Peeks in surreptitiously and looks around, thinking “am I in the right place?” and “who are you lot?” and, more distressingly perhaps, “why don’t I recognise anyone, what’s going on, I mean… there were only about… what… 30 of us in the whole school anyway - how many people can you fit into a 4-bed house, eh? - and I thought I knew them all... oh, wait, hang on… there’s the Lacor trio locked tight in panto-styled dispute”… makes mental note to approach them and say hello, and ask especially after the ever-glamorous, uber good-looking, but more than that, ultra kind, generous and lovely J. and P. – and uncle J.M. … and the spoilt, equally lovable and cute pooches, who got all excited every Friday - Valle day! - “hey, look…. NaliShan… how are you… Mr. Gilchrist… wow… (probably doesn’t remember me, not least because of my blaringly obvious want of… artistic endowment). And of course Lucia, and Rocio… hola!” Waves across the crowd and Mariachi music to catch their eye and rushes over, not without first picking up one of the tequila concoctions circulating on floating trays.
Getting there eventually, “Rocio! tudo bem? ‘Ta falando portugues ainda? Que wapa estas, mujer… oye, Lucia, que pedo guey, no rekonohko a nadie. Le dijiste a Maite? Can’t be an Edron reunion without Maite ferchrissakes, wasn’t she there longer than all of us put together? What about Lorena… y Seamus... Le dijiste a Ed? Si no, para hablarle… tambien le puedo hablar a Mati, si quieres, pa’ que vengan. Oye, que paso con Gaby, Meche, Paulina? Y que sera de Rosemary, Natti, Narcis, el Mihai! Quieres que invite a mi hermano Gordon? El le podra decir a Jose PM y a otros… Si quieres les digo tambien a mis hermanas, ellas estan en contacto con gente de su generacion.” Actually, she thinks, it may have been a bit more than 30 people after all. “Oye, y el Arturo? Se acuerdan de el? Donde andara…”
“Ah, siiii…! diles a todos, ojala que vengan porque esto apenas empieza,” contesta Lucia emocionada, “y de quien mas te acuerdas?”
“Sabes de quien? Te acuerdas de Lilo? I’ll never forget the day she came to school with a kitten in a box and gave it to me… to me…! Someone who not only had never spoken to her before, but who had, until that day, behaved fairly disdainfully towards her… and she gave me the kitten – I named her Dominique, by the way - because she’d heard my cat’d been run over… wow… still impresses me to this day, and I feel humbled about it… so, Lilo, wherever you are… thank you for that. And Saint (Mrs.) David y sus ‘fotocopias’ moradas… ah! por cierto, a ver, ahora que estan presentes los hermanos Lacor… c’mon lads, ‘fess up: who set fire to the Common Room? Y que tal la super production de The Importance of Being Earnest; o la Mrs. Pardo y las apuestas que haciamos que era calva, o que tenia el pelo hasta los tobillos; uf, y el caldo de camaron que nos echabamos Ed y yo en Taco Inn antes de lanzarnos a Valle los viernes por la tarde… me acuerdo de la absoluta desfachatez… de la pachequez indiscreta y rebelde de la adolescencia… cor, those were the days… de la paciencia y benevolencia de los adultos… del clima extraordinario – is it me, or was it always sunny at Campestre numero 3?...”
“Oh yeah…,” dice Lucia con aire nostalgico, y (noten el acento gringo), “it sure was… pero que onda contigo ahora? Como te va? Ya te deshiciste por fin del Monstruo?”
“Yaaaa…,” le digo, con cara de ‘yesss!’ mezcalada con ‘phew!’, y despues de una breve pausa, “eso me pasa por casarme con un patan…” and then I wink and mumble, “at least I kept a healthy bank balance, what?” Kidding! Well, no, actually… er… you know. Long story, que bueba, moving on.
“El otro dia fui a cenar un masala buenisimo alli a Spitalfields con unos amigos, y de regreso, como a las 12, crossing over London Bridge on foot, de repente me fijo y la luna enorme y naranja fosforescente (despues me entere que habia habido eclipse lunar), iluminando el Thames que brillaba placido y majestuoso, y a mi izquierda el HMS Belfast, mas alla Tower Bridge, y todas las lucecitas de la City iluminadas, and I slowed down to take it all in… nearly cried… OMG, I’m so lucky… I live here!
And in my mind’s eye at least, I live in Mexico as well, you see, so it’s great! Big, colonial house somewhere along the Costa Esmeralda, near or in Veracruz, donde hay ambiente, shingao. M-hm. Avec le swimming pool, naturalment. Despues de lo de Acapulco, nos reunimos alli, OK? You’re all invited. Un abrazoooooooote a toooodos, aunque no loh rekonohka, no importa, loh kiero muuusho – hey, that tequila thingy’s good, a ver, pasate el de for the road – great to see you all, por aqui nos estamos reuniendo…”
Clambers onto bike… and having re-gained a shred of composure and poise… cycles off into the sunset blowing kisses…
Tanya
