In The Time Of The Butterflies Part 10

"My memory," the old man complains. "There are too many."

The officer narrows his eyes at him. "How do you call your sons, then?"

"Bueno, oficial," the cagey old man says, turning and turning his som brero in his hands, "I call them all, the cagey old man says, turning and turning his som brero in his hands, "I call them all, mijo." Son, mijo." Son, that's what he calls them all. that's what he calls them all.

I smile sweetly, and the decorated chest puffs out. He wants to get on to new game. "We'll do what we can, compay," compay," he promises, stamping the form before him and readily accepting the "fee" of rolled-up pesos. he promises, stamping the form before him and readily accepting the "fee" of rolled-up pesos.

Now it's our turn, but unfortunately, the head officer announces that the office is closing in five minutes. "We've waited so long," I plead to my guard.

"Me, too, all my life to meet you, senorita. So don't break my heart. Come back tomorrow." He looks me up and down, flirting. This time I do not smile back.

I've shot myself in the foot is what I've done by helping out the old Don Juan. Prolonging his audience, I lost us ours today.

Mama sighs when I tell her that we have to come back tomorrow. "Ay, m'ijita "Ay, m'ijita," she says. "You're going to fight everyone's fight, aren't you?"

"It's all the same fight, Mama," I tell her.

Early next morning, we wake up to a banging at our room door. Four heavily armed guards inform me that I am to be taken to headquarters for questioning. I try to calm Mama, but my own hands are shaking so bad I can't b.u.t.ton up my dress.

At the door, Mama informs the guards that if I go, she goes, too. But these are a meaner breed than the ones up north. When she tries to follow me out, a guard blocks her way with a thrust of his bayonet.

"No need for that," I say, lifting the bayonet. I reach over and kiss my mother's hand. "Mama, la bendicion," "Mama, la bendicion," I say, the way I used to as a child before going off to school. I say, the way I used to as a child before going off to school.

By now, Mama is sobbing. "Dios te bendiga," "Dios te bendiga," she sniffles, then reminds me, "Watch your you-know-what!" I realize she no longer means just my mouth. she sniffles, then reminds me, "Watch your you-know-what!" I realize she no longer means just my mouth.

I am back at the National Police Headquarters, an office we did not see yesterday. The room is breezy and light, a top floor. Someone in charge.

A courtly, white-haired man comes forward from behind his desk. "Welcome," he says, as if I were here for a social call.

He introduces himself, General Federico Fiallo. And then indicates someone behind me I did not notice when I walked in. I don't know how I could have missed him. He is as close to a toad as a man can look. A heavy-set mulatto with mirrored dark gla.s.ses that flash my own scared look back at my face.

"Don Anselmo Paulino," the general introduces him. Everyone knows about Magic Eye. He lost an eye in a knife fight, but his remaining good eye magically sees what everyone else misses. In the last few years, he's risen to be Trujillo's right-hand man by the dirty "security" work he's willing to do.

My empty stomach is churning with dread. I steel myself, recalling face after suffering face I saw yesterday just downstairs. "What do you want with me?"

The general smiles in a kindly way. "I'm keeping you standing, senorita," he apologizes, ignoring my question. The kindness gives way a moment when he snaps his fingers and curtly admonishes the guardias guardias for not putting out chairs for his guests. Once the toad and I are seated, the general turns back to his desk. "You must look on me as your protector. Young ladies are the flowers of our country." for not putting out chairs for his guests. Once the toad and I are seated, the general turns back to his desk. "You must look on me as your protector. Young ladies are the flowers of our country."

He opens the file before him. From where I sit, I can see the pink registration slip from the hotel. Then a number of sheets of paper I recognize as Lio's letters from my purse.

"I am here to ask you some questions about a young man I believe you are acquainted with." He looks squarely at me. "Virgilio Morales."

I feel ready-as I wasn't before-to risk the truth. "Yes, I know Virgilio Morales."

Magic Eye is at the edge of his chair, the veins on his neck showing. "You lied to El Jefe. You claimed you didn't know him, didn't you?"

"Now, now, Don Anselmo," the elderly general soothes. "We don't want to scare the young lady, now do we?"

But Magic Eye doesn't observe such fine distinctions. "Answer me," he orders. He has lit a cigar. Smoke pours from his nostrils like a dark nosebleed.

