MECHE: At first, yes, a bit. I felt like laughing. I mean, you’re not a man, are you? It didn’t seem real, it was like a game. I was trying not to laugh, at first.
LA CHUNGA: If you had laughed …
MECHE: You’d have hit me?
LA CHUNGA: Yes, I’d probably have hit you.
MECHE: And yet you were saying that it was only men who are turned into foul demons by what they have between their legs.
LA CHUNGA: I must be a man, then.
MECHE: No, you’re not. You’re a woman. You could be an attractive woman too, if you wanted to be.
LA CHUNGA: I don’t want to be attractive. No one would respect me if I were.
MECHE: Did what I said annoy you?
LA CHUNGA: About trying not to laugh? No, I asked you to tell me the truth.
MECHE: I want you to know something, Chunga. Although I’m not a dike, sorry — like you, I mean — I am fond of you. I’d like us to be friends.
LA CHUNGA: Go on, leave Piura. Don’t be silly. Can’t you see you’re already half caught in the trap? Before Josefino gives you the coup de grâce, get out of here. As far away as you can. You’ve still got time. (Turns MECHE’s face towards her with her hand.) I’ll help you.
MECHE: Will you really, Chunga?
LA CHUNGA: Yes. (Strokes MECHE’s face with her hand again in a swift caress.) I don’t want to see you rotting away in the Casa Verde, being passed around from one drunk to another … Go on, take my advice and go to Lima.
MECHE: What’ll I do in Lima? I don’t know anyone there.
LA CHUNGA: Learn how to stand on your own feet. But don’t be stupid. Don’t go and fall in love. It distracts you and there’s no hope for a distracted woman. Let them do the falling in love. Not you. You look for security, a better life than the one you have now. But always remember this. Deep down, all men are like Josefino. If you show too much affection for them, you’ve had it.
MECHE: Don’t talk like that, Chunga. You know when you say things like that, you remind me of him?
LA CHUNGA: Then Josefino and I must have something in common.
(As if the mention of his name had been a summons, JOSEFINO gets up from the superstuds’ table and goes up the little staircase.)
The great pimp
Although MECHE is in the little room and follows with interest what is being said, JOSEFINO and LA CHUNGA act as if she is not there.
JOSEFINO: Hello, Chunga. (Looks round and casts his eyes over MECHE without seeing her.) I’ve come to take Meche away with me.
LA CHUNGA: She’s gone already.
JOSEFINO: So soon? You could have held on to her a little bit longer. (With an impudent little laugh) Then you could really have got your money’s worth.
(LA CHUNGA confines herself to looking at him with that expression of reproof and disgust with which she always looks at him.)
Well, how was she? What was it like?
LA CHUNGA: What was what like?
JOSEFINO: Mechita. Was she worth it?
LA CHUNGA: You’ve been on the booze all night, haven’t you? You stink from head to foot.
JOSEFINO: What else could I do, Chunguita, since you’d taken away my little woman. So, tell me, how did Meche behave?
LA CHUNGA: I’m not going to tell you. It wasn’t in the contract.
JOSEFINO: (Laughing) You’re right. Ha ha. Next time I’ll put in a special clause. (Pause.) Why don’t you like me, Chunga? Don’t lie, I realize that you’ve never seen eye to eye with me.
LA CHUNGA: I’ve no reason to lie. You’re quite right. I’ve always thought you were one of the most poisonous creatures alive.
JOSEFINO: And yet I’ve always had a soft spot for you. Quite seriously, Chunga.
LA CHUNGA: (Laughing) Are you going to try and seduce me too? Go on. Show me how you lure all those poor idiots into your snare.
JOSEFINO: No, I’m not going to try and seduce you. (Undressing her with his look) It’s not because I don’t want to, I assure you. Actually, I find you quite attractive as a woman. But I know when I’m defeated. I’d be wasting my time with you, you wouldn’t take any notice of me. And I’ve never wasted time with women.
LA CHUNGA: Right then, be off with you.
JOSEFINO: First, let’s talk. I want to make you a proposition. A deal.
LA CHUNGA: A deal? Between you and me?
(JOSEFINO sits on the bed, lights a cigarette. It’s clear that he’s thought about what he’s going to say for a long time.)
JOSEFINO: I don’t want to carry on being what I am, Chunga. A superstud and all that. Hell, I’ve got ambitions. I want to have money, drink champagne, smoke expensive tobacco, wear white silk suits, have my own car, my own house, servants. I want to be able to travel. I want to live like the rich do round here, Chunga. That’s what you want too, isn’t it? That’s why you work, morning, noon and night, that’s what you practically sell your soul for. Because you want another life, one you can only get with money. Let’s become partners, Chunga. You and I together, we could do great things.
LA CHUNGA: I know what you’re going to propose.
JOSEFINO: All the better, then.
LA CHUNGA: The answer is no.
JOSEFINO: Why are you so prejudiced? What’s the difference between this little bar and a brothel? I’ll tell you what: here you earn a few miserable cents, but in a brothel you’d make millions. (Standing up, gesticulating, walking round the room) I’ve got everything taped, Chunga. We can start with about four little rooms. They can be built round the back, behind the kitchen, in the yard where the rubbish is dumped. Nothing fancy, just straw matting and bamboo. I’ll take charge of the girls. All first class guaranteed. In the Casa Verde they take 50 per cent off them. We’ll take forty so we’ll be able to pull whichever ones we want. Just a few at first — quality rather than quantity. I’ll see to the discipline and you can do the administration. (Anxiously, vehemently) We’ll become rich, Chunguita.
LA CHUNGA: If I’d wanted to set up a brothel, I’d have done it already. What do I need you for?
JOSEFINO: For the girls. I may be all sorts of things. But in that particular field, have I proved my worth or not? I’m the best there is, Chunga. I’ll get first-rate girls — ones that haven’t worked before. Virgins even, you’ll see. Young fifteen-, sixteen-year-olds. The clients will go out of their minds, Chunga. We’ll have all the little rich boys in Piura, prepared to pay the earth — for fresh young girls, who are just starting out in the world …
LA CHUNGA: Like Meche?
JOSEFINO: Well, Meche is not so fresh any more, ha ha … We’d keep her as the resident celebrity, the star attraction, of course. I swear to you I’ll get girls as good if not better than Meche, Chunga.
LA CHUNGA: And what if they don’t want to work?
JOSEFINO: That’s my affair. I may not know much else, but teaching a girl that what God gave her is a prize lottery ticket, that I do know how to do. Because of me fortunes have been made at the Casa Verde. And what do I get in return? Bloody hell, a few mangy tips. Well I’ve had enough of it, now I want to be a capitalist too. What do you say, Chunguita?
LA CHUNGA: I’ve already told you. No.
JOSEFINO: Why, Chunga? Don’t you trust me?
LA CHUNGA: Of course I don’t trust you. The very day after we went into partnership, you’d start lying to me and cheating me.