JOSEFINO: I wouldn’t, Chunga. I promise you. You’d handle all the money. I’d be prepared to accept that. You’d be responsible for the agreements with the girls, you’d decide on the percentages. I wouldn’t touch a cent. You’d have carte blanche. We’d do what you decide. What more do you want? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
LA CHUNGA: You’ll never be anyone’s gift horse, Josefino. And certainly not a woman’s. You’re bad luck for any poor woman who’s gullible enough to believe what you say.
JOSEFINO: So you’ve become all righteous now, Chunguita? I’ve never pointed a pistol at any woman’s head. I just convince them of one truth. That in one night at the Casa Verde they can earn more money than working for six months in the market. Well, am I right, or not? Thanks to me, some of those women live better than we do, for God’s sake.
LA CHUNGA: It’s not because I’m righteous that I don’t want to be your partner. I don’t feel sorry for them. If they were stupid enough to listen to you, they deserve whatever they get.
JOSEFINO: I don’t like the way you’re talking to me, Chunga. I came here peacefully, to make you a sound proposition. And you insult me. What if I do get annoyed? Do you think a dike like you is any match for me? (As he speaks he gets more and more irritated.) Do you know what could happen if I got annoyed? The truth is I’m fed up with these airs and graces you give yourself, as if you own the whole fucking world. I’ve had enough of it, Christ Almighty. I’m going to teach you a lesson, and put you in your place. You’ve been asking for it now for quite some time. No woman, let alone a dike, is going to look down on me. (He takes out his knife and threatens LA CHUNGA, as if she were still in front of him. But in fact, LA CHUNGA has discreetly moved beside MECHE. Both look at JOSEFINO who carries on talking, threatening an invisible LA CHUNGA.)
Now, you dike, you? Afraid, aren’t you? Pissing yourself with fear, aren’t you? Now you’re going to see how I deal with insubordinate women. There’s nothing I like more than a woman who gets fresh with me. It makes me feel randy if you want to know. Down on your knees. Bloody hell, will you do as I say — if you don’t want me to play noughts and crosses all over your face. On your knees, I said. You believe you’re quite something, don’t you? Just because you’ve got this filthy pigsty — just because you’ve saved the odd buck by exploiting bastards like us who come and drink your beer, and put up with your bad temper. Do you think I don’t know who you are? Do you think all Piura doesn’t know you were born in the Casa Verde, for Christ’s sake. Amongst the prostitutes, the douches and the filth. Keep still there, I didn’t tell you to get up, stay on your knees or I’ll cut you to shreds, you bitch. Because that’s what you are, Chunga. You were born in the Casa Verde, that’s to say you’re the daughter of a prostitute. So don’t come the high and mighty with me, I know very well where you were dragged up. Now suck. Suck or I’ll kill you, you bitch. Obey your man, and suck. Slowly and with feeling. Learn how to be my whore. (For a while, he mimes the scene, sweating, trembling, caressing the invisible LA CHUNGA.)
Now swallow what you’ve got in your mouth. It’s my birthday present. (Lets out a little laugh, appeased and even a little bored.) They say it’s good for the complexion, ha ha. Did you get a fright? Did you think I was going to kill you? What a fool you are. I’m not capable of killing a woman. I’m really a gentleman, Chunguita. I respect the weaker sex. It’s a game, you see? It excites me and I like it. Don’t you have your little games too? When we know each other a little better you can tell me, and I’ll oblige … I’m not one of those men who believe a woman shouldn’t have her pleasure and that if you teach her to let herself go, she’ll end up by being unfaithful to you. That’s what José and Mono think. But not me, I’m fair-minded. Women have their rights too, why shouldn’t they? Let’s be friends, Chunguita, shall we? Don’t be bitter. Let’s make it up. Let’s shake on it.
(LA CHUNGA has materialized again beside JOSEFINO.) Now what do you say if we strike that bargain? We’ll get rich, I swear.
LA CHUNGA: We wouldn’t get rich. Perhaps we’d make more than I earn at the moment. But I’d certainly end up losing sooner or later. You’d make me feel that you were the stronger, like you’re doing now. And if I ever disagreed with you, out would come your knife, your fists, your boots — you’d end up winning. I prefer to die poor than to get rich with you.
JOSEFINO: (Going to join the other superstuds, who are gambling at the table) How stupid women can be, God Almighty …
The end of the party
Long pause between MECHE and LA CHUNGA while they watch JOSEFINO going down the staircase and taking up his seat again.
MECHE: Chunga, can I go now? It’ll soon be light. It must be about six, mustn’t it?
LA CHUNGA: Yes, you can go. Don’t you want to sleep a little first?
MECHE: If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to go.
LA CHUNGA: I don’t mind.
(They go down the staircase together and head towards the exit. They stop by the rocking chair. The superstuds have finished their beers. They yawn as they play and appear not to see the two women.)
MECHE: (A little hesitant) If you want me to come back again, and stay with you sometime, I mean at night …
LA CHUNGA: Of course I’d like us to spend another night together.
MECHE: Right, there’s no problem. I don’t mind, Chunga, I even …
LA CHUNGA: Wait, let me finish. I’d like to, but I don’t want to. I don’t want you to spend another night with me, nor do I want you ever to come back here.
MECHE: But why, Chunga? What have I done?
LA CHUNGA: (Looking at her for a moment, silently, and then, drawing her face towards her as before) Because you are very pretty. Because I like you and because you’ve made me care about you, and what happens to you. That, for me, is just as dangerous as falling in love, Meche. I told you before I can’t let myself be distracted. I’d lose the battle. That’s why I don’t ever want to see you here again.
MECHE: I don’t understand what you’re saying, Chunga.
LA CHUNGA: I know you don’t understand. It doesn’t matter.
MECHE: Are you annoyed with me about something?
LA CHUNGA: No, I’m not annoyed about anything. (Hands her some money.) Here. It’s a present. For you, not for Josefino. Don’t let him have it, and don’t tell him I gave it to you.
MECHE: (Confused) No, I won’t tell him anything. (Hides the money in her clothes.) I feel ashamed to take money from you. It makes me feel …
LA CHUNGA: A whore? You may as well get used to the idea, in case you ever work in the Casa Verde. However … Do you know what you’re going to do with your life? (MECHE is about to answer but LA CHUNGA stops her.) Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. If you leave Piura, or stay, it’s your affair. Don’t tell me. Tonight I wanted to help you, but tomorrow everything will be different. You won’t be here and everything will have changed. If you do go, and you tell me where you’re going, and Josefino holds a knife to my throat, I’ll end up by telling him everything. I told you I didn’t want to lose the battle. And if they kill me, there’ll be no more battle to lose. So come on, make a decision and do what you think best. But above all if you leave Piura, never even for a moment consider telling me or writing to me or letting me know where you are. OK?