Swift as Desire (8 page)

T
HE YEAR WAS 1923
, and his father, don Librado, had decided to take him for a ride, to show him the city that was to be their new home. When Júbilo first arrived in the city, everything was new to him. He was mesmerized by it all. But more than anything else, he discovered loneliness for the first time. He missed the warm temperatures of his native land, the company of his nieces and nephews, the delicious southeastern food, and, above all, the accent of the people from the Yucatán peninsula. They spoke differently in the capital. Júbilo felt like a stranger in his own country. So he was very grateful to his father for giving him the opportunity to familiarize himself a little with his new city. He hired a
carretela
, and took Júbilo and his mother for a tour of the city in the open carriage. Soon, however, a steady rain began to fall and it lasted the entire ride. The driver used the canvas that usually covered the rear of the vehicle to protect his passengers from the rain. Júbilo lifted the canvas above his head with his hand in order to see the city. The wet streets
heightened the beauty and charm of the capital, which was still quite small back then. In the east it extended to the San Lázaro train station, which is now the Cámara de Diputados, the House of Parliament. In the west it reached as far as the Río Consulado, to the Tlaxpana or what is known today as the Circuito Interior. To the north the boundary was the Alvarado Bridge, where the Buena-vista train station used to be. And in the south the city ended at the Colonia train station, which is now Calle Sullivan. That was the whole city.

But it was more than enough to excite Júbilo, and to confirm for him that he was indeed going to be living far from the sea. The clacking of the carriage wheels as they glided over the cobblestones was a wonderful substitute for the familiar sound of waves. And as a welcoming gesture, the city presented him with its best sounds. To his delight, Júbilo discovered that the streets were filled with a cacophony of rustling, murmuring, screeching, a great buzz. And to top off the special afternoon, when he returned home he found Chucho, his new neighbor, waiting to initiate their new friendship by inviting him over to his house to listen to a radio program. A group of Chucho’s friends from the
colonia
had gathered that day, the eighth of May 1923, to listen to the first concert ever to be transmitted by the radio station La Casa del Radio, which belonged to the newspaper
El Universal Ilustrado.
That night a whole new world opened before his eyes, or rather, before his ears. It seemed incredible to him that the voices of the announcers could be transformed into
real presences, into true companions, which made his separation from friends, school, and family much less painful.

Eventually, his friendship with Chucho grew and they spent wonderful afternoons together listening to music after playing outside. They became inseparable, and Júbilo followed Chucho wherever he migrated, because Chucho’s parents seemed to have a strange fascination for moving. They loved to change houses at the slightest provocation. Fortunately, they did so within the confines of the
colonia
, so it didn’t interfere with Chucho and Júbilo’s friendship. At most, they would have to get used to the new number of steps or blocks that separated one house from the other. But nothing ever managed to separate them or prevent them from getting together to listen to their radio programs.

As the years passed, the only thing that changed was the frequency with which they could get together. Júbilo entered school before Chucho and found himself immersed in a world of obligations and school-related tasks. Marbles, tops, balls, and other toys were relegated to the memory drawer. But he sought out his dear friend every weekend to go to the movies, to ride bikes, or to hide out and smoke. During the breaks from school, Júbilo always went to the Yucatán with his family. It was upon returning from one of these absences that he found Chucho had moved again. Júbilo was eager to visit him as soon as possible, because he wanted to show his friend his incipient mustache.

On his way to his friend’s new house, Júbilo felt a knot in his stomach. It was the first time this had ever happened to him. He didn’t know what to make of it. His stomach didn’t really hurt, it just sort of trembled, as if wanting to tell him something. It was like a premonition, or fear. As he turned a corner, he caught sight of Chucho and waved at him: he was talking to two young people, a boy and a girl. As Júbilo drew nearer, his fear increased and he was tempted to turn and run away, but he couldn’t do that because his friend had already seen him and, besides, the group seemed to be waiting for him. He suddenly remembered how one morning the pigeons that lived on the roof of his house had fled up into the sky: they had sensed the earthquake that shortly afterward shook the whole city. After taking the last few steps toward Chucho and his companions, he understood perfectly. Before him stood the most beautiful thirteen-year-old girl he had ever seen. Chucho introduced his new friends Luz María and Juan Lascuráin to Júbilo. When he reached out to shake hands with the girl, Júbilo nearly doubled over from the pain in his stomach. The touch of her skin transformed him completely and took away his ability to sleep from that moment on. With a smile, Luz María said she preferred to be called Lucha. Júbilo wanted to say something, but it suddenly became very difficult, and when he opened his mouth all that escaped was a sad squawk. They all laughed at Júbilo’s changing voice and made him blush, but then he joined in their laughter.

The reason he laughed with them had nothing to do with the silliness of what had just happened: it stemmed from the enormous pleasure he felt in discovering a new sound. The sound of love. It was a murmur that sounded like laughter, like the breaking of waves, the crashing of happiness mixed with the music of dry leaves carried along by the wind, like sacred music vibrating in his stomach, in his hair, all over his skin, and, of course, in his ears. The sound of love stirred him up in such a way that for a moment he was left completely deaf. Still, Lucha responded. Charmed by his laughter, she invited him over to her house to listen to Glenn Miller’s latest album. Júbilo eagerly accepted the invitation and they all headed for the Lascuráin home.

