CHILE AND ARGENTINA



Tale by Alfredo Juillet Frascara
28.04.1997

Cast of characters :

Fernando Decimo
Alfonso Decimo
Mario Monarca
Lidia de Monarca
Elaine Marans
Celia Ceballos
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		Chapter 1.

- And why it is that here in Chile those news aren't in the newspapers? - Asked Fernando Decimo, a blond youngster of fourteen years.

- How should I know ? Here they are more worried in the potatoe prices ! My uncles, that are pilots, bring back those news. They were very excited, as they even think those crafts could be the common airships of the future !"- Announced Mario, a tall young man of seventeen years..

They were in the backyard of Alfonso Decimo, the father of Fernando.

Mario looked at the stars, and said : - Wish I could see a flying saucer ! They said there are little green man. "

- If they are little, they must be afraid of us. That's why they don't' want to contact us."- Fernando said, stirring in his chair.

- I think they are here to invade us. Perhaps they come to eat us , use us as cattle. To them, we must seem a very primitive society."- Mario said, lighting a cigarette, and after he puffed a little, he offered one to his cousin Fernando, who accepted gleefully.

When Mario departs to his home, Fernando went to his desk, and write in his Diary about those UFOs his cousin talks. Also he thought how set apart those marvelous stories seems to him, as he was in High School, and having problems with Mathematics.

And not just with Math, but also with French, Spanish, Biology...

Fernando wasn´t like this in the passed years. It all started when his father collided with another car, and Fernando smashed his head against the front seat. He looses his sight for some hours, and his face was so inflamed his eyes were slits in the face.

He was in bed a month, and when he reassumed his life, he noted that everything were forgotten from one day to the other, so he asked the doctor about it, and he said :- Don't worry, your brain will recover, using other cells to storage the memories of the deceased ones. Don't you worry."

But he was worrying now. This was the first year after the car crash, and he forget all what the professor said in class. So he studied, but at the next day, all were blurred, sort of an insecure memory .

So he stop worrying, and he studied and went to school normally, but his precedent qualification was a thing of the past. The easy earned top notes became the hard earned lousy qualification of today.

- I can teach you mathematics. I'm a bullet !"- Mario offered himself, so Fernando began attending his cousin's lessons, but he cannot even understand the relations , so he began to say " I understand", when he really wasn't. Sort of a pride, there.

His father, Alfonso Decimo, began yelling at him, when he said he repeated the course.

- I want a lawyer, a doctor in my family ! You are lazy, you are wasting your time , instead of to study !"- Yelled the business man.

Fernando repeated again, next year. His father punished him with no vacations. Fernando also was without his father's pension {just a little money for his pockets}, so he walked everywhere, instead of going in a bus.

At Sundays he went downtown, and looked at the magazines and books at a Fair. Sometimes he almost read whole books, standing among the rows.

Also he visits his cousin, who vainly tried to teach him math.

- I think you need a psychiatry. I think you have some kind of resistance in your brain, something that refuses to learn." = Mario expounded.

- Possibly. Another chess game ?= Fernando asked, so they played chess until late into the night. Fernando usually wins, after long sessions.

He keeps on being like that until his nineteen years old. At that time, he frequented pool saloons, earning some money in the game. With the money he bought cigarettes and went to a downtown cinema, as the films was his form to evade reality.

His father was at war against him. So one day, after a silly row about a dish of smashed potatoes, he went out of his home.

He find a low rate job, and began working for to eat. This barely was attained, as the Arabs owners paid really little wages...to people with not skill at all .

Fernando uses to go to his cousin Mario's, and there he forgets about scarcity , playing chess and hearing Mario's UFOs lucubration's.

- The UFOs aren't appearing as before. They say they have a base in the Moon, now. The Americans {U.S> failed to accomplish the task . The engines had parts made with special alloys, alien to this world. "- Informed Mario.

- But how ? Why they just not use another metal ?- Fernando asked, moving the black Knight.

= Silly ! They tried, but for not avail ! They gave up. So the little green men are over us. "- Mario said.

