He stubbed out his cigarette in the bottom of his cup and went back to his bedroom. Put his pistol on the sideboard and his trousers dropped to the floor. Pulled them off with his feet. Opened the windows and switched off the light. He couldn’t read. Could almost not live. He shut his eyelids tight and tried to convince himself that the next best step was to sleep, to sleep, not even dream. He fell asleep more quickly than he thought he would, and felt himself sinking into a bottomless lake, and dreamed he lived by the sea, in a house made of wood and tiles and loved a red-headed woman with small suntanned breasts and skin. In his dream he always saw the sea calm and golden against the light. In the house they roasted a red, shiny fish that smelled of the sea, and made love under the shower that soon disappeared to leave them on the sand, making love, until they fell asleep and dreamed happiness was possible. It was a long, muted, precise dream from which he woke painlessly, when the sunlight re-entered through his window.
Mantilla, 1992
Leonardo Padura
Leonardo Padura was born in Havana in 1955 and lives in Cuba. He has published a number of novels, shortstory collections and literary essays. International fame came with the Havana Quartet, all featuring Inspector Mario Conde, of which Havana Blue is the third to be available in English. The Quartet has won a number of literary prizes including the Spanish Premio Hammett. It has sold widely in Spain, France, Italy and Germany.