"Yes, I denied knowing him. I was afraid"-again I choose my words carefully-"of displeasing El Jefe." It is just short of an apology. All I will give.

General Fiallo and Paulino exchange a significant glance. I wonder how there can be any communication between those ancient milky eyes and those dark gla.s.ses.

The general picks up a page from the folder and peruses it. "What is the nature of your relations.h.i.+p with Virgilio Morales, Senorita Minerva?"

"We were friends."

"Come, come," he says, coaxing me as if I were a stubborn child. "These are love letters." He holds up a sheaf of papers. Dios mio, Dios mio, has everyone in this country been reading my mail except me? has everyone in this country been reading my mail except me?

"But you must believe me, we were just friends. If I'd been in love with him, I would have left the country as he wanted me to."

"True," the general concedes. He looks over at Magic Eye, who is stubbing his cigar on the sole of his boot.

"Were you not aware, Senorita Minerva, that Virgilio Morales is an enemy of state?" Magic Eye intervenes. He has put the extinguished cigar back in his mouth.

"I wasn't involved in any treasonous activity if that's what you're asking. He was just a friend, like I said."

"And you are not in communication with him now?" Magic Eye again is taking over the interview. The general raises a perturbed eyebrow. After all this is his breezy office, his top floor, his pretty prisoner.

The truth is that I did write to Lio after I found his letters. But Mario couldn't deliver my note as no one really knows to this day where Lio is. "No, I am not in communication with Virgilio Morales." I address my remark to the general even though the question came from Magic Eye.

"That's what I like to hear." The general turns to Magic Eye. "We have another little matter to discuss, Don Anselmo. Not relating to security." He smiles politely, dismissing him. Magic Eye flashes his dark gla.s.ses at the general a second, then stands, and sidles to the door. I notice he has never given his back to us.

General Fiallo now begins chatting about the days he spent posted in El Cibao, the beauty of that region, the lovely cathedral in the square. I am wondering where all this is going, when a door opens across from the one we entered by. Manuel de Moya, tall and dapper, sporting a Prince of Wales ascot.

"Good morning, good morning," he says cheerfully as if we're all about to go on safari. "How are things?" He rubs his hands together. "Don Federico, how are you?" They exchange pleasantries a moment, and then Don Manuel looks approvingly at me. "I had a word with Paulino in the hall as he was leaving. It seems Senorita Minerva has been quite cooperative. I am so glad." He addresses me sincerely. "I hate to see ladies in any kind of distress."

"It must be difficult for you," I acknowledge. He does not catch the sarcasm in my voice.

"So you thought you might be displeasing El Jefe by admitting to a friends.h.i.+p with Virgilio Morales?" I nod. "I'm sure it would mean a great deal to our Benefactor to hear that you have his pleasure in mind."

I wait. I can tell from hanging around these guys that there is bound to be more.

"I believe Don Antonio has already spoken to you?"

"Yes," I say, "he did."

"I hope you will reconsider his offer. I'm sure General Fiallo would agree"-General Fiallo is already nodding before any mention has been made of what he is agreeing to-"that a private conference with El Jefe would be the quickest, most effective way to end all this nonsense."

"Si, si, si," General Fiallo agrees. General Fiallo agrees.

Don Manuel continues. "I would like to bring you personally to him tonight at his suite at El Jaragua. Bypa.s.s all this red tape." He gestures towards the general, who smiles inanely at his own put-down.

I stare at Manuel de Moya as if pinning him to the wall. "I'd sooner jump out that window than be forced to do something against my honor."

Manuel de Moya plunges his hands in his pockets and paces the room. "I've tried my best, senorita. But you must cooperate a little bit. It can't all be your way."

"What I've done wrong, I'm willing to acknowledge, personally to El Jefe, yes." I nod at the surprised secretary. "But surely, my father and mother can come along as fellow sufferers in my error."

Manuel de Moya shakes his head. "Minerva Mirabal, you are as complicated a woman as ... as ..." He throws up his hands, unable to finish the comparison.

But the general comes up with it. "As El Jefe is a man."

The two men look at each other, weighing something heavy in their heads.

Since I am not bedding down with him, it is three more weeks before El Jefe can see us. As far as we can tell, Mama and I are under arrest since we aren't allowed to leave the hotel to go home and wait there. Pedrito and Jaimito have come and gone a dozen times, pet.i.tioning here, visiting a friend with pull there. Dede and Patria have taken turns staying with us and arranging for our meals.

