Father dropped by in the evening to give me an envelope full of money for me to give to Chente, so that the strike committee can distribute it among those who need to support their families. I was amazed, surprised by the speed with which he had collected so much money. He explained that the warlock is digging his own grave, not when he executed the officers who had betrayed him but rather when he sentenced Don Agustín, Dr. Pérez, and Dr. Romero to death. He insisted I make it very clear to the students that they will never learn the names of the donors and that there should be no receipts or any other compromising paperwork. Minutes later I went to find Chente, but he wasn’t there. I put the envelope away in my trunk and went to Mass.
As we were leaving church, under the strict surveillance of the soldiers, our fear subdued by our outrage, Doña Chayito told me that the government must know by now about the campaign to support the interns who have gone on strike in the hospitals and government offices, because this morning both government newspapers carried a furious tirade against them, and she said that perhaps he ordered the Mass cancelled for the same reason, just so we wouldn’t get our hopes up that his resolve was weakening. What one hand gives the other takes away, as the saying goes.
A short while ago, just as I was about to go to my bedroom and María Elena had already gone to hers, Chente came over. We discussed the warlock’s wickedness, his apostasy. He asked after Betito; I told him he was out with his friends but would return at any moment. I noticed he was nervous. I told him to wait for me in the living room; I went to get the envelope full of money out of the trunk, and I gave it to him. “What’s this?” he asked as he opened it with amazement. “A contribution for the students who are on strike,” I said. His face lit up; he was about to count the money, but I repeated the warning Father had given me. Before leaving, he gave me a carbon copy of a new leaflet, which I have here on my desk and looks like it was just written, which asks all to “pray together for our humble, saintly, and beloved archbishop, who has been repeatedly humiliated by the tyrant, a theosophist who does not believe in God and works in devious ways to persecute the Catholic Church.” Betito came home later; he claims that enthusiasm for the strike is growing everywhere. I told him I would go visit his grandmother Licha in Cojutepeque tomorrow, and I would take María Elena with me, and if he doesn’t want to eat lunch alone he should go to my mother’s house. I repeated that he should be very careful.
Friday April 28
I was out of San Salvador for only ten hours, but when I returned I had the feeling that much more time had passed. Betito greeted me with the news that there were practically no classes at his school because most of the professors were absent, and next week will be worse, he says, because the entire teachers’ union will be on strike. Then I found out, at Raúl’s house, that Dr. Romero is recovering and, if nothing changes, in one week they’ll release him from the hospital and the general plans to execute him immediately; Raúl said with absolute conviction that the Salvadoran Medical Association will do everything possible to prevent his execution. Events are hurtling forward: the students have formed committees to persuade diverse sectors to support the strike, and people seem to be slowly losing their fear, so much so that Mother told me that some of her friends are considering closing their shops starting next week and keeping them closed until the warlock is gone. The government is pulling out all the stops: Betito brought home a leaflet from a pretend committee that supports the government, saying the strike is being promoted by the wealthy who are outraged that the general has taken measures that benefit the poor. He is not only criminal but also shameless.
And there I was, as if coming from another world, because I love traveling by train; as soon as the engine whistles and the cars begin to clatter along the tracks, I get swept away into memories of my youth and adolescence, a sensation of idleness washes over me, as if the landscape rushing by were lifting me out of reality. I was also coming from a different world because my mother-in-law lives in her memories, talking to her is like climbing into an old attic, or rather, opening a chest full of stories; she always pulls out a couple of new anecdotes about Pericles, curious stories about his childhood and adolescence. I greatly enjoyed my visit to the market with María Elena and Petronila, my in-laws’ old servant, to buy chorizos, cuajada, and pepitoria. The only thing I don’t like is eating lunch with the coloneclass="underline" the atmosphere is so silent, martial, like being in a mess hall with a commander who doesn’t allow talking at mealtime; that’s where Pericles gets all his manias. I noticed that in that city, merely one hour away from San Salvador by train, one doesn’t feel any of the political agitation we experience here, as if the struggle to depose the general had nothing to do with them. Only when I spoke with Father Dionisio, the parish priest of Nuestra Señora del Carmen Church, who dropped by in the afternoon to have a cup of coffee with my mother-in-law, did I feel the excitement of the political situation. Father Dionisio asked about Clemen, whom he has known since he was a child; I told him I had no news. He crossed himself and muttered that he prays daily for the Lord to keep him safe and sound; he looked at me out of the corner of his eye. My mother-in-law gave me a basket of food for me to take to Pericles tomorrow. The poor dear was sitting down most of the time because of her arthritis; it was difficult for her to even take a few steps.