- And the invasion?

- No invasion. For what purpose? They have what they want ! Human cattle !"- Growled Mario, moving the white rook...

- I am tired to work as a horse in the industry, wish those little green men invaded us soon, perhaps his wages would be better.' = Fernando said.

- Ja ja ! They will surely gave you a fine week of superb lunches, and then they would eat you." = Mario laughed.

- And did you find a job? =

- Yes, with a plumber. He said he'll gave me half the money of every job done."

- Nice job. Not a fixed schedule. Also no chief." = Fernando smiled.

= But I'll work hard. I want to go to U.S."- Mario announced.

Fernando sighed, as he knew that was another dream of his cousin. With the wages of a plumber a person barely eats a couple of days, three at the most.

They lighted cigarettes, thinking in the chess gambits...

Fernando keeps on working in the Industry, as there were not any other works available for him. He uses his school- times bicycle, so every morning at seven o'clock he mounted the machine and went to work, a four kilometer's raid. This was hard when raining, as he arrived soaked to his job. One day his mother called him by phone to his job. She was crying.

- Your father is dead. "- Said his mother, and cried hard.

So Fernando pedaled to his parent's home, and find his mother in her bedroom, together with lots of relatives.

- What I'll do now ? Alfonso, why did you go !"- Yelled his mother, weeping. Fernando saw, then, that his mother was more worried about herself !

With the money he received as inheritor of his father, he seats in a square, thinking placidly about the case. It was enough to buy a small house, start a small business, or live a pair of years without problems. But Fernando was seeing that one of his dreams was close to became a reality : to travel to distant countries, see strange people, perhaps even go to New York ! So he went to see the prices at a Tourist Agency. All his money would buy him a one way ticket to U.S., and the Law said two tickets were to be bought : one for the way in, and the other to return. So he can forget the New York trip. So he searched in the Bus offices, and he find that a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, was an affordable matter. Also everyone, including his deceased father, were saying Buenos Aires was a several times longer city than Santiago, Chile where he lives. So he decided himself. He went to a Bus Office, and asked for a ticket.

Then he went and revise all his clothes, in his rented room. Two pair of pants, three shirts, five neckties { a souvenir of the time when he was at his parent's house...they were the neglected neckties of his father }, two blankets, a pair of sheets and a mangled pillow. A box with cheap science fiction books ...a canteen . This canteen was filthy, now, from the time he sees several ants going for water, so he decided to kill them all using a candle's flame. Pity that the wax went inside, so afterwards he couldn't clean the canteen properly. He discarded the canteen, also a pair of battered shoes, twisted and scaring...

