Leonora by Elena Poniatowska

Author:Elena Poniatowska
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Profile Books
Published: 2015-03-01T16:00:00+00:00

33

WHITE RABBITS

LEONORA REVOLVES BENEATH THE SKYSCRAPERS, in ecstasy over this new life which makes her seasick with its speed and the force of its energy. How is it possible to be so happy after being so utterly miserable? Leonora wakes up every morning feeling light as a feather, and the Surrealists comment on her sense of humour and acts of libertarianism. After an experience like hers in Villa Covadonga, such a change is unprecedented. The Englishwoman is grateful for it. ‘The Morales doctors could never have imagined my becoming the comet on whose tail everyone seeks to hitch a ride.’ Sometimes, in the midst of the whirlwind, she has the distinct sensation of a dagger being planted between her shoulder blades. ‘It’s really my wings on the point of breaking out,’ she thinks, ‘the wings I need in order to fly away from Max.’

Darling, glad to meet you, have a good day, enjoy: such formulas spur her on to flight.

‘Tomorrow I wish to be alone, Max.’

‘Tomorrow I can’t see you, Max.’

‘Tomorrow, I need to write, Max.’

‘Tomorrow, I have an appointment I can’t miss, Max.’

Max soon doesn’t get to see her the days she needs to wash her hair, either. Leonora warns him well ahead of the ceremony: ‘On Thursday I have to wash my hair, Max.’ After rinsing it out, she sits beside the window to dry her hair in the sun, pulling back the jet black curtain which falls across her face, so she can see the buildings dark and dusty with soot, as dark as her black hair.

She knows Max loves her, but often finds being apart from him restful.

Through her window she can see a crow swooping down to perch on the balcony rail of the building opposite. The crow scratches himself, searches out something beneath his wing, while a woman comes out on to the balcony and lays a dish on the floor, which the bird acknowledges with a squawk. The woman watches Leonora from her balcony, smiles at her, and then asks if she doesn’t have a morsel of leftover meat to give to the crow.

Leonora buys some meat and waits until it starts to rot before she crosses the street. The woman, her white face spangled with a thousand tiny stars, opens the door to her.

‘Come on up.’

Inside, a hundred white rabbits with pink eyes are awaiting the scraps of putrid meat. They share it among themselves. Then her hostess points out a man whose skin shines like her own, sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room.

‘Let me introduce Lázaro to you.’

On his lap Lázaro has a large white rabbit, busily engaged in tearing a piece of meat to shreds. The woman puts her cheek close to Leonora’s and the stench of putrefaction in her breath shocks her.

‘If you are coming here to live with us, young lady, your skin will become covered with the stars of the holy disease as recorded in the Bible: its name is leprosy.’

As she flees,

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