Thursday 20 June 2024
The Dictator's Slut Chapter V
He moved even closer, and I don't know what might have happened next if my father hadn't arrived. He came in, and stopped dead when he saw the Generalissimo sitting on his couch, holding his daughter's hand.
My father stood stock-still, then his hand went to his hair, pushing it back. I believe he was giving himself time to think. His eyes were on me, then they flickered.
He stepped forward, wiped his hands on his pants and I saw they left smears on the dusty fabric. He stepped forward respectfully.
"Generalissimo," he said. "You honor my house."
"Papa Juan," he said, grinning and bouncing up from the couch. "Papa Juan for an old comrade-at-arms!"
The Generalissimo was up and pumping my father's hand enthusiastically. My father looked frightened. He knew Papa Juan from the old days before he polished himself into a benevolent ogre, when he was an honest monster.
Mama came in. "Dinner is ready," she said. Her smile was too wide, her voice too loud, but later, when we sat at the table eating, the silence was absolute. I could hear the spoons scraping the bottom of the plates and the Generalissimo's enthusiastic slurping.
"You have a son, yes?" he suddenly asked my mother. I saw the color drain from her face as she nodded dumbly. "Where is he?"
My father licked his lips. "My son, he's in Miami, with my mother's family..." he said awkwardly. "Studying."
"That's good!" the Generalissimo smiled. approvingly. "Oh, that's very good!" You'd never think he'd been ranting about Americans trafficking children just minutes before.
He raised another spoon of chupe to his mouth. "He comes home, yes," unbelievably he winked at my mother. "To eat mama's wonderful chupe!"
"He's busy," mama said. "And the plane, it is so expensive..."
"But he must come!" the Generalissimo exclaimed. "His little sister is growing up, mama and papa are getting older! Yes, Carlos must come home for a holiday, maybe for Christmas, he?"
I saw my mother and father quickly glance at each other. No one had mentioned Carlos' name, but the Generalissimo knew it. It stood to reason he also knew about Carlos' activities.
"I have friends in Miami," the Generallimo said, sticking his fingers in the chupe and tearing off a shrimp's head. He sucked the juices from the head and wiped his lips with his napkin. "I can ask them to look out for Carlos, and make sure he is safe."
Mama looked away, but papa looked him in the eyes. "I'm very grateful, Generalissimo," he said. "For your concern, and for my son's safety."
"Ah," the generalissimo smiled. "A son is a man's pride and joy, yes? They take our blood and our name into the future!"
"Yes," my father said. He lowered his head. I had just been traded, and I didn't even know it. Bartered at the dinner table, for my brother's life.
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