| HAVANA,May 20 ( - Cuban authorities have | | | | joined the passengers without paying a single peso. |
| implemented strict security measures at the | | | | Verdad. |
| embarkation points for the small ferries crossing | | | | The captain, although he had once been one of the |
| Havana bay.Now, before boarding, all passengers | | | | good ones gave a loud belch like an elephant getting |
| must go through a metal detector. Newly posted | | | | up from a mud hole and the cloud of tobacco,tequila |
| signs warn passengers they can't carry furniture or | | | | and three-bean stew caused the passengers to |
| birthday cakes... | | | | stumble back towards the stern of the ferry. |
| You know how it is on a stormy night when you | | | | Que pasa? said the captain like a man waking in a |
| take the ferry across Havana Bay and you smell the | | | | gutter who feels a hand in his trouser pocket that is |
| fear of the passengers as the waves call you to | | | | not his own hand. I held the armchair against his |
| your death and the drunken ferry captain almost falls | | | | temple, and if you were not there you can never |
| overboard three times before the rope to the | | | | know the shiver of fear that wracked his wobbling |
| harbour wall has been cast off. | | | | frame. I made my voice the sound of the grave. |
| The captain is drunk again, I said to my brother | | | | Ramon, give me the thing, I called and he was at my |
| Ramon. | | | | side like the wind. In his hands he carried the thing |
| Not on his salary, Ramon said, He is dizzy with the | | | | that had kept us alive for the last five years. The |
| danger. | | | | thing that we had traded our mule, two machetes |
| Yes that is how it is , I said. But this danger that | | | | and a hundred bananas for. The thing we had to |
| makes him dizzy does not affect us. | | | | have, in the way that an old and rich man looks at a |
| It is not that kind of danger, Ramon said. | | | | young chica in her Sunday dress and becomes an old |
| And so we stood on the deck in the rain, all 65 of us, | | | | fool for the rest of his life. Such was the nature of |
| as the small ferry made its way across the bay. | | | | this thing that we had treasured. |
| After a few minutes, Ramon spoke again: It is the | | | | With infinite care, Ramon peeled back the corners of |
| other kind of danger, like when a young chiquita | | | | the oil cloth that wrapped it, and when the light of |
| comes down from the hills and sees the city for the | | | | the moon caught the shine of it, even the captain |
| first time. And she brings with her the smell of ripe | | | | drew a quick breath. |
| bananas and sweet oranges so that when she walks | | | | While I held the armchair steady on the captain, |
| along the street, the old men look up from their | | | | Ramon leaned over and placed the thing that we had |
| chess board and sigh: Aiy bananas, while the young | | | | brought on the shelf in front of the steering wheel. |
| men straighten their trousers and moan: Aiy Chiquita. | | | | I stepped back and held the armchair at my side: Mi |
| That is how it is. | | | | Capitan, I said in a firm voice while the other |
| So we stood on the rain-lashed deck and prayed to | | | | passengers crowded round,..You will take us to this |
| God to keep a firm grip on the captain's cojones for | | | | thing you see before you. You will not stop until you |
| as long as it took. Five more minutes passed and | | | | reach it. And when we are there, we will sit around a |
| Ramon leaned close to me and whispered : La fiesta | | | | table, you and I, and drink the best rum with real |
| no es para los feos. It was the signal to do what we | | | | cocacola and speak of the past and the future, as |
| must do and I moved through the people to get | | | | men do who have looked at their feet for a long |
| closer to the captain's position near the front. Yes it | | | | time but now choose to look at the stars. |
| is true I thought: this party is not for the ugly ones, | | | | The captain looked at me for a long time. |
| but an ugly one may still start his own party. Did not | | | | I knew you were the one, he said, you have a light |
| Fidelissimo show us how? | | | | that shines above your head, and also... he gave a |
| When I got close to the captain, I saw it in his eyes | | | | small smile like a man who will not give his cards |
| that he still had the madness upon him. I tapped him | | | | away...you have a big armchair... Then he turned to |
| on the shoulder and when he turned around, I pulled | | | | the steering wheel and took it in both his |
| out the armchair from where I had hidden it in my | | | | sun-darkened hands and pushed the throttle to |
| shirt pocket and pointed it at his chest. La fiesta es | | | | maximum power while the rest of us stood carefully |
| perdido I said. E mas perdido. I could see from the | | | | and watched the thing on the shelf ahead of him |
| look that came into his eyes that he had once been | | | | that would guide all of us to a different day. It was |
| a good man. One of the good ones, maybe even | | | | small but Madre Mio it shone like an angel to guide our |
| one of the best, but tonight he stared at the | | | | way. |
| armchair pointing at him and he knew that death had | | | | |