MECHE: Did you fall in love with me the first time you saw me?
LITUMA: (nodding) I didn’t sleep all night. In the darkness, I kept seeing you. I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I thought women like you only existed in the cinema. I worked myself up into such a state that I even cried, Mechita. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve lain awake, thinking about you.
MECHE: And you say you don’t know how to talk to women. It’s beautiful, what you’re telling me.
(LITUMA puts his hand in his pocket and takes out a small photograph.)
LITUMA: Look. I always carry you around with me.
MECHE: Where did you get that photo from?
LITUMA: I stole it from Josefino. It’s a bit faded — with all the kissing I’ve given it.
MECHE: (Stroking his head again) Why didn’t you ever say anything to me before, silly?
LITUMA: We’ve still time, haven’t we? Marry me, Mechita. Let’s leave Piura. Let’s start a new life.
MECHE: But you’re broke, Lituma. Like the rest of the superstuds. And you’ve never done a day’s work in your life, either.
LITUMA: Because I’ve never had anyone to push me, to make me change the way I live. You don’t think I enjoy being a superstud, do you? Marry me — you’ll see how different I can be, Mechita. I’ll work hard, I’ll do anything. You’ll always have everything you want.
MECHE: Would we go to Lima?
LITUMA: To Lima, yes. Or wherever you want.
MECHE: I’ve always wanted to go to Lima. It’s such a large city, Josefino would never find us.
LITUMA: Of course not. And besides what would it matter if he did find us? Are you afraid of him?
MECHE: Yes.
LITUMA: With me you wouldn’t be. He’s quite harmless, really, he’s just a loud mouth. I know him very well — we were kids together. He’s not from round here, of course — he’s from the Gallinacera. There, they’re all talk and no action.
MECHE: Well, he’s not all talk with me. He sometimes beats me practically unconscious. If I left him to go away with you, he’d kill me.
LITUMA: Nonsense, Meche. He’d get himself another woman, just like that. Let’s go to Lima. Tonight.
MECHE: (tempted) Tonight?
LITUMA: We’ll catch the bus from the Cruz de Chalpón. Come on.
MECHE: Shall we get married?
LITUMA: As soon as we get to Lima, I promise you. It’s the first thing we’ll do. Would you like that? Shall we go? (Pause.)
MECHE: Let’s go. We’ll never return to Piura. I hope I won’t live to regret this one day, Lituma.
LITUMA: (Kneeling again) I promise you never will, Mechita. Thank you, thank you. Ask me for something, anything you want, just tell me to do something.
MECHE: Get up, we’ve no time to waste. Go and pack your suitcase, and buy the tickets. Wait for me at the Cruz de Chalpón bus station. Halfway up Avenida Grau, all right? I’ll be there, just before twelve.
LITUMA: Where are you going?
MECHE: I can’t just leave without taking anything with me. I’m going to fetch my things. Just a few essentials.
LITUMA: I’ll come with you.
MECHE: No, it’s not necessary. Josefino is in the Casa Verde and he never gets back till dawn — I’ve got more than enough time. We mustn’t be seen together on the street though, no one must suspect a thing.
LITUMA: (Kissing her hands) Mechita, Mechita, darling. I’m so happy I can’t believe it’s true. (Crosses himself, looks at the sky.) Thank you God, dear sweet God. From now on I’m going to be different, I’m going to stop being lazy — I’m going to stop gambling, living it up, lying … I swear to you …
MECHE: (Pushing him) Come on, hurry up, we’re wasting time, Lituma. Quickly, run …
LITUMA: Yes, yes, whatever you say, Mechita.
(He gets up hurriedly, rushes towards the staircase, but there he loses his impetus. He slows down — comes to a halt — and slowly returns to the gambling table, weary and sad. The superstuds do not notice him. Once again the central focus is on them, as they continue to gamble, swear and drink toasts to each other.)
Fantasies on a crime
EL MONO: And why not? Lituma’s right, it could have happened like that. Just shut your eyes for a moment and imagine Mechita: she rushes into the house looking frantically around to left and right, her little buttocks all clenched with fear.
JOSE: She starts to throw things into her suitcase at breakneck speed, trembling all over, tripping over the furniture, packing the wrong things, unpacking them again, panic-stricken at the thought that at any moment who might arrive but the Great Pimp himself. Out of sheer anxiety her little nipples have become as hard as pebbles. Scrumptious.
JOSEFINO: (Laughing) And then what? Go on. What happened next?
LITUMA: Then you arrived. Before she finished packing.
JOSEFINO: And I killed her because I caught her packing her suitcase?
EL MONO: No. That would have been your excuse. You killed her because you were furious at the way things had turned out. Remember, I’d practically taken the shirt off your back. Shit, if I ever have another hand like the one I had that night. Holy Whore!
JOSE: Or maybe you got an attack of jealousy. Perhaps Meche told you that Chunga had made her so happy that she was going to come and live with her.
JOSEFINO: I wouldn’t have killed her for that. I’d probably have sent Chunga some flowers. And a postcard saying: ‘Congratulations. You won.’ I’m a bloody fine sport you know!
LA CHUNGA: (From her armchair, yawning) It’s nearly twelve and I’m tired. Last orders.
LITUMA: Quiet, Chunga, you’re ruining my inspiration. When you saw she was in the middle of packing, you asked her, ‘Off for a little holiday then, are we?’ ‘I’m leaving you,’ she said.
JOSEFINO: And why would she leave me? She was completely besotted with me.
LITUMA: (Serious and self-absorbed, not hearing him) ‘I’m leaving you because I’m in love with a better man than you.’
JOSEFINO: Better than me? And where did she dig up this … paragon?
LITUMA: ‘Someone who won’t beat me, someone who’ll be faithful to me, and be good to me. Someone who’s not a bastard or a pimp, but who’s decent and honest. And, what’s more, who’s prepared to marry me.’
JOSEFINO: What a fantastic load of crap. None of you lot can find a single good reason why I should have killed Mechita.
LITUMA: You were beside yourself with rage, Josefino. So you laid into her savagely. You probably only intended to give her a trouncing. But you got carried away and finished the poor little thing off.
JOSEFINO: I see. And what the hell did I do with the body?
EL MONO: You threw it in the river.
JOSEFINO: It was September. The river is dry in September. What did I do with the body? Come on, guess. Tell me how I committed my perfect crime?
JOSE: You buried it in the sand, behind your house.
EL MONO: You threw it to the dogs — those German beasts that guard Senor Beckman’s warehouse. They wouldn’t even leave the small bones.
JOSE: OK, I’m bored with these detective games. Let’s go down to the Casa Verde for a quick one. Coming?
JOSEFINO: Why go so far, when you’ve got Chunga there? Go on, give her a taste of what she likes.
LA CHUNGA: I’ll tell him who he can give ‘a taste of what she likes’ to, Josefino, you bastard.
JOSEFINO: Are you insulting my mother by any chance, Chunga? Now that’s one thing I won’t stand for.