In the city, the opening of the Iquique Restaurant had been announced with great fanfare. It belonged to an old friend of Roberto Burán. Álvez had wangled two invitations. He had got them through a client who owed him ‘favours’, and whose husband was accountant to the owner of the business. The gynaecologist stipulated that Alicia should be accompanied: he preferred her to attend with someone she trusted, who was unaware of the conspiracy against Burán. He wanted to avoid the suspicions that would be raised by Alicia attending alone. It was fundamental that this person should not cause problems and, above all, should not obstruct the desired ‘contact’. For this reason, the girl attended with Guillermo Guiri, her thirty year-old second cousin, with whom she had spent practically her whole childhood. She had told Guillermo everything that was going on, paying no attention to Álvez’s mandate on this point. She needed to get it off her chest, to offload the enormous tension she was under; that’s why she decided to confide in her cousin, teeling him about the terrible situation she was living through. At first Guillermo had become furious, he wanted to give the gynaecologist the bloody good kicking he deserved, but later he understood that they were at his mercy. He loved Mabel very much, her future was at stake and the solution had to be found immediately. He didn’t have the resources to tackle the problem, it was impossible for him to get that much money. Nobody could lend it to him, all his friends were poor. He was so wound up that he drafted extreme solutions. He thought about robbery, he knew a beautiful house in a residential area, the owners had gone on holiday. When he mentioned it to Alicia, she reacted hysterically.
“What are you saying?” she said to him with tears in her eyes, “Shut up, will you! Damn and blast the moment I told you what was going on! Get lost! Now! Leave me alone!”
Faced with such a disproportionate answer, Guillermo was stunned.
“All right, Alicia, calm down... I’ll do whatever you want, don’t be like that, you’re nerves are all on edge, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to upset you.”
The change seemed to soothe her. Breathing deeply, with the freedom of speech that she only allowed herself with him, she continued.
“Right, listen to me carefully and don’t be an idiot! I don’t want to hear any more about you committing burglaries to get money. Is that clear? If anything like that happened, I wouldn’t accept a single peso. Understood? Yes or no?”
“Yes!” said Guillermo, lowering his head.
“Right, now listen to me: there’s no way I’m prepared to dirty myself any more than necessary in this grubby matter. I’m going to sleep with this man, Burán, conscious of the filthy thing I’m doing. I’m not going to play the martyr or the poor little tortured girl: I’m just a woman who’d do anything for her sister. If they classify me as a whore or degenerate in the future, tough luck, I’ll take the risk. A fuck’s not going to kill me, sooner or later I hope to be able to forget it; after all, there are people who put up with much more painful memories. Besides, let’s be honest, I don’t have any other way out, so why should I torment myself? I only ask of you one thing. Don’t make it any more difficult for me, I don’t want a saviour. What I need is a helping hand, not Robin Hood. If you don’t obey me, and I’m being serious now, clear off. Right now! Get it into your thick skull, the fundamental thing here is to solve Mabel’s drama as soon as possible! Is that understood?”
“Yes,” said Guillermo.
“In that case don’t cause any more bother,” she answered, “I’ve got to get the damn sperm from this guy, I wish I had it already, then I could make that filthy doctor fulfil his part of the bargain...”
Alicia was satisfied that she had been so energetic: she couldn’t allow Guillermo to steal to help Mabel. After this stern conversation, he insisted no more. He simply obeyed his cousin. He would act as accomplice, accompanying her in the meeting with the millionaire prey.
There were lots of people at the inauguration party, mainly professionals and business people. The place was comfortable, although not very big. Intelligent and delicate decoration created a placid, pleasant climate. The round tables (there were big ones and small ones) allowed the diners to be close to each other, making dialogue easy. The subdued, warm light came from candlesticks holding a single candle which gave the restaurant an intimate, romantic touch.
Alicia realised that she would have to sharpen up her wits to mix with Burán; he mustn’t suspect anything. From a photo that Álvez had given her, she recognised him almost immediately; he was in a corner having a conversation with two people. He was speaking animatedly. She noticed that he and his interlocutors were very close, because from time to time they exchanged embraces and slapped each other on the back. She liked the scene, which showed a tender facet of her future victim, although on the other hand it gave her an incentive to feel guilty. She still had her doubts, the version Álvez had supplied her with was a bit far-fetched. Was it true? She couldn’t allow herself the luxury of finding out...
Copyright © | Ricardo Ludovico Gulminelli, 1990 |
---|---|
By the same author | |
Date of publication | May 2002 |
Collection | Global Fiction |
Permalink | https://badosa.com/n145-11 |
Wonderful. I think that the story is fascinating, the situacion is provocative, and the end is surprising. Congratulations. It's a fantastic book. I'm so happy to have found it.
In my opinion, Ricardo Ludovico Gulminelli is an excellent writer... I'm from Miami Beach (Florida) and I have been studying Spanish since 1999 and I'm very happy indeed that I had the opportunity to be able to read this wonderful book. I know that I liked it because he described everything so well, as if he had lived it, and I felt very identificated. I hope to read more materials from Ricardo Ludovico Gulminelli. Thank you!
I fell in love after reading the description of the character Roberto Burán of Fraudulent Fertilisation (Episode 11). The man I am currently dating is so much like him... except, he's not an Attorney. I work with Attorneys. I'm a legal assistant... and I think Attorneys are so fascinating!
Me gustó la obra: me hizo sentir deseos de seguir leyendo página a página, no sólo por la trama, también porque me sentí identificado con su protagonista, su forma de ver las relaciones, su concepto de la mujer como compañera e igual. Hay también manifestaciones sobre determinados temas (aborto, matrimonio) que comparto y me hicieron reforzar mis propias opiniones.
Soy un asiduo lector y hacía mucho tiempo que un libro no me despertaba tantas emociones. Gracias a Badosa por publicar libros así (además gratuitos).
Creo que se trata de una novela-folletín que, en cuanto atañe a aspectos judiciales, está muy bien documentada; se nota que el autor procede de la abogacía y judicatura. En el e-mail que le envié, le dije que vale más un folletín bien relatado que novela suspirada, pero no conseguida. Salut i tenis-sala.
Como escribe de lo que entiende, se le entiende todo lo que escribe. Salut i tenis-sala.
Éste ha sido un gran libro, donde el lector se va adentrando a la vida de cada uno de los personajes, es un libro bien documentado en cada uno de los temas a los que se refiere. Debo felicitar a Badosa.com por brindarnos este servicio.
Mi opinión es que es una historia excelente. Me atrapó verdaderamente leer el libro, me enseñó, comprendí lo complejo que puede ser un tema que parece tan simple. Es un orgullo tener académicos de tan alto estirpe, espero que el Dr. Ricardo Gulminelli haga otras obras tan interesantes como es Fecundación fraudulenta.
Es un libro muy interesante, muy bien planteado, que lo atrapa en su lectura de principio a fin. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.
Inquietante la secretaria, se llama Estela, como mi hermana ídem de un médico... Un saludo Ricardo,
Un libro que atrapa, una historia plausible, muy bien tratado el tema, mis felicitaciones para el Dr Ricardo Gulminelli.
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