The Foreigners - Maxine Swann [43]
Still disgruntled, I didn’t answer.
We had come to a dark patch in the garden, along the edge, the tree above thickened with masses of coiling vines, blocking out all the light. Leonarda clutched my arm in the dark. “He could be your daddy too. We could both be his daughters. I asked him and he said that he’d adopt us.”
As my eyes adjusted, I saw on a nearby ledge a statue of a little boy, white stone. He was sitting, legs crossed, one foot broken off at the ankle.
I suddenly didn’t feel like playing anymore. “Maybe I don’t need a daddy. Maybe I even want to have a kid myself one day,” I said.
It felt absurd to say it, incongruous, and also as if I was breaking some pact.
But Leonarda, typically, rearranged everything.
“Oh, you could. He could father it. I’m sure he’d do it if I asked him.”
Suddenly, I hated the guy, pathetic as he might appear in this recent incarnation. It seemed there was no getting away from him, in which case I thought, yes, he should be punished, let’s punish him even further, as much as we can.
“Do you have sex with him?” I asked, wanting and not wanting to know. She’d told me they didn’t but I was no longer sure of anything.
Leonarda giggled. “No,” she said. “I told you. He’s dying to see me naked. It’s the only thing he wants.”
“But, I mean, are you naked? Do you take off your clothes?”
“I had an image, I had an image,” she interrupted. “We would isolate one room in a public place that would be like a cage. We’d put him in there, tied up, chained. It would be like a performance piece. You could throw things at him. He’d be howling. But he would like it too. He would agree to do it, if I asked him. The public could come by and throw things.”
She stopped and turned to me. “Can you believe what we’ve done? The Master Plan is working. It’s really working. And it’s beautiful, so beautiful.”
Two guards appeared, walking swiftly across the grass.
“Have you lost something?” the first one asked.
“Who are you?” the second one said abruptly.
“We’re friends of Miguel’s,” Leonarda said. “And yes, I have lost something.” She burst into tears. “My diamond engagement ring.” Grabbing my hand, she ran with me across the grass to the window of his apartment where, like children, we tumbled inside.
“What happened?” Miguel asked, as we clambered in. He was still at the stove.
“Oh, nothing,” Leonarda said,“those stupid guards. Okay, Daddy, we have to go. Come, come,” she said to me, again brushing her breasts against him as she passed, taking my hand and leading me out the door.
“What about dinner?” we heard him call.
But we were already gone.
fourteen
Despite my better judgment, it seemed this hunting metaphor was going to my head. It was a September evening, spring, all the flowering trees in bloom. As there was no food in the house, I went to the grocery store. Lugging the bags home, I pictured that I was dragging an animal carcass. I suddenly felt ravenous. Had I been ravenous before? Just a block or two past the supermarket, I stopped on the sidewalk, juggling one bag in my arm, the other between my legs, and tore open the cheese package. I sunk my teeth in, then threw it, half bitten, back in the bag. Still ravenous a few blocks later, I stopped again and tore open the ham, stuffing a whole wad in my mouth.
I met Gabriel in the foyer of my building.
“Come upstairs with me,” I said.
He looked good, in his gigolo mode, tight striped T-shirt and jeans.
“I just came from the doctor,” Gabriel said, following me in down the tiled hall of my apartment.
“Really? Are you all right?”
“Yeah, just a checkup.” He smiled. “A new guy. When I arrived, he went into the bathroom and changed into a white coat. Crazy. He just wanted me to take my clothes off and get down on all fours while he examined me. That was it. A hundred pesos.”
“He did nothing?”
“No, well, I mean, he felt my balls and put his finger in my butt, but he didn’t even touch himself.”
Gabriel did a little dance step. “Hey, let’s have some wine.”
We were in the