Not brandy. I don't want brandy.
Isn't beer good enough for you?
He came fussily and authoritatively into the middle of the room, his shoes squeaking on the tiles-the Governor's cousin. I could have you arrested, he threatened.
The man in the drill suit cringed formally. He said: Of course, your Excellency ...
Do you think I've got nothing better to do than slake the thirst of every beggar who chooses ...
I would never have troubled you if this man had not …
The Governors cousin spat on the tiles.
But if your Excellency would rather that I went away …
He said sharply: I'm not a hard man. I always try to oblige my fellows ... when it's in my power and does no harm. I have a position, you understand. These drinks come to me quite legally.
Of course.
And I have to charge what they cost me.
Of course.
Otherwise I'd be a ruined man. He walked delicately to the bed as if his shoes were cramping him and began to unmake it. Are you a talker? he asked over his shoulder.
I know how to keep a secret.
I don't !t mind you telling-the right people. There was a large rent in the mattress: he pulled out a handful of straw and put in his fingers again. The man in drill gazed out with false indifference at the public garden, the dark mud-banks, and the masts of sailing-ships: the lightning flapped behind them, and the thunder came nearer.
There, said the Governor's cousin, I can spare you that. It's good stuff.
It wasn't really brandy I wanted.
You must take what comes.
Then I think I'd rather have my fifteen pesos back.
The Governor's cousin exclaimed sharply: Fifteen pesos! [103] The beggar began rapidly to explain that the gentleman wanted to buy a little wine as well as brandy: they began to argue fiercely by the bed in low voices about prices. The Governor's cousin said: Wine's very difficult to get. I can let you have two bottles of brandy.
One of brandy and one of ...
It's the best Vera Cruz brandy.
But I am a wine drinker ... you don't know how I long for wine. …
Wine costs me a great deal of money. How much more can you pay?
I have only seventy-five centavos left in the world.
I could let you have a bottle of tequila.
No, no.
Another fifty centavos then ... It will be a large bottle. He began to scrabble in the mattress again, pulling out straw. The beggar winked at the man in drill and made the motions of drawing a cork and filling a glass.
There, the Governor's cousin said, take it or leave it.
Oh, I will take it.
The Governors cousin suddenly lost his surliness. He rubbed his hands and said: A stuffy night. The rains are going to be early this year, I think.
Perhaps your Excellency would honour me by taking a glass of brandy to toast our business.
Well, well ... perhaps ... The beggar opened the door and called briskly for glasses.
It's a long time, the Governor's cousin said, since I had a glass of wine. Perhaps it would be more suitable for a toast.
Of course, the man in drill said, as your Excellency chooses. He watched the cork drawn with a look of painful anxiety. He said: If you will excuse me, I think I will have brandy, and smiled raggedly, with an effort, watching the wine level fall.
They toasted each other, all three sitting on the bed-the beggar drank brandy. The Governor's cousin said: I'm proud of this wine. It's good wine. The best California. The beggar winked and motioned and the man in drill said: One more glass, your Excellency-or I can recommend this brandy.
[104] It's good brandy-but I think another glass of wine. They refilled their glasses. The man in drill said: I'm going to take some of that wine back-to my mother. She loves a glass.
She couldn't do better, the Governor's cousin said, emptying his own. He said: So you have a mother?
Haven't we all?
Ah, you're lucky. Mine's dead. His hand strayed towards the bottle, grasped it. Sometimes I miss her. I called her 'my little friend.' He tilted the bottle. With your permission?
Of course, your Excellency, the other said hopelessly, taking a long draught of brandy. The beggar said: I too have a mother.
Who cares? the Governor's cousin said sharply. He leant back and the bed creaked. He said: I have often thought a mother is a better friend than a father. Her influence is towards peace, goodness, charity. … Always on the anniversary of her death I go to her grave-with flowers.
The man in drill caught a hiccup politely. He said: Ah, if I could too ...
But you said your mother was alive?
I thought that you were speaking of your grandmother.
How could I? I can't remember my grandmother.
Nor can I.
I can, the beggar said.
The Governors cousin said: You talk too much. Perhaps I could send him to have this wine wrapped up. ... For your Excellency's sake I mustn't be seen ...
Wait, wait. There's no hurry. You are very welcome here. Anything in this room is at your disposal. Have a glass of wine.
I think brandy ...
Then with your permission ... He tilted the bottle: a little of it splashed over onto the sheets. What were we talking about?
Our grandmothers.
I don't think it can have been that. I can't even remember mine. The earliest thing I can remember ...
The door opened. The manager said: The Chief of Police is coming up the stairs.
Excellent. Show him in.
Are you sure?
[105] Of course. He's a good fellow. He said to the others: But at billiards you can't trust him.
A large stout man in a singlet, white trousers, and a revolver-holster appeared in the doorway. The Governor's cousin said: Come in. Come in. How is your toothache? We were talking about our grandmothers. He said sharply to the beggar: Make room for the jefe.
The jefe stood in the doorway, watching them with dim embarrassment. He said: Well, well ...
Were having a little private party. Will you join us? It would be an honour.
The jefe's face suddenly lit up at the sight of the wine: Of course-a little beer never comes amiss.
That's right. Give the jefe a glass of beer. The beggar filled his own glass with wine and held it out. The jefe took his place upon the bed and drained the glass: then he took the bottle himself. He said: It's good beer. Very good beer. Is this the only bottle? The man in drill watched him with frigid anxiety.
I'm afraid the only bottle.
Salud!
And what, the Governor's cousin asked, were we talking about?
About the first thing you could remember, the beggar said. The first thing I can remember, the jefe began, with deliberation, -but this gentleman is not drinking.
I will have a little brandy.
Salud!
Salud!
The first thing I can remember with any distinctness is my first communion. Ah, the thrill of the soul, my parents round me ...
How many parents, then, have you got?
Two, of course.
They could not have been around you-you would have needed at least four-ha, ha.
Salud!
Salud!
No, but as I was saying-life has such irony. It was my painful duty to watch the priest who gave me that communion [106] shot-an old man. I am not ashamed to say that I wept. The comfort is that he is probably a saint and that he prayed for us. It is not everyone who earns a saint's prayers.
An unusual way ...
But then life is mysterious.
Salud!
The man in drill said: A glass of brandy, jefe?
''There is so little left in this bottle that I may as well ...
I was very anxious to take a little back for my mother.
Oh, a drop like this. It would be an insult to take it. Just the dregs. He turned it up over his glass and chuckled: If you can talk of beer having dregs. Then he stopped with the bottle held over the glass and said with astonishment: Why, man, you're crying. All three watched the man in drill with their mouths a little open. He said: It always takes me like this-brandy. Forgive me, gentlemen. I get drunk very easily and then I see ...