No One Said a Word by Paula Varsavsky

Author:Paula Varsavsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wings Press
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

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It was a few days before Christmas. Mara and I had finished our third year of high school. Raúl had finished his fourth but had to take exams in every subject. Pablo had dropped out of college and been on vacation for eight months; in March he’d start his military service.

Since I’d passed every subject already, I didn’t have any exams and I was totally bored all through December. Classes finished at the end of November and I had nothing to do until March. For Raúl, on the other hand, December and February were his busiest months. He spent them studying for his exams. He did it willingly. But at the end of December he stopped studying until February. We confronted the holidays.

For several months, Pablo, Raúl, Mara and I had been spending all our time together. Always the four of us. Raúl’s house was perfect for hanging out together. It was so big that his parents didn’t even see us. They never asked us what we were doing. They didn’t hear the records we played either. Raúl had the mezzanine. We’d lie on Raúl’s bed smoking pot. We practically lived in that room, with the music turned up full blast or the television on. With all the smoke from the pot, cigarettes, incense and whatever else we tried to get to mask the smell of the marijuana, it was almost impossible to breathe. The room only had one window. It was normally closed. We didn’t like to let too much light in. Although Raúl’s house was practically a mansion, his room was more like a kennel. Actually, it was one: the dog was always in there. We’d baptized Raúl’s room doubly: “the lair” or “the hovel.”

Mara would phone me as soon as she got home from school. She said she’d rather speak to me before Pablo. For that matter, Pablo and Raúl also talked on the phone. As soon as Raúl got back from school, Pablo went over to his house. Then they’d call us up.

Halfway through December, Pablo went to New York. His absence scared me. In a way, he protected me. He took my side and he calmed Mara down. He was like a buffer between me and Mara. Without Pablo in the middle, we were running a risk. Raúl had been left with me and Mara. I was sure that while Pablo was away, something would happen between Mara and Raúl. While on the one hand it made me furious watching how Mara was seducing Raúl, on the other, I wanted it. I said to Raúl that Mara was pretty. He thought so too. But I was certain that he liked Pablo more than Mara.

Mara was always phoning me. I felt important. Still, sometimes I couldn’t stand her and wanted her out of the way. But no. Being alone with Raúl frightened me. Mara, Raúl and I were an inseparable trio. Till death do us part.

Once I had to leave them alone together. I would have preferred not to.

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