- Father, why did you leave us ?- He suddenly said, and he kneeled over the flimsy bed, weeping as he wished to expel all those years of loneliness, all those days pedaling to the Industry, under indifferent people aboard his splendid cars...Now a reconciliation was impossible, a last word, a fine good bye wasted for ever. After a while he recovered himself, but he was devoid of any energy, so he rested on the bed, and get asleep. He awoke early in the morning, The darkness was on the land. He went to the bath room, shaved and washed his face and arms, as the bathroom wasn't having hot water. He return to his room, and dressed himself with the best clothes he have. Them he went out. This was the day he was leaving Santiago for the first time ! He arrives three hours early to the Bus Station. He waits , eating a sandwich and a hot coffee. The people ,there ,were doing the same, smiling and feeling the tension of a trip. At last the bus opened his doors, and the passengers began to climb, leaving the suitcases to be loaded in the low part of the vehicle. Fernando seated himself in the appointed seat. It was near the window, so he feel fine about it. A man came and seats at his side, mumbling a good morning. The bus started, and then Santiago was seeing for the last time with Fernando's eyes . All the streets with their noises, the Carabineros in his fast cars and motorcycles, the ladies struggling to take a bus for their works...He remembered the Industry, and his chief, when he said he was traveling to Buenos Aires. - Same as here, boy, you'll see ! Perhaps you even gets back!" - Chipre told him,{ his chief of so many months.} - Never !' - Was his answer ... And now he recreate the daily working hours in that warehouse, the sounds of machines, the orders, the endless movement...And here he was, seated as a gentleman in a bus , taking the life as a desert ! Santiago was leaved behind, and the long dry road to the north begun. Lots of trucks and automobiles were also traveling north, so the bus wasn't running as fast as he wished. After three hours, the Cordillera de Los Andes was in plain sight. Big boulders hanging from high above, and tons over tons of pebbles forming high mountains of beautiful colors. The bus arrived to the Customhouses, and all passengers descended, and the clerks revised all suitcases. After half an hour, the bus and passengers were in the move again. They crossed the border, and all the way was down hill. The air was different, hotter, and the mountains disappear from Fernando 's sight, much to his amazement, as he was used to see mountains in any direction he chooses to look, back in Chile. The bus arrived to a pair of towns before night fell, and then Fernando was unable to see a thing, that kind of pitch dark was outside. The crew of the bus lit the cabin and gave some smashed potatoes and beverages. They also lit a pair of TV sets, so he saw John Wayne fighting Indians in the screen. He slept just a bit, and the rest he drowsed until daybreak. The bus was racing over a plain road, same as all night. Scattered trees were visible, and a faint fog. Three raid hours more, and then Fernando saw two story houses, then tall buildings...hundred of tall buildings, and the road became a tangled web of roads, crisscrossing at multilevel planes. The bus run at 150 km. per hour, among hundred upon hundred of other cars, trucks, omnibuses, motorcycles... The road turned right, and as it was in a high position in that part, a good portion of the horizon was visibly. All the land was occupied by tall buildings, and the elevated roads plunged here and there, with the river of mechanized vehicles. Fernando realized that Buenos Aires was four or five times the size of his home town. The tales of people who visited Buenos Aires in the past were true ! At last, the bus arrived to a big station, and he descended with feeble legs. Movement, cries, the turmoil. He searched for his bag, but he needed to walk a lot just to went outside the big station... He walked by his first street in Buenos Aires. He cannot believe it ! He, in Buenos Aires ! He, that a month ago was thinking in a whole life sunken in a warehouse ! Arriving to a suburban tiny room to rest, alone ! He set aside those memories, that darkened his present. He saw an old tower, white and with a clock on top. Near it, the tall buildings were soaring high to the clouds ! He looked up there, where the buildings ends ....three times bigger than the ones he remembered ! The people were an amazing sight. Nobody were looking at him. Everyone seemed to be immerse in his own affairs. In Santiago, just the opposite : everyone had the habit of to fix the eyes on each other, as if searching for a missing object ! He walked at random, as he was ignorant of Hotels locations, where was the center of the city... if there was a center in that megalopolis ! He bought a beverage to a man who had a little