, Nescacha.”

She got up and walked on her new patent leather high-heeled shoes. She always had new shoes on with very high heels since la Nescacha liked to be all dressed up with fine clothes and she wore rings in her ears and on her fingers and also bracelets, but she never wore stockings with her fine shoes as the kids could tell by seeing the coppery fuzz on her muscular legs.

La Nescacha took the empty porrón behind the counter and from the small room in the back, she brought out another covered with fresh moisture but before she could lay it on the floor beside her master, el Gorriti took it from her and began to drink and the kids watched him closely. Then la Nescacha filled two glasses with wine and took some biscuits from the shelf and gave them to the kids.

They said “thanks” and she patted their heads and the kids stood outside the door watching the ball game that was in progress. It was not an important game because the Gorriti was sitting inside. If the game was good and Begoña or Chapelo or any of his boys, as the Gorriti called the better players, were out there, he always sat outside in his chair and watched with his porrón beside him. Therefore this was not a good game and the porrón and the Gorriti were inside.

And then the kids saw the woman coming through the park and across the clearing in front of the tavern with people following behind. She was talking loudly and stepping so hard that she raised dust when she crossed the dried clearing where the sun beat. The kids entered the tavern again and then stood to one side of the door to let her pass, but she stopped right at the door. She was la Euscarra, a swarthy and powerfully built woman.

Begoña had one arm around la Nescacha when he saw his wife. He did not remove his arm, though. He only said: “What do you want, woman?”

She shouted in a loud masculine voice that sounded like a man almost: “I want to see your guts in the sun, bad man. I knew you were here carrying on with this girl and I come to tell you that you cannot do that to me,” and she went on like that to insult him using very abusive and bad language.

La Nescacha disengaged herself from Begoña’s arm and, walking around the table, stood before la Euscarra very serene: “Why do you tell him, if you want to tell me? I know you have been talking behind my back. If you have anything against me, tell me.”

“You stay out of this,” la Euscarra said. “I am talking to my man now.”

The other one said: “Yes, you talk to him because you don’t dare talk to me like that. He is a real man and can do nothing. Why do you come here? If you have a quarrel with me, let’s have it over with.”

The kids saw la Euscarra pale under her sunburned skin.

“You are only a fresh girl and you ought to be ashamed to run around with men twice your age. You are not even a woman and you should not try to compete with grown-ups or you will learn a good lesson.”

La Nescacha was very furious then and she said: “I am more of a woman than you will ever be and it will not be you who will teach me any lesson. I run around with him and what are you going to do about it?” And then the two women insulted each other and used vile language.

El Gorriti talked from his chair in the back of the room: “Don’t bring your quarrels here, women.” But then Chapelo, who was spinning his boina on a finger, said that it was better for the men to stay out of women’s troubles and let them fight it out themselves and he also made a joke which made everybody laugh except the kids who did not understand it. Begoña looked unconcerned with a cigarette between his sharp teeth and his face without expression. La Euscarra yelled at him:

“Come home with me, man without conscience. You sit and drink while I work all day in the heredad and I will murder you yet. I am not a woman to play with.”

Begoña removed the cigarette from between his teeth. He pointed the wet end at his wife and he told her: “I am tired of you and I stay. You do what you want. I have heard you many times and others have also heard you say that you were going to kill la Nescacha. Well, she is right in front of you now and I don’t see you do anything.” La Euscarra looked very embarrassed, and he finished: “What are you waiting for?”

And then la Nescacha, hands on swaying hips, closed in on the bigger woman. She had courage, la Nescacha. Her well set-off body was almost rubbing against her rival’s and there was insulting challenge in every curve of it.

“You are going to kill me?” she laughed aloud and impudently up into la Euscarra’s face. “You don’t have what a woman should have to kill. Get out of here now.”

Everybody looked on with great suspense. A crowd of people had collected before the door of the tavern attracted by the loud voices because they all wanted to see the fight between the two women. The kids were still holding their glasses of wine and had forgotten about them. They were afraid for la Nescacha, because they liked her and the other woman always hollered at them when they walked in her heredad after their ball. La Euscarra was not hollering anymore now, though. She was mumbling:

“I won’t go until he comes, and besides I don’t have to go if I don’t want to, as anybody has a right to come in here because this is a tavern.” She was talking stupidly and everybody began to think she was talking this way because she was afraid of la Nescacha, which was very surprising because she was bigger and looked stronger and then she had said she was going to kill la Nescacha. The ball game had stopped also and everything and the day was very quiet and silent so that the kids could hear very plainly the voice of la Nescacha:

“Then I will make you go like this,” and she struck la Euscarra hard across the face with her open hand. La Euscarra stepped back and uttered a little cry and the bright blood that trickled from her nose made her face look muddy gray. Then she began to holler:

“I will kill her if nobody holds me,” and she looked all around. “She has struck me and I will kill her as certain as my name is la Euscarra.” But nobody held her and she had to fight now, but she only said those things and did nothing and for that reason someone said:

“What happened, Euscarra; did you leave your courage at home?” But the word used was not “courage” but another one which the kids knew to be very vulgar indeed and then la Nescacha struck her face again.

Howling like a wolf, la Euscarra lunged at the girl, trying to claw at her hair and scratch her, but la Nescacha was too quick for her, because she knew all the tricks, and she caught la Euscarra by the face so she could not see well and drove her against the counter, pulling her back by the hair, and began to pound her mercilessly with her fist and la Euscarra screamed with every blow. La Euscarra tried to escape and retaliate, but that young woman knew how to fight and had her cornered and helpless, and then la Nescacha fell upon her and began to pour vicious blows with both fists upon her face and they sounded very ugly and la Euscarra howled shamelessly until it was fearful to hear and to see. Everybody yelled and little Garcia watched with eyes wide open and the other kid joined in the general pandemonium and both kids forgot about the wineglasses in their shaking hands. Then several people said that la Euscarra had enough.

Begoña stood up and said: “She has had enough now,” and he pulled la Nescacha who was saying: “Who is the better woman now?” and he patted her because she had won.

La Euscarra sank to her knees covering her face, her hair all hanging down and she dragged herself that way to the door like a beaten dog who is very much ashamed of his beating and the blood dripped on the floor as she went, but when she was outside the door she stood up reeling so she made a frightful sight in the bright sun because her face was all covered with blood as was the front of her working dress and some of her hair hung over her face. She cried: “Maybe you can whip me this way,” and she choked moving her hands like one who is fighting, “but not like this,” and then she moved one hand like someone stabbing with a knife and she stood like that looking at her husband long and then with a moan she staggered away, the people making way for her.