“You’ve already told her.”

“And when you fuss, fuss about something.”

“Well, that’s settled,” said the girl. She took Joaquim’s hand off mine and held it.

“On your high horse again. Thinking of going into business for myself, Ens, my man.”

“And you tell Ens that every year.”

“I’m thinking of it. Sure I am. It’s not just idle talk. My pop rose from nothing.”

“I’ve never believed that,” said the girl. “You always have something to rise from. You can’t make something from nothing.”

“My pop rose from nothing. Me, I’m like elastic though; all I need to do is stretch out what I’ve got.”

“Stretching thins.”

“Listen to her. Go to Rio.”

“I mean you’ve got to add to what you’ve got.”

“Go to Rio.”

His girl looked at me. “He really is a nice guy.”

“Have you ever been to a mirror factory?” He stroked my hand again.

“No.”

“Nice place to work, if you don’t mind seeing yourself every day.” He leaned an ear back and listened to the music. There were couples on the floor. “Do you samba?” he asked. “Or whatever the heck it is they’re doing. I never know what it is they’re doing; I just get out and samba.”

“Doesn’t everybody?” said his girl. “Come on, I’ll samba with you, if I still know how to samba.”

When they were on the floor, Ensinanco stood up.

“Come on,” he said.

“Aren’t we going to wait till they get back? Aren’t we going to be polite?”

“I am being polite,” he said, and guided me through the dancers.

Like everyone needs a bit of local color, right?

34

Encobierta examined my back. The crocodile skin was cured. It’s since returned, but then it was all healed up. I’ve never been very mystical, but honestly I can’t tell you whether the cure came from her medicinal plants or his loving touches the night before.

“Oh, it’s done a fine job, hasn’t it?” she proclaimed, hands on my bare back. She’d propped a mirror on the table and held one at my back (“We’ve got more mirrors than we know what to do with!”), so I could see how clear and smooth it was.

And it was a fine job—skin like new.

“I’ll fix up a bag of it; it’s good for other ailments too. Stomach problems, female problems, intestinal sluggishness.”

“Oh, I know about intestinal sluggishness!” I exclaimed.

She laughed and held my blouse while I put my arms in. She was chewing something, what I thought before was gum but discovered was raw cactus. She carried pieces of cactus in cellophane in her pocket and every now and then would pop some in her mouth. I watched her through the mirror standing on the table. I glanced at myself, then glanced away.

“I’m going to be going soon,” I told her.

“At first I thought you were, and then after we talked I thought maybe I was wrong. I thought maybe instead of the wayward woman going your own way I thought you were, that maybe you really had come to stay with him—that maybe you could be the woman to shelter—rescue him from heaven’s punishment. That maybe you’d come here to save him. I started thinking perhaps love could save him—some special love, you see. But now I realize he has to save himself.