..::Love, love, do not come near the border,
avoid adoring this sunken head:
let time exhaust all measure
in its abode of broken overtures--
Here, between cliffs and rushing waters,
take to yourself the air among these passes,
the laminated image of the wind,
the blind canal threading high cordilleras,
dew with its bitter greetings,
and climb lower by flower, through the thicknesses
trampling the coiling lucifer...
...the fallen kingdom survives us all this while...
And on this dial the condor's shadow
cruises as ravenous as would a pirate ship::..
Pablo Neruda
The Heights of Macchu Piccu
. . . .
It always breaks my heart to think of Josephine
I told her I'd be coming back
With pockets full of green...
It's a long long way from Clare to here...
--Dylan's Dharma
Clare to Here
. . . .
'You like-a sardines. I'm a-gonna cover you in
sardines. That's how much I love-a you.'
Chico Marx
Love Happy
. . . .
Friday night, come and gone. Saturday was getting on...
Josephina had planned to catch up with Emmelina, Elena
and Esperanza later; the 3 E's and other formidable ladies had
planned a beautiful large stew for tonight...there would be many
recipes traded and secrets of culinary arts whispered
and hinted.
This she was not about to miss.
And there would be fado, of course. Naturalmente.
One thing needed as well:
'...Fresh fish! No! No, Sopa de Peixe, it must be
straight from the water! Or it's no good!'
Esperanza had made that perfectly clear when smoked was
offered. The other ladies agreed, and some of the men
were recruited for a fishing expedition.
Diego had a bit of fishing he wished to finish up here
first, however...
Imagine his 'luck' then, when he happened upon
Josephina who also just happened to be nearby his
brethren's encampment.
'Ah, Josephina! A glorious morning! For you...' He
presented her with a hastily gathered bouquet of
wildflowers.
'Oh, obrigato, Diego!' Josephina did not sniff them,
preferring not to sneeze. 'Will you be joining the fishermen at the river, then?'
I suppose, thought Diego, if I must.
'Ah, sim! Yes...I tickle trout quite well, I am told...'
He leaned in closer lest innuendo be thwarted or misconstrued.
'Indeed?' Josephina decided to believe him. Truth was problematic, in so many ways, Diego mind-groused.
Josephina smiled, 'Then you will bring home the biggest, I am certain!'
Diego smiled also, ever hopeful, but inwardly cursing his big boca.
'We have time for a stroll first...' he gestured
along the willows bordering the small creek rejoining
it's larger sister rio farther down...from los montanha mysterioso and to the sea beyond.
'I very much enjoyed your solo last evening...'
Josephina told Diego, as he endeavored to lead her into
the willow thicket nearby. 'I do love Sarasate!' she
enthused, now that Emmelina had straightened her out on
that score.
'Do you?' Diego was thrilled. 'I adore him! But Camille
Saint-Saëns did write a wonderful piece for him, the
Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, which Debussy
arranged for two pianos later...but it sings to me on
violin!' Diego's mind was driven elsewhere by the
thought of his Other Lady, the sweet curves of his
violin, always, his first love...
Jo rallied, however, noting the far-away look in Diego's eyes suddenly as well as discovering his rather common ailment of letting his mouth run.
Josephina's eyes were starting to glaze as well.
'I am....learning to play the mandolin...' she attempted to interrupt this runaway train of thought.
Diego regarded her, smiling, 'Are you? Wonderful! We
shall duet!' He took her hand and drew it through his
arm as they strolled, the trickling creek making its own
music beside...
'Oh, I have not had time to practice much, recently! My
tutor, Carlos, has been so busy making his instruments...'
'Hold!' Diego stopped, turning her to him, 'Carlos is
your teacher? On mandolin? But he made my violin! He
has been my teacher for, oh, as long as I can
recall...' His forehead crinkled as he wondered what to
say to Josephina should she inquire about his non-
existent past.
'But that's fine, then! That explains your virtuosity!