cartwheel . From the sides of the tiny vehicle hanged advertisements...Panchos at One Peso, Beverages at One Peso... He saw others eating Panchos, that were Hot Dogs. He don't eat them, as they were made with pork's meat. Three hours he was searching for a suitable Hotel, and at last he find one near the Casa Rosada . It was a clean building, and they were single and double rooms. He chooses a single room. There were bath rooms, four for each floor. He bathes for about half an hour, as it was warm and fresh water ! He even drinks of it, finding it sweet and good to the taste...he remembered the Chlorinated Fluoridated water of Santiago, that even with sugar was a treat for the throat ! No miracle Chilean people preferred wine to water ! He also used to drink milk instead of water, when working in that job. Job ! He was with money in his pockets, but he began to realize that prices were three times higher here in Buenos Aires ! So his two years leisure time shrunken to seven months here ! - I must to get a job ! "- He told the mirror, grimacing. He was delighted, excited, amazed to be in a foreign country. Now he was tasting what was to be a tourist! He went to the fresh hours of the sundown. The light in the sky was fading, people walks hurriedly by the street. A fresh breeze came from the docks. There were not ugly looking men , no dark skinned woman looking at him with disdain. Here they were blondes, and the bodies were slim and tall. He felt at home, the one he imagined all those wasted years. Down- town was lighted, all the shops were opened. No files upon files of buses belching here ! Just cars and one or two buses, without smoke and fast running. He went to a Restaurant, and asked a smashed potatoes and calabash, and a great steak. The other tables were occupied by people that were eating in a leisure fashion. No big laughs, no yelling. By the street people passed without looking inside ! Amazing. When he finished his plates, he paid and went outside. The women were dressed just fine, and several of them were just gorgeous. He walked, seeing that the adjacent streets were devoid of people. Also the Restaurants were closing. As he was returning to his room, he sees a gorgeous blonde walking ahead. He follow her and she was young and good looking, white and of green eyes. - Hi. Walking home? - Yes. And you ?- Answered her, smiling. - Me, too. I am a tourist here." - Yes, I noticed . From Chile. - How do you know ? - Your accent. I met some people from Chile. Nice people. - I hope ! Here I am, a tourist in a great city, but the good entertainment are ahead of my pocket... - Perhaps your luck will change in the future. " = I doubt it. I came here to work and get rich. - Ja ja ja ! Very difficult ! Here all males are trying to do so ! Or are you a doctor or something ? - Nothing of the sort. I get just high school education." - Bad thing ! Perhaps your father couldn't gave you a better education. - He did, but I was a donkey for the numbers. Bad memory." - Bad memory. Same as me ! - Yes , but you are a girl ...and a gorgeous one. - Thanks you. But here I say good bye. This is my Hotel."- She said. - Please ! Gave me your name, at least ! And I wish to meet you in another occasion if it is possible." The girl smiled, and said"- Very possible. Here is my card with my telephone number. Call me to-morrow." - Thanks you !-- Fernando said, taking the card. She wave her hand good bye, and went to the Hotel. " Carina Llanos. Phone : 456788." - Carina ! And the Hotel it's the "Gazmuri"..."- Fernando said to himself, and he began to walk home. He was very interested in the tall and magnificent woman. But as he hasn't a car, no money, and nowhere to go, except to his humble room...the probabilities were very few, in obtaining her heart... He slept after a long while, as his mind keeps on remembering the girl ... At dawn he went out, and bought a newspaper, searching there for a job. That afternoon he get a job : helping hand in a tanyard. Hard work, but with the wages he would be able to pay the rent, eat and it will be something for to buy clothes. He began to eat at a cheap restaurant, also drinking cheap wine, that he finds as good as the Chilean wines. That night he went to the Gazmuri Hotel. - I want to talk with Miss Carina Llanos, please.- He told at Reception. - You don't want.- Answered the clerk, smiling. - What? How came you know what I want? I said I want to talk to Miss Carina !" - Sir. Pardon me that I intrude in your business, but Miss Carina is the fiancee of the owner of this Hotel. If he knew you came here asking for her, sure thing he pull your arms and legs out of their sockets! Now please be going." - "I'll go, but at least tell me if she is here." -"No, she is not in here." Fernando went outside, and he waits in the street. He looked at his wrist watch. The 23:09 hours... Two, three hours waiting, make his legs tremble. At 02:28 minutes a car arrives, and from it descended Carina...with a tall man. - An old guy."