Read Online Three Plays: The Young Lady from Tacna, Kathie and the Hippopotamus, La Chunga by Mario Vargas Llosa - Free Book Online Page B

it make whether I stay here or go to María Murga’s? Isn’t this miserable hole quite as squalid as any shack in La Mar? ( Pause .) All right, there the people walk about barefoot and we wear shoes. There they all have lice in their hair, as Uncle Menelao keeps reminding us, and we … ( Puts her hand up to her head. ) Who knows, that’s probably why I’m scratching.
    (GRANDFATHER stands up and goes forward towards MAMAE. GRANDMOTHER and AMELIA carry on with their meal .)
    GRANDFATHER: Good afternoon, Elvira. I’ve been looking for you. I’d just like to have a few words with you if I may.
    (MAMAE looks at him for a moment. Then she looks up to heaven as she says: )
    MAMAE: It’s so hard to understand you, dear God. You seem to prefer rogues and lunatics to ordinary decent folk. Why, if Pedro was always so fair and so honest, did you give him such a miserable life?
    (BELISARIO gets up from his desk and goes forward towards MAMAE.)
    BELISARIO: Wasn’t it a sin for the young lady to reproach God like that, Mamaé? He knows what he’s doing and if he gave the gentleman such a hard time, there must have been some good reason for it surely. Perhaps he was going to make up for it by giving him a nice big reward in heaven.
    GRANDFATHER: You’re like a sister to Carmen, and I think of you as my sister too. You’ll never be a stranger in my
house. I’m telling you, we’re not leaving Tacna without you.
    MAMAE: That may be so, my little one. But the young lady couldn’t understand it. She worked herself up into a fever thinking, ‘Dear God in Heaven, was it because of the Indian woman in the letter that you put the gentleman through so much misery? Was it all for that one little indiscretion that you made the cotton in Camaná get frosted the very year he was going to get rich?’
    BELISARIO: ( Sitting at MAMAE’ s feet , adopting his customary position while listening to stories ) Had the gentleman committed a sin? You never told me about that, Mamaé.
    GRANDFATHER: I know how much help you’ve been to Carmen, both as a friend and a confidante and I’m very grateful to you. You’ll always be part of the family. Do you know I’ve left my job at the Casa Gibson? I joined when I was fifteen, after my father died. I’d like to have been a lawyer, like him, but it just wasn’t possible. Now I’m going to manage the Saíds’ estate in Camaná. We’re going to plant cotton. Who knows? In a few years’ time, I might be able to branch out on my own, buy a little land. Carmen will have to spend lengthy periods in Arequipa. You’ll be able to keep her company. You see, you won’t be a burden in the house, you’ll be an asset.
    MAMAE: There was just one little sin, yes, in a life that was otherwise so pure and noble. But only one, which is nothing really. And it wasn’t the gentleman’s fault either – he was led astray by a depraved woman. The young lady couldn’t understand the injustice of it. ( Looks up to heaven .) Was it because of the Indian woman in the letter that you made the cotton fields in Santa Cruz get blighted as well? Is that why you made him accept the prefecture so that he ended up even poorer than he was before?
    BELISARIO: But, Mamaé, I know that the young lady was always worried because he had so much bad luck. But I don’t care about the young lady now. Tell me about the gentleman. What did he do that was such a sin?
    GRANDFATHER: You’ll like the house I’ve rented in Arequipa.
It’s in a new district, El Vallecito, beside the river Chilina. You can hear the sound of the water, rippling over the pebbles. And your room looks out over the three volcanoes.
    MAMAE: ( Still looking up to heaven ) Was it because of the Indian woman that you stopped him from ever getting another job after leaving the prefecture?
    BELISARIO: I’m going to get cross with you, Mamaé. I’m going to throw up my lunch, my dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast as well in a minute. To hell with the young lady from