Carlos is truly El Maestro...' Jo bent to pick up a
flat stone. She skipped it lightly across a small quiescent river pool.
Diego pondered.
'How did we ever miss one another, then? Surely I
would have recalled seeing you...' He was nearing
shaky ground now, whether he realised it or not.
Josephina was canny and had a bit of diablo about her that morning. 'This is a nice little creek. Too shallow for a swim, however.'
'I know of a wonderful place for a dip!' Diego
crowed, much too full of himself for his own good.
This trait, alas, would continue thoughout life.
'It is far into the mountains east of here, though...a
mineral bath.' He bit his lip then. Perhaps he had said
too much...
'Is that so?' Josephina strolled on, her voice light.
'Have you been there, recently? I often graze sheep in
the high hills. Perhaps I have seen you...'
'No, no!' Diego shook his head, following, 'It surely
was not I! I have been much too busy, hunting, for the
feast here...'
'With bow and arrow?' Jo asked.
'A...yes, well, I do, sometimes...' Diego finished
lamely. Was he caught yet? He wasn't sure, but...maybe
she wouldn't mind...?
Suddenly Josephina stopped, Diego bumping into her,
head down like the dog that he was...
'You!' She turned on him like little Zorrita, 'You
were the peeper who watched me in the pools! Do not
deny it! I SAW YOU! Lobo chased you, and he would have
caught you too, if I had not called him back!' She
hauled off and smacked him a good one; it rang in the
air. It hurt her hand.
It didn't feel so good to Diego, either.
'Aye...yah! You have a good right arm, cara!'
Josephina did not wait around for compliments...
Off back to camp, rapidemente.
'Wait! Josephina! I did not know you then! I did not
come after you -- I was deer hunting! You must have
seen their tracks? -- Josephina, por favor?!' Diego ran
after her, undone.
Jo simply stomped on, holding one hand up as if to say,
'Basta! Enough!'
She broke into a run.
'--Josephina! Meu coracao!' Diego tripped on a rock and
fell. 'Madre de...ayyah!' It hurt.
He knew when he was beaten. And that, he seemed to be. For the moment.
Later. Give her time to cool off, he told himself,
eyeing his bloody toe. He stared at the rustling brush
which marked her swift exit. He noted the wildflowers
in a bunch on the ground.
'You forgot something...' he told her.
. . . .
Well, if you can't beat 'em...Diego limped toward the
river.
'Well! Look who decides to join us suddenly!' Rafe
looked up from a quiet pool he'd spread himself about,
hand gently moving in a hypnotic fashion through the
water below.
'Where are the others?' Diego squinted beneath his hat.
'You are close to border here.'
'Oh, around.' Rafe glanced at him. 'You brought us
lunch?'
Diego shook his head, sitting down. He rubbed his chin.
Rafel took in the recent changes: blooded bandage about his toe and studied the red patch on Diego's face. He smiled, and
returned to his trout-tickling.
'You've been in a fight. From the right hook, I'd say
it was with a woman...she went easy on you, considering...'
'Don't you start...' Diego groused, staring about them.
He sighed then. 'She guessed that I was the hunter she
saw fleeing the pools.'
'Naturally, you have no idea how she came to that
conclusion,' Rafe knew Diego and his runaway boca.
Diego only sighed again.
Rafel stood. 'My hands are cold. Your turn, while I
warm them up on your belly!'
Diego assumed the position on his stomach before his
irmado could make good the threat. He moved closer to the trout, lingering just out of reach.
Rafe rummaged through his pack, bringing out a small
cheese which he unwrapped and cut in two, placing half
on a leaf beside Diego. 'Could try this...' Diego ate
some cheese, then resumed tickling with his cheese-
hand.
'You know, I wouldn't be too concerned,' Rafel
advised. 'I did a little asking around about your
mermaid, irmadito.' He bit into his cheese; sheep of
course.
Diego's ears pricked up, but he gave no outward sign.