- Fernando said to himself. Yes, the man was about 55 years old, and very well dressed. They enter to the Hotel without looking . - Bad luck! An me, believing she was a innocent woman! Better be going."- Fernando told himself. He walked to his room, and he slept undressed. At dawn, he went to work. He did work as a madman, and the owner went to his post, saying :- Tell me, Chilean, are all working like this in Chile ?" - Pardon me, but I am disappointed, and I prefer to work harder than to seat and began to weep.- Answered he. - Better to keep on working ! - And laughing, the owner went to his desk. Fernando lunched in a moodily way, and then returned to work. At six o'clock, he went out, as every day, and take a beverage at downtown, looking at so many people he don't know. Several good looking females were passing by the Florida Street, but none takes a glance in his direction. He was dressed as common as the rest of the males there, but his beard points him out as a foreigner... Beards were used just by the Jews, in Buenos Aires. Sometimes he went to shops, and when buying he tried to get a date from the female attendants, but for not avail. They were 'nt interested in him as a friend. At his work he talked with Guillermo Gonzalez, a tall married man, and he learn that the girls there were very serious, and if he want to get a date he must be presented by some member of the family or a close friend. -I can present you a pair of females. Do not expect too much , but I'll try that you end married here.- Guillermo laughed. He went with Laura to a theater, and then to a movie, where he takes her hand. - Please ! We are looking at a movie !"- Laura said, and when going out of the Cinema, she asked to be carried home. And that was the last she want to see of him... - Patience ! I have this other friend of my wife...his name is Maria. You'll see how beautiful she is !- Guillermo announced. That Sunday he was presented , at Guillermo's house. The girl was superb ! Blonde, good figure. She also laughs a lot. They went to the Zoo, and she said :- Please, just a little while, no more. I detest the smell of animals." So they looked a show of the Seals, and they went out. - Please, let's go dancing ! I love to dance."- She said. - Very well ! But I don't know where to go !" - I know . Let's go in a taxi !- She said, calling a cab, and they went to a dancing hall. She was a very good dancer, and Fernando realize he wasn't , so he accepted others to dance with her. So he spent four solid hours there, sipping Cokes and smoking ten cigarettes. - Let's go ! I am tired.- Maria said. - We'll take a taxi.- Said he, trying to smile. - Don't bother ! I find an old friend here, Mario . He will take me home...he has a car."= She said, and kissing his cheek lightly, she leave him standing on the hall of the dancing place. He saw her kissing a male, and then the guy takes her to his car, and went by the street with screeching wheels... - A stupid. That's what I am."- He said to himself, and walk to his room almost running. In his place, he seats on the flimsy chair, and looked by the window to the wall in front. The air was hot and humid, as always there. He sensed the air. It was as a message from great rivers, the jungle lying in Brazilian lands...The yacare, the birds, the cayman...He received the strength from the tropics, so he smiled and get to sleep , with a strange optimism... At dawn he went out, and instead of to walk to the job, he went to search another job, newspaper in hand. So he attended several examinations during the day, and at night he was working in a theater, as ticket-man... He was three days working with the old ticket- man, so he learned all the tricks of that post. Also he meet the dancers and actresses, as well as the actors and musicians. All of the actresses were good looking females, and as the weeks went by, he was accepted at rehearsals, as handy man. So he could have a pair of romances going on, and life was good ! Then Fernando send a letter home, saying all was well for him in Argentina. And his mother kissed the letter, remembering his son... Then one day an actor didn't appears, and he takes his post, a little apparition, that was the beginning of his career. In a year, and attending lessons, he became part of the staff, as an actor. He was not specially good looking, but he show character in his actuation, also his Chilean accent was good for the foreigner characterizations. The wages improved, he went to Santiago, in a sunny day, and when seeing his mother, all was to wept and to remember the old days. Also his sister was recently widowed , and as they were living in a gloomy house, he talk them about Buenos Aires. - Life there is much tranquil than here. People aren't stressed , and the air is pure, plenty of parks and it is the river. Also in summer we could go to the Atlantic. There are very good Hotels there."