LITUMA: She was dying of envy.
JOSEFINO: (Raising his voice) Do you hear what these buggers are saying about you, Chunga?
LA CHUNGA: What?
JOSEFINO: That when I was kissing Meche, your eyes were popping out of your head. That you were dying of envy.
LA CHUNGA: They’re probably right. Who wouldn’t feel envious of a woman like that?
(Laughter and shouting from the superstuds.)
JOSEFINO: And you haven’t even seen her in the buff, Chunguita. Her body’s even better than her face. Isn’t that right, Meche?
MECHE: Be quiet, Josefino.
LA CHUNGA: I’ve no doubt for once in your life you’re telling the truth.
JOSEFINO: Of course I am. Lift up your skirt, love. Show her your legs, just to give her an idea.
MECHE: (Pretending to be more embarrassed than she is) Oh, Josefino, the things you say.
(JOSEFINO speaks with an assurance that shouldn’t be brusque, but which barely conceals his superiority. He relishes his authority in front of his friends.)
JOSEFINO: (Raising his voice a little) Listen to me. If you and I aren’t going to fall out with each other, you’d better do what I say. Show her your legs.
MECHE: (Pretending to protest, though in fact enjoying the game) You’re so moody and bossy at times, Josefino.
(She lifts up her skirt and shows her legs. The superstuds cheer.)
JOSEFINO: (Laughing) What do you think of them, Chunga?
LA CHUNGA: Not bad.
JOSEFINO: (Bristling with arrogance) You see. I could make her strip stark naked in front of you and nothing would happen — because you’re my mates. We trust each other, eh Chunga?
(He begins to gather up the money he’s just won from the pool.)
EL MONO: Hold it. Only cowards draw their money out while there are people still keen to play.
JOSEFINO: You want to go for the bank? It’s one thousand, two hundred sols, Mono. Have you got it?
(EL MONO searches his pockets, takes out all the money he has and counts it.)
EL MONO: I’ve got five hundred. I’ll owe you the seven hundred.
JOSEFINO: You can’t borrow money in the middle of a game, it’s bad luck. (Gripping him by the wrist) Wait. That’s what your watch is for. I’ll take it instead of the seven hundred.
LITUMA: Your watch is worth more than that.
EL MONO: (Taking off his watch, and putting it with his five hundred sols in the pool) But I’m going to win, aren’t I, for God’s sake? All right, Josefino, throw those dice and please … lose.
(JOSEFINO pushes MECHE towards the bar.)
JOSEFINO: Go and keep Chunga company. I’m going to win that money and the watch, you’ll see. With the dice in my hand, I don’t need you to bring me luck, I make my own luck.
JOSE: Be careful Chunga doesn’t try to seduce you, Mechita. You’ve almost driven her crazy.
MECHE: (Revealing a somewhat morbid curiosity, in a whisper) Is she one of those?
LITUMA: We didn’t know she was till now. We thought she was probably sexless.
JOSE: But ever since she saw you, she’s completely lost her cool. She’s given herself away: she’s a dike.
MECHE: Is she really?
JOSEFINO: Ears burning, are they, Chunga? If you knew what they were saying about you, you’d brain the lot of them — you’d never let them set foot in here again.
LA CHUNGA: What are they saying?
JOSEFINO: José says you’ve gone all crazy since you saw Mechita, he says that you’ve given yourself away, that you’re a dike and Meche wants to know if it’s true or not.
MECHE: It’s a lie, Chunga, don’t believe him. You are a bastard, Josefino.
LA CHUNGA: Let her come and ask me. I’ll tell her in private. (The superstuds laugh and joke.)
JOSEFINO: (To MECHE) Go on, my little one. Flirt with her a little, give her a thrill.
EL MONO: Are you going to throw those dice, Josefino?
(MECHE goes towards the bar where LA CHUNGA is standing.)
Women and Dikes
MECHE: (Confused) Surely you didn’t believe him, did you? You know Josefino’s always joking. I didn’t say that about you. Really.
LA CHUNGA: Oh, don’t worry. I don’t give a damn what people say about me. They can say what they like. (Shrugs her shoulders). If that’s what amuses them, then let them. Just so long as I don’t hear.
MECHE: Don’t you care if they say nasty things about you?
LA CHUNGA: The only thing I care about is that they don’t fight and they pay for what they drink. Provided they behave and don’t try and cheat me, they can say what they damned well like.
MECHE: Don’t you even care if they say you’re … that?
LA CHUNGA: A dike? (Takes hold of MECHE’s arm.) And what if I were? Am I frightening you?
MECHE: (With a nervous little laugh; we are not sure whether she means what she says or not.) I don’t know. I’ve never met a real dike before. I know there are supposed to be so many about, but I’ve never seen a single one. (Looks LA CHUNGA over.) I always imagined them to be butch and ugly. You’re not like that at all.
LA CHUNGA: What am I like?
MECHE: A little hard perhaps. But I imagine you have to be to run a place like this what with all the drunks and strange types that come in. But you’re not ugly. If you tidied yourself up a bit, you’d look quite attractive, beautiful even. Men would like you.
LA CHUNGA: (With a dry little laugh) I’m not interested if men like me or not. But you are, aren’t you? It’s the one thing in life that you care about, isn’t it? Tidying yourself up, putting on make-up, making yourself look pretty. Anything to excite them, to titillate them. Isn’t that it?
MECHE: Surely that’s just being a woman?
LA CHUNGA: No. That’s being an idiot.
MECHE: Then all women are idiots.
LA CHUNGA: Most of them are. That’s why they get what they deserve. They let themselves be abused, they become slaves. For what? To be thrown on the rubbish tip like cast-off rags when their men get tired of them.
(Pause. She strokes MECHE’s face again.)
I hate to think what might happen to you when Josefino gets tired of you.
MECHE: He’ll never get tired of me. I’ll always know how to keep him happy.
LA CHUNGA: Yes. I’ve noticed. By letting him twist you round his little finger. Aren’t you ashamed to let him boss you around like that?
MECHE: I enjoy doing whatever he asks me to do. For me, that’s love.
LA CHUNGA: So you’d do anything that poor sod asked you to do?
MECHE: For as long as I’m in love with him, yes. Anything. (Pause. LA CHUNGA watches her in silence. She reveals, in spite of herself, a certain admiration for her. They are both distracted by the row the superstuds are making.)
A pledge
EL MONO: (Euphorically, gathering fustfuls of banknotes in his hands) Jesus Christ. This is classic. Pinch me somebody, for heaven’s sake, so I know I’m not dreaming.
JOSE: (Giving JOSEFINO a slap on the back) The game hasn’t finished yet, Mono. Leave the money on the table.