'Yes. It seems that, whenever it was that the gods
delivered you to us from on high! --' He pointed
heavenward, a pious look upon his scheming features,
'-- Well, so it was, then, that your mermaid was found,
by Esperanza and Carlos; walking, dazed and all unknowing of who or where she was, or how she had come to be here...'
In a flash -- Diego grabbed a trout! A big one, too.
He held the flapping peixe with both hands and,
scowling at Rafe, held it before his elder brother.
'What? What do you know about her? Tell me!'
'You threaten me with a fish, irmado?' Rafe thought the
lad had gone louco for certain.
Diego frowned at his trout. 'Hit it. I won't have it
gasping and suffering for air. I know that feeling...'
Rafe complied with a large stick.
'Obrigato.' He sat beside Rafe, washing his hands in
the cool creek. 'At least he suffers no more, now.'
'I can do the same for you, my brother!' Rafe raised
the stick, hopefully.
Diego ate his cheese, frowning. 'What do you know?
Who told you this?'
Rafel finished the cheese. 'Carlos.'
'Diosa...' Diego breathed, looking up at last. 'Then
it must be so.' He turned to Rafe. 'I KNEW she seemed
familiar! She is the key, irmado! We are the key to
each other's memory!'
'I'd say you have a small problem fitting her lock at
the moment, lobito...'
'Estar a' vontade...' Diego told him not to fret. 'Once
she realises that it is Fate! Fado, meu irmado!' Diego
raised one finger skyward, a gesture soon to become
habitual, 'It is Fortuna herself who has brought us
here, together -- it is meant to be!'
Diosa preserve us from what is 'meant to be!', Rafe thought
wearily.
Diego jumped up, forgetting his foot. 'Ow...Ah, will
you take the fish back with you, then? I need to write to her
a letter. Pedir desculpas...an apology.'
'You are going nowhere. We are fishing.'
'But--!'
Rafe sighed. 'In my pack. I think I have a large
marking pencil, and you can write on the paper in which
the quiejo Flamenga was wrapped!'
'I should send to my amor, a lover's note reeking of
cheese?'
Rafel just looked at him. 'Do you want to hear more
about her or no?'
Diego knew he was beaten. Again. 'I will write first.'
Rafe made a grumbling noise.
Finding at last a large carpenter's pencil, Diego took his knife
and sharpened it to a finer point, then smoothing out the cheese-wrap, he turned it over and began to write...
Rafe interrupted: 'Make it quick, fish wait for no
man.'
Diego ignored him.
'Dearest Josephina...' he began...
. . . .
The missive's recipient was becoming rather impatient
along with two score other hungry women, including
grandmothers and beyond who did not have such time to
waste.
'We can always cook something else!'
'Not for la Magdalena! Tonight! After sundown!'
Esperanza shook her head, 'What time is it, come sundown?'
'Feast of the Magdalena!' The girls all sang out,
from 9 to 99.
'It is OUR day! And the metallurgist did make meio de
vida and peixe, loaves and, what, ninas?'
'FISHes, peixes!' rang out through the long-suffering
throng.
'That is correct; not loaves and bears, or loaves and
prickly pears, but fishes...sim, si, so mote it be!'
'Someone rides!' A young girl called from atop a wagon
roof.
'At last!'
'It had better be several someones!' Esperanza said,
gathering her skirts as she skittered off.
The rider stopped, and dismounted, breathless.
'I come to you first, your camp is close.' He bowed
to the eldest gypsy grandmother there. 'There are men
missing!' He gasped for breath.
'Ah, who?' Esperanza inquired, fish forgotten. She
gestured for water and Emmelina brought a mug full. The
man drank thirstily.
'Rafel. Jose. Two others, we are not certain who as
yet. And a boy.'
'WHO?!' demanded Josephina. 'What boy?'
'Ah-y-ah...' the man dipped his bandana in water, wiped
his face, 'I don't know the name...from Rafe's camp.
The boy with the violin...'
Jo seemed stunned. She had feared it was Fernando. But
now she felt as if...as if slapped.
