“The first time I went to bed with a woman,” he said, “it was in the country like this. The land belonged to my father. Three or four times a day we would come out into the fields and make love. She loved it, and would have come more often if I had asked her to. Some years later I went to her wedding and I had a terrible fight there. I don’t even remember who the man was, but in the end he was badly hurt. I can tell you that.”
“If you put your arms around me,” said Julia, “I will feel less cold. You don’t mind my asking you to do this, but I love you very much and I feel very contented with you.”
“That’s good,” said Señor Ramirez, looking off at the mountains and shielding his eyes from the sun. He was listening to the sound of the waterfall, which was louder here. Julia was laughing and touching various parts of his body.
“Ah,” she said. “I don’t mind my side hurting me so badly if I can only be happy the way I am now with you. You are so sweet and so wonderful.”
He gave her a quick loud kiss on the mouth and rose to his feet.
“Listen,” he said. “Wouldn’t you like to come into the water with me?”
“I am too sick a woman to go into the water, and I am a little bit afraid.”
“In my arms you don’t have to be afraid. I will carry you. The current would be too strong for you to manage anyway.” Señor Ramirez was now as gay as a lark, although he had been bored but a moment before. He liked nothing better than performing little feats that were assured of success from the beginning. He carried her down to the river, singing at the top of his voice.
The noise of the falls was very loud here, and Julia clung tightly to her escort.
“Don’t let go, now,” she said. But her voice seemed to fly away behind her like a ribbon caught in the wind. They were in the water and Señor Ramirez began to walk in the direction of the falls.
“I will hold tight, all right,” he said. “Because the water runs pretty swiftly near the falls.” He seemed to enjoy stepping precariously from one stone to another with Julia in his arms.
“This is not so easy, you know. This is damned hard. The stones are slippery.” Julia tightened her grip around his neck and kissed him quickly all over his face.
“If I let you go,” he said, “the current would carry you along like a leaf over the falls, and then one of those big rocks would make a hole in your head. That would be the end, of course.” Julia’s eyes widened with horror, and she yelled with the suddenness of an animal just wounded.
“But why do you scream like that, Julia? I love you, sweetheart.” He had had enough of struggling through the water, and so he turned around and started back.
“Are we going away from the waterfall?”
“Yes. It was wonderful, wasn’t it?”
“Very nice,” she said.
He grew increasingly careless as the current slackened, with the result that he miscalculated and his foot slipped between two stones. This threw him off his balance and he fell. He was unhurt, but the back of Julia’s head had hit a stone. It started to bleed profusely. He struggled to his feet and carried her to the riverbank. She was not sure that she was not dying, and hugged him all the more closely. Pulling her along, he walked quickly up the hill and back through the woods to where Inez and Alfredo were still sitting.
“It will be all right, won’t it?” she asked him a bit weakly.
“Those damn rocks were slippery,” he growled. He was sulky, and eager to be on his way home.
“Oh, God of mine!” lamented Inez, when she saw what had happened. “What a sad ending for a walk! Terrible things always happen to Julia. She is a daughter of misfortune. It’s a lucky thing that I am just the contrary.”
Señor Ramirez was in such a hurry to leave the picnic spot that he did not even want to bother to collect the various baskets and plates he had brought with him. They dressed, and he yelled for them all to get into the car. Julia wrapped a shawl around her bleeding head. Inez went around snatching up all the things, like an enraged person.
“Can I have these things?” she asked her host. He nodded his head impatiently. Julia was by now crying rhythmically like a baby that has almost fallen asleep.
The two women sat huddled together in the back of the car. Inez explained to Julia that she was going to make presents of the plates and baskets to her family. She shed a tear or two herself. When they arrived at the house, Señor Ramirez handed some banknotes to Inez from where he was sitting.
“Adios,” he said. The two women got out of the car and stood in the street.
“Will you come back again?” Julia asked him tenderly, ceasing to cry for a moment.
“Yes, I’m coming back again,” he said. “Adios.” He pressed his foot on the accelerator and drove off.
The bar was packed with men. Inez led Julia around through the patio to their room. When she had shut the door, she slipped the banknotes into her pocket and put the baskets on the floor.
“Do you want any of these baskets?” she asked.
Julia was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking into space. “No, thank you,” she said. Inez looked at her, and saw that she was far away.
“Señor Ramirez gave me four drinking cups made out of plastic,” said Inez. “Do you want one of them for yourself?”
Julia did not answer right away. Then she said: “Will he come back?”
“I don’t know,” Inez said. “I’m going to the movies. I’ll come and see you afterwards, before I go into the bar.”
“All right,” said Julia. But Inez knew that she did not care. She shrugged her shoulders and went out through the door, closing it behind her.
A Quarreling Pair
The two puppets are sisters in their early fifties. The puppet stage should have a rod or string dividing it down the middle to indicate two rooms. One puppet is seated on each side of the dividing line. If it is not possible to seat them they will have to stand. Harriet, the older puppet, is stronger-looking and wears brighter colors.
HARRIET (The stronger puppet) I hope you are beginning to think about our milk.
RHODA (After a pause) Well, I’m not.
HARRIET Now what’s the matter with you? You’re not going to have a visitation from our dead, are you?
RHODA I don’t have visitations this winter because I’m too tired to love even our dead. Anyway, I’m disgusted with the world.
HARRIET Just mind your business. I mind mine and I am thinking about our milk.
RHODA I’m so tired of being sad. I’d like to change.
HARRIET You don’t get enough enjoyment out of your room. Why don’t you?
RHODA Oh, because the world and its sufferers are always on my mind.
HARRIET That’s not normal. You’re not smart enough to be of any use to the outside, anyway.
RHODA If I were young I’d succor the sick. I wouldn’t care about culture, even, if I were young.
HARRIET You don’t have any knack for making a home. There’s blessed satisfaction in that, at any rate.
RHODA My heart’s too big to make a home.
HARRIET No. It’s because you have no self-sufficiency. If I wasn’t around, you wouldn’t have the leisure to worry. You’re a lost soul, when I’m not around. You don’t even have the pep to worry about the outside when I’m not around. Not that the outside loses by that! (She sniffs with scorn.)
RHODA You’re right. But I swear that my heart is big.
HARRIET I’ve come to believe that what is inside of people is not so very interesting. You can breed considerable discontent around you with a big heart, and considerable harmony with a small one. Compare your living quarters to mine. And my heart is small like Papa’s was.