Daniel Sada - One Out of Two

Between toasts and off-the-cuff jokes, they came to agreement on many things … Constitución put down the stakes and the other followed the path laid out, without asides or any picking of nits, everything in proper order, and long like a river, very long …

Their dancing brought an end to their conversation, and they finally slumped over, their heads resting on the dining room table. Almost at dawn: total surrender.

They didn’t give a hoot about missing a day of work: what the hell! The moment they were living demanded dissipation. But they did agree that the first date would go to the vanquisher, of course … As to the rest: the unfilled orders, the pushy customers, the shop left with the lights on, but closed. How did that happen? For how long? A whole day! … Two would have been better.

To wit: let people think whatever the hell they like.

/

“Look, there he is, three blocks away.”

“Where?”

“That man, there, he’s carrying something white with what looks like a red splotch on top.”

“The one dressed in green?”

“Yes, he’s stopping people, probably asking them where the shop is, can you see? He’s coming this way and … See how long his strides are?”

“Not bad-looking … Though …”

“Hey, what’s up with you? Remember what we agreed? Go, hide, and step on it!”

“But, it’s just … There’s nowhere to hide, and I can’t just crouch down in the corner.”

“Put on a hat and get out of here. He mustn’t see you.”

“What hat? Don’t tell me you want me to put on that orange one?”

“I don’t care what you put on, even a scrap of fabric to cover your head, but go, run, run. Now!”

Gloria did as she was told, placed two or three rags over her head, and with another she covered her face but left one eye exposed; with the rush and her nerves, she almost stumbled but righted herself unscathed, then scurried away in the opposite direction from Oscar, who was but a few steps away, yes, just as Constitución was becoming overeager — her plan was to act cool rather than bold, so she stood smugly to one side of the shop door, pretending to seem interesting by staring off into the distance; in the meantime, the other, forcibly sent on her way, looked like a bizarre lay sister of sorts, and once round the corner, she stopped and removed the rags. Some passersby must have witnessed that particular act, for it wasn’t a sight one sees every day.

Sunday. The day for bathing and lavishly applying perfumes. In the evening, people go for a stroll to get some air, especially during those dog days of summer: out: to see and be seen, by inertia to the town square: the place for local beauties with salacious gaits. Lots of monkey business today, which is why some busybody would undoubtedly notice the morbid curiosity of that lady lurking on the corner, and farther away, the other supposedly aloof one standing at the shop door … and at her age? What a scenario! and the fact that one of them was hiding made it all so obvious. Everybody knew them!

From what Gloria could see, at the only moment she dared look, her victorious sister — be that as it may — talked to the man, then padlocked the shop door shut. First step accomplished; per their superpremeditated agreement, the suitor should never enter the shop, because if he saw the two machines, he’d start wheedling information out of them by asking lots of questions, and then some random detail, maybe circumstantial, would raise a doubt, possibly two; better not give him an inch: nothing: no way, never. The man had already handed her sister what he was carrying: a gift with a bow, which Constitución, certainly blushing, opened slowly: that is: without expressions of glee. All well and good. And, since today’s watching twin knew that the lovebirds would go to the walnut grove on the edge of town: the edge was here: in this direction, they were coming her way, Gloria realized. So: rush away without losing sight of them. Now, more bereft then ever, because the unhappy spy had to quickly find a hiding place and cover her face again with those rags. No. Luckily she found a redoubt reserved especially for her, where she could watch them pass at a reasonable distance and where she could finally take a deep breath … A gift of fate … Then: follow them furtively like a black widow spider pressed against a wall: wherever, that is, there were walls.

Follow them: keeping those rags clutched firmly in her hand in case the suitor turned around — she had to anticipate that — so she could quickly dissemble their too-obvious sameness. She continued, ever at the ready. That’s how things transpired.

However, while they strolled, they still didn’t touch — so much the better! — because desire sharpens, because a love like this, at least at first, seems very sacred. If only it could remain like that for a lifetime! … Though a little nibble, a tiny pinch of mischief, never goes begging.

Well, there was Constitución, her modesty fully intact.

In any case, they reached the spot: the glorious walnut grove, where huge logs lay thick and fallen: ideal and romantic: to sit down on one and from there contemplate the afternoon: alone: watching each other attentively, and those suggestive pauses, and Gloria observing that idyllic scene from afar, from behind a fir tree; she wanted to imagine the conversation, feel the same shivers her sister felt; that atmosphere imbued with voices wherein each word is a contour, and certain internal pressures are, might be, manifested in a nervous grimace or some chance brush of skin against skin. Herewith, the tragic struggle against temptation, the latent caresses, and the kisses that say so many things that cannot be expressed for the sake of simple equanimity, or rather: until things become a little clearer … Hands resting on the tree trunk, and that’s all: perfectly still. Only approximations, where silence is: where silence would like to be a premise, maybe even nakedness, love, loyalty, substance: penetrating certainties: delayed passion.

His token of affection was a pair of bobble earrings, iridescent crystals for Gloria to wear because:

“He’ll be back next Sunday. Now it’s your turn, like we agreed. But you should definitely wear these earrings,” Constitución said.

More and more work, however, in the shop: they had to make up for lost time, otherwise their customers would take their business elsewhere. During that period, their competition was catching up, other shops were starting to open, though warily, not so much as to threaten their solvency, but, yes, at a certain point, enough for them to feel that they were not the only game in town.

After settling on their arrangement, which was good for both of them in the same way, and having left their turmoil behind, they were able to temper their emotions, and: their goals became once again what they had been: to be tops in their humble field: dullards, perfectionists, squeezing every last drop out of every hour of every day, as had always been their wont: morning, noon, and night, and making better use of their time by devoting themselves fully to their stitches and their dressmaking.

By keeping their eyes glued on that prize, they prevented people from tricking them into getting emotional over their still-budding courtship, or from the love of one affecting the other whereby both of them would end up leaving orders half done.

We repeat: if resentment ever popped up, it was by that time so well hidden, so puerile, and so spineless, it didn’t matter a bit; in fact, neither made so much as a wisecrack, for they knew all too well that so much of what they were planning to live could never be anything more than a passionate game, a lurid possibility.

Nor — at least at first — did it cross their minds that a full experience of mutual love — without all that foolish tact — would end in tragedy. If both of them accepted the lie, an excess of fiction could possibly, ultimately, turn the mistake into a truth; a blind truth, but still; in other words — and this fits right in — they’d both marry him and have identical children and confusion would reign in spite of proper or bad manners, and taken even one step further: the government and the Church would, considering the circumstances, allow modern marriages between one man and two women or a girl and two or three boys … So, the attempt: would it be tragedy? comedy? drama? or what?