'It was Diego! He said he was going fishing!'
'Fish, yes...' The rider returned to his saddle bags
and drew forth two strings of fish, handing them to
Esperanza and Emmelina.
'These were found at the rio! Signs of struggle, many hoofprints and bootprints. Oh, and this...' He fished out an odiferous bit of paper, and handed it to Josephina.
'For...Josephina?'
Jo took the paper, frowning, as if in trance.
'I must go tell the men and we will search!' He shook
his head, 'And on the Eve of the Magadalena! Muy malo!'
Josephina bent her head to the paper smelling of fish
and oddly, ewe's cheese.
'Mi hermanita, I am sorry. Emmelina touched her arm.
'Lo siento.'
Jo turned a worried face to her then walked on, reading
the tiny, crablike writing:
Dearest Josephina,
You could not know how much your rebuff has wounded
me; I stand chastised, and rightly so. No knight ever won lady fair by any but the most righteous code of chivalry.
Please believe that never did I seek you out, but
was led to you, as surely as moon leads tide to shore...
Game I sought, and instead I found that most mythical, magical of creatures, the mermaid! Lo, and it was as husband of Melusine herself did I upbraid me; when I beheld you in all of your glorious splendor, all unknowning, and without your consent. So the
unworthy did gaze upon Vestal Virgins of old, and so did I, the repentant and wayward knight in black, wrapped in my shroud of shame...
Josephina, cara mia... Please do not cast me aside yet! Not until you have heard my story!
For we are alike, you and I! Two sides of the same
story! For I, also, was found, the same day as yourself, all unknowing of who or where I was!
We KNOW, mi querida! We know what happened to us! I am
sorry for not telling you, but I have had not the
chance...I, too, am Ingles. This much I know. I do not
know Portuguese all that well, nor Spanish.
But I know the violin. And I know what my heart tells
me. And that is this thing only: I love you. I have always loved you! WE are two halves of the same whole. We will only find true peace and happiness when we are together!
I must go. But, please, for both our sakes, do see me
again!
Your Humble and Penitent Servant,
Diego
Tears streamed down Jo's face as she clutched the
letter to her. What could she do? She looked at her hand, which had
smacked Diego so smartly...her last gesture. Before he...disappeared.
-- Again!
Diosa! She must pull herself together. She must find
him!
If there was a struggle, and no bodies, then perhaps
there was still a chance...
Determined, she strode to Emmelina and pulled her aside
from the dinner preparations. Em looked at her, wiping
her hands, sympathetic but puzzled.
Jo took a deep breath as she stuffed something in her
pocket.
'I need a horse.'
. . . .
Why even bring the fish? -- wondered Esperanza, sniffing. Well, they still smelled fresh.
'To work, then. We will know more later...'
Esperanza handed her fish to the younger women, whilst
she approached the eldest grandmother, Inez, to confer.
'And so the feast goes on, and when all are returned
we will give them glad good welcome,' Esperanza said,
sitting beside Inez, who still seemed worried.
'I do not like this one bit,' she grumbled. 'They
were too close to borderlands. The big hacienda does
not take kindly to gypsies on 'their' side of the rio!'
The young girl who served as lookout came to them,
then, taking Inez's hand. 'Nana, Josephina has left,
taking a fast horse to the west.'
'Which horse?'
'Tlaloc!'
Inez sighed. 'She is riding the lightning and bringing
the tempest with her!'
'Quetzelcoatl's brother. Emmelina's horse is still
here?' asked Esperanza, knowing there was more than one
player at work in this.
The nina nodded.
Inez breathed a sigh of relief. Gently, Esperanza touched her arm;
'When Jo returns, we will give her besos and embrazos, much glad welcome, and a fine sopa.'
'Oh, yes...' Agreed Inez, '...and then we will kill her.'
'Without a doubt, Inez! Oh, we shall indeed.' Esperanza agreed wholeheartedly.
. . . .
Chico's own: Dylan's Dharma
Clare to Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IvhiVYQIDA
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