Cousins by Aurora Venturini

Author:Aurora Venturini
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781593767303
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 2023-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

Betina’s Birthday Party

José had got the fire going in the barbecue and the backyard was full of family members coming and going who were joined by Aunt Ingrazia and Uncle Danielito who saw Petra their daughter when she arrived laden with packages and bags, dropping the meats you already know about on the table before taking bottles of white and red wine from a box and some non­alcoholic drinks and bread and everything giving rise to a rapid calculation that she must have worked very hard because the things she’d brought weren’t cheap, they were exquisite—the fruit for sangria looked like paintings of still lifes, especially the grapes and the apples. After trimming excess parts from the leg of lamb, José put it on the grill surrounded by blood sausage, chorizos, tripe, and chinchulines, he knew how to cook an asado and while he was toiling away he drank wine to get in the mood and the other guests started to lay a big table with the boards on which one traditionally savors (dictionary) these meats and the forks and knives and matching trays, all of ­Mother’s crockery came out to gleam in the light from the string of bulbs, all of which were lit and a few thick candles as decoration and there were also different colored balloons floating around and I thought it looked like a Christmas party but no it was just Betina’s birthday, she was asleep in her cot even though she was going to turn eighteen all told that night, but in my house everything was different because it was us each with our own limitations, character, and status. Music was playing from Petra’s radio and just then Ortiz Tirado was singing, Kiss me . . . kiss me plenty . . . as though tonight were our last . . . and I can’t remember how it went on but I went on because my brain is tired, I think it must be like the brains on the barbecue sizzling away, my poor brain of which I ask too much and now I feel more like going to bed than joining the party and said so to Petra who got angry because she said I had no right to escape just because I was a bit tired when she was genuinely exhausted after practicing the oldest profession and instead of four customers she’d serviced five and to cap it all off the last had been quite young and left her lying on the bed and she’d felt like staying on her work bed but decided she had to do her duty and went to the market.

I need to rest.

I had to take a good long rest because in addition to ­Petra’s revelations there was my hurry to finish the painting and shower and get myself ready and I asked Petra if she was going to shower and get ready because she’d come back looking quite messy and she said she’d do it but just

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