Lucha’s house was the most popular meeting place in the
colonia.
The Lascuráins were a happy, generous, sharing family who always kept the door to their home open to others, and Júbilo was no exception. They immediately accepted him with open arms and adopted him into their circle. And he was deeply grateful, for several reasons. Because of the opportunity it gave him to make new friends. Because of the possibility of listening to the radio and the phonograph, equipment that didn’t exist in his own home. And last, but most important, because of the chance to be near thirteen-year-old Lucha, the thought of whom kept him awake at night from that day forward. Lucha was two years younger than Júbilo, but as is quite usual, she was more developed than he was. While his voice was barely beginning to change and a ridiculous
fuzz of a mustache was only just sprouting, Lucha already had a pair of fully developed breasts and appetizing hips that were growing more sensuous every day. Júbilo dreamed about her every night and without fail awoke with damp sheets. His best erotic fantasies featured her. His every ejaculation, from the first to the last, was dedicated to her. The whole world revolved around Lucha and because of her it had grown much clearer and brighter.

Shortly thereafter, Júbilo, who was in his second year of high school, learned in physics class that the Earth’s magnetism is produced by the molten iron that spins around its nucleus. The professor had explained that an element called magnetite circulated in the bloodstream of both humans and animals, which allowed them to perceive the Earth’s electromagnetic energy, but this enhanced perception was more pronounced in some individuals than in others. This explained why some animals could anticipate changes beneath the Earth’s crust, as in the case of earthquakes, allowing them to flee, instead of waiting to be crushed to death. Júbilo immediately thought of the day he had first met Lucha. He was certain that his personal magnetite had been drawn into harmony with Lucha’s magnetic center and had tried to prevent disaster. It had tried to warn him that his life was in danger, or at least the life he had led until then; that from that moment on, his story would be divided into before knowing Lucha and after, because their meeting had changed his life forever.

Júbilo believed that the iron circulating in Lucha’s blood must be particularly special, because it managed to produce a magnetic pull as powerful as the earth’s. The girl attracted men’s desire as honey drew bees. And those unrequited desires kept spinning around her, increasing her natural magnetism to alarming levels. There was no boy in the
colonia
who didn’t want to be her boyfriend, who didn’t dream of giving her her first kiss, who didn’t long to become one with her.

Júbilo turned out to be the lucky one. A few months after they met, during a Christmas
posada
, he declared his love for her, and to everyone’s surprise, Lucha, the unconquerable, replied she loved him too. During the first months of their courtship, Júbilo was a most respectful
novio.
He did no more than just hold her hand and give her light kisses on the mouth. But gradually he dared to go further. Lucha remembered clearly the first time that Júbilo had inserted his tongue between her lips. It was a very strange sensation. She wasn’t sure whether it had been agreeable or not. The only thing she knew was that the next day she couldn’t look him in the eyes without blushing.

From there they moved on to long embraces, accompanied by similarly drawn-out kisses. With the passing of time, and as their trust built, not to mention their passion, they progressed to tighter embraces during which their bodies were pressed against one another…and, well…It reached the point where Lucha could distinctly feel the hardening of Júbilo’s member pressing
against her pelvis. After those embraces came the timid sliding of Júbilo’s hand down Lucha’s back. And that’s where her problem really started. Lucha was accustomed to getting everything she wanted, but now that she was burning with desire for Júbilo to caress not only her back, but a little lower too, she had to repress the desire to ask him to. The same thing would happen when Júbilo held her hand as they sat in the
sala
listening to music. Sometimes, not wanting to, yet wanting to, Júbilo would brush his hand against Lucha’s leg, and her skin would suddenly become covered with goose bumps. She was very aroused by the idea that Júbilo would openly caress her legs and that he might slide his hand up to her intimate parts, but the chance of that happening was curtailed by social convention. At any rate, for one reason or another, after Júbilo’s visits, Lucha invariably ended up with damp panties, burning cheeks, and agitated breathing. Every day, they sought out with greater urgency opportunities to be alone together, but they weren’t always successful. There was never a lack of busybodies to spy on them, whether it was one of Lucha’s six unmarried siblings, her parents, or the servants.

However, one day the perfect opportunity presented itself. One of don Carlos’s sisters had died and the whole family went to the funeral, except Lucha, who stayed home with a terrible headache. The origin of her illness was none other than the accumulated and repressed desire over the seven years of her relationship with Júbilo. While she was alone at home, Júbilo paid his regular visit.
They went into the
sala
and while they listened to a Glenn Miller record, Lucha took Júbilo’s hand and placed it squarely on her breast. Júbilo’s reaction, somewhere between surprise and satisfaction, was to accept the cordial invitation, and he caressed her breasts with impassioned tenderness. That day, Lucha knew that the time had come for them to marry, because it wasn’t right for a señorita to permit her
novio
to caress her like that. And it wasn’t until this moment that she had understood why! It was obvious that from here on there was no going back. Her passion was only going to grow stronger and she couldn’t bear it any longer. She was tired of resisting the call of desire.

On the other hand, if she gave in now, it would be impossible for her to reach her wedding as a virgin, as her parents expected. To Lucha this social hypocrisy seemed totally absurd. If a woman’s purity was shattered the instant she lost her virginity, that meant a man’s penis was the most impure thing in the world. She couldn’t agree with that. For many years, the nuns at school had been teaching her that God had made man in his own image. Therefore, there couldn’t be a part of the human body that was impure, because each one was a divine creation. Besides, it seemed totally absurd to her to think that God had given men hands that weren’t supposed to caress, and women clitorises that weren’t meant to be touched. Of course, it never occurred to her to use this argument to convince her parents to let her marry Júbilo. But she used many others instead, until she managed to convince
them that she was totally captivated by Júbilo and that it would be much better to allow her to marry him, in spite of the fact that at twenty-two he couldn’t offer her a very promising future.