When the day of our appointment finally arrives, we are at the palace early, eager to see Papa, who has just been released. He is such a pitiful sight. His face is gaunt, his voice shaky; his once fancy guayabera guayabera is soiled and hangs on him, several sizes too large. He and Mama and I embrace. I can feel his bony shoulders. "How have they treated you?" we ask him. is soiled and hangs on him, several sizes too large. He and Mama and I embrace. I can feel his bony shoulders. "How have they treated you?" we ask him.

His eyes have a strange absence in them. "As well as can be expected," he says. I notice he does not look directly at us when he answers.

We already know from Dede and Patria's searches that Papa has been in the prison hospital. The diagnosis is "confidential," but we all a.s.sumed his ulcers were acting up. Now we learn Papa suffered a heart attack in his cell the Wednesday after he was arrested, but it wasn't till the following Monday that he was allowed to see a doctor. "I'm feeling much better." His thin hands pleat his trousers as he talks. "Much much better. I just hope the music hasn't spoiled the yuccas while I've been gone."

Mama and I look at each other and then at Papa. "How's that, Enrique?" Mama asks gently.

"Every time there's a party, half the things in the ground spoil. We've got to stop feeding the hogs. It's all human teeth anyhow."

It's all I can do to keep up the pretense that Papa is making sense. But Mama's sweetness enfolds him and coaxes him back. "The hogs are doing very well on palm fruit, and we haven't grown yuccas since this one here was a little girl. Don't you remember, Enrique, how we used to be up till all hours on harvest days?"

Papa's eyes light up, remembering. "The first year you wanted to look pretty for me, so you wore a nice dress to the fields. By the time we finished, it looked like the sackcloth the yuccas were in!" He is looking directly at her, smiling.

She smiles at him, her eyes glistening with tears. Her fingers find his hand and hold tight, as if she were pulling him up from an edge she lost him to years back.

El Jefe does not bother to look up as we enter. He is going over a stack of papers with several nervous a.s.sistants, his manicured hands following the words being read out to him. He learned his letters late, so the story goes, and refuses to look at anything over a page long. In the offices around him, official readers go through thick reports, boiling the information down to the salient paragraph.

Behind him on the wall, the famous motto: MY BEST FRIENDS ARE MEN WHO WORK. What about the women who sleep with you? I ask in my head.

Manuel de Moya shows us our seats in front of the large mahogany desk. It is a disciplined man's desk, everything in neat stacks, several phones lined up on one side beside a board with labeled buzzers. A panel of clocks ticks away. He must be keeping time in several countries. Right in front of me stands a set of scales like the kind Justice holds up, each small tray bearing a set of dice.

Trujillo scribbles a last signature and waves the a.s.sistants out of the room, then turns to his secretary of state. Don Manuel opens a leather folder and reads El Jefe the letter of apology signed by the whole Mirabal family.

"I see Senorita Minerva has signed this," he notes as if I were not present. He reads off Mama's name and asks if she is related to Chiche Reyes.

"Why Chiche is my uncle!" Mama exclaims. Tio Chiche has always bragged about knowing Trujillo during their early days in the military. "Chiche wors.h.i.+ps you, Jefe. He always says even back then he could tell you were a natural leader."

"I have a lot of affection for Don Chiche," Trujillo says, obviously enjoying the homage. He lifts a set of dice from his scales, upsetting the balance. "I suppose he never told you the story of these?"

Mama smiles indulgently. She has never approved of her uncle's gambling. "That Chiche loves his gambling."

"Chiche cheats too much," Papa blurts out. "I won't play with him."

Mama's eyes are boring a hole in Papa. Our one lifeline in this stormy sea and Papa is cutting the rope she's been playing out.

"I take it you like to play, Don Enrique?" Trujillo turns coldly to Papa.

Papa glances at Mama, afraid to admit it in her presence. "I know you like to gamble," Mama squabbles, diverting attention by pretending our real predicament is her naughty husband.

Trujillo returns to the dice in his hands. "That Chiche! He stole a piece of bone from Columbus's crypt and had these made for me when I was named head of the armed forces."

Mama tries to look impressed, but in fact, she's never liked her trou blemaking uncle very much. Every month, it's a knife fight or money trouble or wife trouble or mistress trouble or just plain trouble.