What really soured my mood upon my return, however, was to find two suitcases and a few boxes of Clemen’s belongings, which Mila, taking advantage of my absence, had brought over in the afternoon, and which Betito had moved into what had been Pati’s bedroom, which I now use as a sewing room. Tomorrow I will have to tell Pericles all about this, I wouldn’t want him to be released one of these days soon and have his return spoiled by his sudden discovery of Mila’s betrayal; better for him to know now, for he has said himself that in jail all other problems seem “like when you take off your glasses and everything shrinks.” Ana spent the night in María Elena’s room, for Mila has already moved out, and she wouldn’t let her come stay at her parents’, so she just threw her out in the street; they will both leave tomorrow early for their village. I have prepared some gifts for Belka.
Saturday April 29
They might release Pericles at any moment. God heard my prayers! Betito and I went this morning early to the Central Prison; there was a throng of visitors because it was also visiting day for common criminals. I don’t know if it was just my impression, because I am very susceptible to suggestion, but there was something different in the air, as if people were feeling more optimistic, less afraid. Doña Chayito said we should talk afterward, many things are happening and she wanted to bring me up-to-date. Carmela and Chelón joined us in the line going in. Pericles was very happy to see them. Then Mingo arrived, and my brother-in-law, Toño, who came from Cojutepeque. It was the first visit like in the old days, when my husband used to be held in the Black Palace, in a room near the director. We drank coffee and ate sweet breads (everybody brought food for Pericles), we gossiped, we laughed at the latest jokes about the general and Doña Concha. My husband said that by the time he gets out of jail he’ll have enough jokes and salacious stories to fill a book. Carmela and Chelón were the first to leave; then Toño and Mingo said they also had to go, but Pericles told the latter to stay with me for a few minutes because he wanted to discuss something. Betito said goodbye to his father and said he’d wait for me outside, using as an excuse that we were going to discuss issues he had no business hearing, as if I hadn’t noticed his interest in Leonor, Doña Julita’s daughter, while we were lining up to go in. Pericles revealed that Dr. Ávila had visited him yesterday afternoon, Friday, to make him a proposition: they will release him if he goes straight to Mexico and establishes contact between “the man” and Don Vicente Lombardo Toledano, the most influential workers’ leader in the Mexican government, a man Pericles befriended during our years in exile. Dr. Ávila specified that this was just to test the waters, an initiative of his ministry, but now that the general is interested in promoting social programs to improve the lives of the poor, he may well be receptive to considering an initiative that would establish a closer relationship with the experience of the Mexican revolution, and Pericles would be the right person to do it. “What did you say?” Mingo asked him, looking quite surprised. “I said I have no desire to go from being a prisoner to being a messenger boy in exile, that if they wish to establish contact with Vicente, they have an ambassador, and that’s what he gets paid for,” he said. He then made it clear to Dr. Ávila that they should free him immediately, for there has been no crime and no trial, only an arbitrary arrest, and that once he returns to being an ordinary citizen, with rights and legal guarantees, he would be willing to listen, in the living room of his own home, to the government’s social plans and any reasonable request they make of him. “What did he say?” I asked, because Don Ramón is quite sensible and I know he is fond of us. “What could he say, he doesn’t make the decisions.?” he answered in that typically derisive tone he uses when his meaner self overrides his intelligence. But I am hopeful that Dr. Ávila’s gesture is a sign that my husband will soon return home. What leaves no room for doubt, Pericles added, “is that they’re up to their eyes in you-know-what now that the gringos have thrown them overboard,” and for the first time he has the impression that “the man” is going down a blind alley. Mingo was perplexed by the news; he muttered that not only was he being abandoned by the gringos, but he also had all the bankers and coffee growers against him, the students and teachers were on strike, and the medical society would be applying strong pressure starting next Tuesday for him to decree an amnesty to prevent the execution of Dr. Romero. Pericles asked after Don Jorge’s health. Mingo said he was with him yesterday at the Polyclinic, Don Jorge is out of mortal danger, but nobody knows for certain how fully he will recover; then he looked at his watch, he said time was flying, there were only ten minutes left to visit, he would leave us alone and wait for me outside so he could accompany me home. I told him not to worry, I had already arranged to meet some friends on my way out. Then I mustered my courage and without any preambles I told Pericles, in a very low voice, that Mila had moved out of her house and intends to divorce Clemen and is the lover of Colonel Castillo, the prosecutor of the Military Court that sentenced my son to death. While I was tripping over my tongue trying to tell the story, I felt terribly anxious, as if I were to blame for what had happened, but once I’d finished, as Pericles screwed his face into a look of disgust, I suddenly felt lighter, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. I told him I thought it better that he knew now so as to avoid spoiling his return home. He asked after our grandchildren; he asked if Pati, the colonel, or Mama Licha knew. Then, chewing on his words as if he were going to spit them out, he simply said, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” As we said goodbye I had this feeling I still carry with me, that we would soon be together again.