- Fernando invited. - You know those Hotels? The Atlantic...never I had seeing it."= Said Nina, his sister. - Let's go ! I have a rented apartment. "= Fernando urged them. So they went to Buenos Aires, locking the door of that house. His mother, Lidia, approved all what he saw : the clean apartment, the nice streets, the genteel people of Buenos Aires. Nina finds a job in a Bank, so she was not a burden to Fernando, who was busy signing autographs at the theater. He was having propositions from several Theatrical Companies, and also he was engaged with a beautiful Buenos Aires's girl... - Nice people, here . The sayings back home were all lies.- Mistress Lidia said. - Yes. I guess the Argentineans has bad name there, because of another city's people. But the Buenos Aires people, they truly are nice.- Nina said.- "Never a bad word here. " - Didn't I said ? That's is why I was so anxious to bring you here = Fernando smiled. - The education it's very important. The half civilized people show their fangs at any given situation. "- Nina said. Chapter two . As Fernando was with his family in a foreign country, he worked hard, in order to be secure not to came back to Chile empty handed. -I wish I would had being borne here ! People are nice, the air is pure...!- His mother told him twice a day. -At home the air is polluted, because we were living in a city founded when no petrol engines were invented . Pedro de Valdivia never suspected the gasoline engines were to invade his little city."- Answered Fernando. - And you know the history of this city?'-Asked his mother. -Not a word, mom. Perhaps I should buy a History book here."- He smiled. -Do it ! I love literature, specially if it is History, that lies a little less than the fictional books."- Mistress Lidia said. So Fernando went to buy some books . He saw a lot of Libraries, also he noticed a good percentage of people were buying books. At Santiago people were buying goods at the great stores, and Libraries were fewer each month . At week ends they went to the Rio Tigre, where they take a boat and were carried to a Marina, where they spent the afternoon in good company, bathing or playing tennis. - A good life, here! "- Mistress Lidia said to anybody who wishes to hear. She was delighted when Fernando bought a ticket and they all went to Montevideo, Uruguay. - Nice air, here.- Mistress Lidia said . - The Atlantic !- Nina said, outstretching her arms. -Wrong ! This is the Rio de la Plata, sister! The Atlantic it's some kilometers away.- Fernando informed them So they were wanting to see the Atlantic. -Women ! I will show you both the Atlantic, some other day! We should had gone to another city!'- He said. - No matter, son ! Don't be troubled at all! We are very well here , didn't you, Nina?- His mother said. - Yes! Let's take a walk !' - Laughed his sister. Two days there, and mistress Lidia was wanting to return to Buenos Aires. - I miss that city ! Oh. I think I am no less than a silly old woman!'- His mother told him. - No, mother ! You deserved this since a lot of time ago ! Those endless days of rains and smog, the cold weather and the days on end!'- Fernando said, embracing her. - Do not say that ! Jehovah gave me that shelter. Perhaps here we would had starved. Your father did all what was in his power to gave us food and commodities. "- She remembered, with a tiny tear in her eyes. - Yes, poor father.'- Fernando remembered. - Don't say that ! He was happy to live there! Didn't I told you that he was a motor race pilot? He received lots of trophies !"= She said. - Yes, I remembered that. We used to play with the trophies in the back yard."- Fernando said. - Yes, he was a very optimistic man. Every day for him was an adventure, and he loves to live."- Nina said. - Yes, I guess I am too gloomy. I had received lots of good things from Jehovah God, but just the same I am a gloomy man."- Fernando said. - Don't said that ! You are a clever happy young man ! And now, let's go to lunch !'- Mistress Lidia said. They went to a Restaurant, where they asked the regional lunch. A big steak and some potatoes... - Nice steak ! From this I am going to eat, in our home city they would cut three steaks !- Mistress Lidia said. -yes, mother, but you remember that the cows, back there, are eating grass in the mountains? And here you saw those great pampas! "- Nina said. Fernando thought about that. Argentina was a big expansion of territory, and Chile just a sigh between the great Cordillera de Los Andes and the Pacific Ocean. Really a great feast to be living there, a hard labor to stay alive there, too... He went to work. