The Sweetness in the Lime by Stephen Kimber

Author:Stephen Kimber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nimbus
Published: 2020-09-14T14:51:30+00:00

3

Mariela never did return my calls. But one day, apropos of nothing I could discern, an email arrived. It had been sent from David’s Spanish account. There was no explanation for that either.

Dear Mr. Elijah Cooper,

Dear Mr. Eli Cooper,

Dear Elijah,

Dear Eli,

Dearest Cooper,

I know it is not really your first name, but I would like to call you Cooper, the name I first heard you called. Do you mind?

The reason I am writing to you today is to say I am sorry for the way I behaved the day you left. I had my reasons.

I am often frustrated by the ways in which foreigners romanticize my country. And I detected some of that when you talked about moving here. I may love my country—and I do, with my whole heart—but I also know how hard it can be. I do not romanticize life here. I want you to love Cuba too, but the real place with all its faults and not some idealized paradise.

I realize therefore I should have welcomed it when David brought you to our building so you could see how we really live. But that is part of my contradiction. As much as I want you to know the real place that is Cuba, I do not want you to know my real place, if you understand what I mean.

I was grateful when you bought me a mobile, but resentful too. Another contradiction. Why should I need you to provide me with charity? Why should I need anyone?

At the same time, I did not want to take advantage of you, did not want to become one of those awful women hanging off the arm of their sugar daddies, exchanging sex for CUCs, or for a ticket to some life of riches unattainable in Cuba.

That is why I rejected your generous gift of the phone. Later, when I had a chance to think about what I had done and how foolish I had been, I decided I would go to Uncle Lío and get it back. But then I discovered I had waited too long.

I confess I am not unhappy about that. I can express myself in English more clearly on the page than with my voice.

I will try.

I must be honest. I did not, in the beginning, think of you in any way other than as a client. But then I came out of the Interests Section reeling, and I heard you call my name. Your eyes exuded warmth and sympathy, and—even though you had no idea what had happened to me—a kind of empathy. You wanted to help me. I was grateful.

Perhaps that is why what happened between us happened. It shouldn’t have. I know that now. I did not mean to lead you on. I was vulnerable, and you were kind. But kindness is not enough to serve as the basis for a relationship between us. We come from different worlds. We have lived different experiences. It would be foolish for either of us to think or act otherwise.

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