Trujillo puts his dice back on the empty tray. It's then I notice the sides don't balance. Of course, my good-for-nothing uncle would give his buddy loaded dice.

"Human teeth, all of it," Papa mumbles. He looks at the small cubes of bone with a horrified expression on his face.

Mama indicates her husband with a toss of the head. "You must excuse him, Jefe. He is not well." Her eyes fill, and she dabs at them with the kerchief she keeps balling in her hand.

"Don Enrique will be just fine as soon as he's home for a few days. But may this teach you all a lesson." He turns to me. The cajoling smile of the dance is gone. "You especially, senorita. I've asked that you check in every week with Governor de la Maza in San Francisco."

Before I can say something, Mama breaks in. "All my daughter wants is to be a good, loyal citizen of the regime."

El Jefe looks my way, waiting for my pledge.

I decide to speak up for what I do do want. "Jefe, I don't know if you remember what we spoke of at the dance?" I can feel Mama giving me the eye. want. "Jefe, I don't know if you remember what we spoke of at the dance?" I can feel Mama giving me the eye.

But El Jefe's interest is piqued. "We spoke of many things."

"I mean, my dream of going to law school."

He strokes his short, brush mustache with his fingers, musing. His gaze falls on the dice. Slowly, his lips twist in a wily smile. "I'll tell you what. I'll let you toss for the privilege. You win, you get your wish. I win, I get mine."

I can guess what he wants. But I'm so sure I can beat him now that I know his secret. "I'll toss," I say, my voice shaking.

He laughs and turns to Mama. "I think you have another Chiche in the family."

Quickly I reach for the heavier set of dice and begin shaking them in my fist. Trujillo studies the wobbling scales. But without my set there, he can't tell which are his loaded pair. "Go ahead," he says, eyeing me closely. "Highest number wins."

I shake the dice in my hand for all they're worth.

I roll a double and look up at Trujillo, trying to keep the glee from my face.

He stares at me with his cold, hard eyes. "You have a strong hand, that I know." He strokes the cheek I slapped, smiling a razor-sharp smile that cuts me down to size. Then rather than using the remaining dice on the tray, he puts his hand out and takes my uncle's set back. He maneuvers them knowingly. Out they roll, a double as well. "We either both get our wishes or we call it even, for now," he adds.

"Even," I say, looking him in the eye, "for now."

"Sign their releases," he tells Don Manuel. "My h.e.l.los to Don Chiche," he tells Mama. Then, we are banished with a wave of his hand.

I look down at the lopsided scales as he puts his dice back. For a moment, I imagine them evenly balanced, his will on one side, mine on the other.

It is raining when we leave the capital, a drizzle that builds to a steady downpour by the time we hit Villa Altagracia. We roll up the windows until it gets so steamy and damp in the car that we have to crack them open in order to see out.

Dede and Jaimito stayed on in the capital, making some purchases for the new restaurant they've decided to start. The ice cream business is a flop just as Dede predicted privately to me some time back. Pedrito had to be back yesterday to see about stranded cattle in the flooded fields. He's been taking care of his own farm and ours. So, it's just me and Mama, and Patria and, of course, Papa mumbling in the back seat of the car.

By Pino Herrado, the rain is coming down hard. We stop at a little cantina until it lets up. Mama doesn't raise an eyebrow when Papa orders a shot of rum. She's too worried about our audience with El Jefe to fuss at him. "You were asking for it, m'ija m'ija," she's already told me. We sit silently, listening to the rain on the thatched roof, a numb, damp, fatalistic feeling among us. Something has started none of us can stop.

A soft rain is falling when we reach Piedra Blanca. Ahead, men repair a flooded bridge, so we stop and roll down the windows to watch. Marchantas Marchantas come up to offer us their wares and, tempted by a sample taste of a small, sweet orange, we buy a whole sack of them, already peeled and cut in half. Later, we have to stop to wash our sticky hands in puddles on the roadside. come up to offer us their wares and, tempted by a sample taste of a small, sweet orange, we buy a whole sack of them, already peeled and cut in half. Later, we have to stop to wash our sticky hands in puddles on the roadside.

At Bonao the torrential rains start again and the winds.h.i.+eld wipers can't keep pace with the waves of water was.h.i.+ng over us. In my head, I start making plans about where we can spend the night if the rain is still this bad once it gets dark.