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he must attend a rehearsal, and the obra was The Tempest. He was saluted amiably, and after some 30 minutes, they began to act. One of the principal actresses was Elaine Marans, and she was really good looking. She smiled at him very often. Fernando invited her to dance, and she accepted. At nine o'clock he went to her house, and she said"- A drink?" - Yes, please. A Martini will do." She pours the drinks talking about the obra. They also played some pieces of the obra, and then they looked unto each other, and then they kissed each other. Passionately. Elaine said:-" Are we going to dine here or your invitation keeps on being? - Ja ja ! Of course ! I have reservations at the Palade Restaurant."- Fernando answered. They went to the Restaurant, an expensive one. They dinne, then they dance , and after that, they went to a Night Club, to keep on dancing. At 03.00 hours Fernando leaves her at her home, and kiss her good night. - It was a lovely night. Thanks you."- Elaine said. - I think I love you." - Me too ! "- She said, embracing him. Fernando drive home in a cloud ! His mother was awake, and smiled. She loves to see his son in high spirits. The premiere was an exit, and mistress Lidia reads all the newspapers aloud, at the other day. - You are famous ! And they speak a lot of Miss Elaine Marans."- She said. - Yes, she is a very good actress. "- Fernando answered. - Wish you could invite her here. I could do some of my Chilean dishes."- She offered. - I will talk to her. "- Fernando said. Elaine was very happy to know he wished her to visit his home . - And your mother ? I hope she accepted me ! Or you hadn't told her nothing about...ours?"- Elaine asked. - Not a word." - But why ! I really love you ! "- She said, with misty eyes. Fernando embraced her and kissed her cheek. Two days elapsed, Elaine entered Fernando's home, and mistress Lidia embraced her, saying"- But how beautiful are you ! A real angel." So there were no problems between them, from then on. Mistress Lidia invited her very often. - Your mother really is a sweet."- Elaine said to Fernando. - Yes. She loves you. And now, please say if you want to marry me. "- Fernando asked to the girl. - What ! Oh, yes !'- Elaine answered, kissing him. The weeding party was attended in a fancy Restaurant, and they went to Valparaiso, in their honey moon. - Oh, but what a lovably city this is ! And the sea ! "- Elaine said, when seeing the Pacific Ocean. - It is beautiful...like you."- Fernando said, kissing her. Twelve days they spent in Chile, visiting Santiago and Puerto Montt. Then they returned to Buenos Aires, as the show must go on ! There she offered him her house, to keep on living. So Fernando abandoned his mother's apartment, much to the grievance of the old lady. - Do not cry ! I will visit you every day !"- Fernando swear . - I hope you did ! Or I will go visiting you !"- She said. And Fernando did accomplish what he offered. Every day he went there, with Elaine, that was enchanted with his mother and sister. - I feel so much at home here ! "- She told mistress Lidia , every time she could. - And why don't you move here ? There is a room left!"- She answered, but Fernando preferred no to, as to be a visit it's very different as to be there all day. The Tempest was the first of their triumphs. So they earned big money, so they bought a mansion. Then Fernando accepted to live with his mother there, as there were lots of rooms. - We will live here in peace and harmony ! I know you young people must have freedom! I will intrude very little thing, you'll see !"- Mistress Lidia promised, and as the days were passing, they saw she did what she said. - Your mother will be a very good grand mother !"- Elaine said to Fernando. = What ? Are you pregnant?"- He asked. = Yes. It will be a boy !"- She laughed, throwing herself in his arms. They kissed each other happily, and Elaine told mistress Lidia about it. - What a good news ! I will be a grand mother !"- She said, weeping. - The baby will love you as much as we do ! You will see !"- Elaine promised, smiling. Fernando and his wife went in a tour by the cities of Argentina, presenting the obra. As it was a classic, every learned person wishes to see their version, so the theaters were always full of people. - I received an option."- Elaine told Fernando, when the tour was over. - Aha ! And it is a good option? - I don't know. It's from Hollywood."- She answered. - Hollywood ! I congratulate you !"- He smiled, embracing her. - Thanks you.I was affraid you could feel a little jealous..."- Elaine expostulate. - Not in a hundred years ! I have my work..."- He answered. So she went- alone, as he remain with the OBRA in Buenos Aires- and after three weeks elapsed, she telephoned Fernando, saying"- I am delighted ! The payment will be twice what I dreamed ! The film will began in two weeks. I have studied the script, not so difficult for me. The first shots they take of me were approved. You tell me : did I sign, or what ? - Sign ! I am so happy to hear you succeeding there ! I guess I can travel there too, just to see your face !"- Fernando said. - Darling ! Come fast ! You know my address...I will wait you."- Elaine said. Fernando told his mother about this, and she said"- I think it's a benediction from God Jehovah ! You really choose a very smart girl! But I am worried about the baby. She has two months already, and the job could be too much for her!" Fernando travel to U. S. and find his wife as beautiful as ever...perhaps a little more sophisticated. - My darling, you here ! I were so lonely! Please do not go away!"- She asked, when they meet. Fernando kissed her, and began to think in that possibility. She show him several photographs of her in costumes. - It is a Far West film! I am going to be kidnapped by the Bad Boy in town! But don't you worry ! The hero will save me in shot number 85 !"- She laughed, embracing him. - Great ! And they treat you well, here "_ - The very best ! They are very kind, and they call me The Shakespearean girl! AS they know I was working in a Shakespeare's play !"- She informed his husband. - My mother send you lots of greetings. She is worried about the baby."- Fernando said. - Oh, tell him not to worry ! Or I will tell her myself...I aborted. You see, the Director was very iterative about that. I could not appear with a big belly, when the film ends. Also, as I am a new star...or I will be, it would have been negative for my career."- Elaine explained. Fernando felt his shoes were going under the earth. His face became a white mask, and she worried, saying"- What is happening to you? You are so pale, suddenly !" Fernando felt the heart beats in his hears. - I cannot believe what you had donned ! And just in three weeks ! Or less ! How can you dare do that to me ? You aren't ashamed?"- Fernando asked her. Elaine began pacing the carpeted room, saying : - " You came here and began to criticize me ! I do all this for both of us ! The contract means a lot of money, and it's already signed ! " = Then you think it is money what is being discussed here ? Just money? And what about our...boy..."- Fernando began to shake, and the tears were running all over his face. - Oh, the great comedian! Please !"= Elaine mocked , and went out of the department. Fernando went to the bath room and washed his face. Then he went out. He take a taxi, and went to the air field, where after some hours, he began his flight to Chile. All the while he was at the airplane he were thinking in his lost baby ! In Buenos Aires he went to his house, and Mistress Lidia knew something were wrong, at the first sight of his son. -Tell me, what happens? You came back in such a hurry! Something bad with Elaine?"- She asked. - Yes. She aborted . She aborted my child."- Fernando informed her, seating in a chair. - My God ! Oh my God ! "- She yelled, and began crying silently. After some time, she said:'-I want to go home." - To ...Chile?" - Yes. Home."- She answered. Fernando sighed, as he was of the same opinion. He cannot keep on living just as if nothing happened. He sell both houses, and returned with his mother to Santiago, where they opened the doors of their old house. - A bad dream, just a bad dream. But more than a dream, because a baby is died. And now we will forget the evilness of that woman, and you will work here, and I will wait you in the afternoons."- Mistress Lidia said. Nina was in Buenos Aires, working with a high wages... Fernando went to some Actors Agencies, so he find a job very soon, as the Directors in Santiago were aware of his career in Buenos Aires. Two, three months, and Fernando met another female, but he didn't married her. Her name was Celia Ceballos, and she get pregnant. - You cannot forget you loose a child, didn't you? "= Asked his mother. = Yes, mother, I cannot forget ! That is because I am trying again, with this new woman. She seems to be a very quiet person. She works in a Laboratory."- Fernando answered. - A Chemist ! A great change ! From an Actress to a Chemist!"- Mistress Lidia said, smiling tiredly. Fernando take the girl home, and she received the approbation of his mother. - Don't you dare to abort ! Because with that you will kill my son !"- Was the first phrase she told Celia. - No, mistress Lidia! I want to have a baby ! I would never do such thing!"- Celia promised. Fernando worked hard at the theater, and he received some offers from television companies. So he worked in some soup operas, receiving a warm welcome by the T.V. audience. His sad eyes, his somber attitude, were much in tune with the sad papers he portrayed... Celia gives birth to a child, a beautiful girl with blond hair [just like her}. Fernando was very happy, and called her Fernanda Lucero. - A nice little star ! A beautiful present from God Jehovah !"- Mistress Lidia said, embracing the little baby. - Amen."- Fernando said, looking at Celia with love. FIN. 8.5.1997. Santos Dumont. Santiago de Chile.

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