Animals at the End of the World by gloria Susana Esquivel

Author:gloria Susana Esquivel [Esquivel, Gloria Susana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2017-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

II

1

A tickle crept up my legs and made it impossible for me to keep still. The anxious twitch erupted so violently that it shook the silverware laid out on the dining room table and my grandmother shot me one of her icy glares. But I couldn’t help it. My heart was a pressure cooker about to burst. My stomach teemed with hundreds of stampeding antelopes, and my insides galloped with anticipation.

I was about to see María for the first time in months.

I was restless. I wasn’t sure if she wanted to see me, too, or if Julia had forced her to come. I imagined the countless things we’d do together. But then I had the wrenching thought that my games might not interest her anymore, and a cold sweat prickled my palms. I even thought about going outside, if she asked me to; I wanted to make her happy no matter what. Even if it meant stepping onto the wolf’s bloody feet and traveling the streets with his sack of glass shards.

As I sank deeper into all the possible ways our reunion might go, sheathed in dread like a diving suit made of rusty metal and worst-case scenarios, I suddenly felt María’s damp breath on my neck. My whole body flinched with surprise, and when I turned around, I found myself facing her open arms, ready to clasp me in a stiff hug. I rested my head near her ear and took a sniff of her hair. It smelled sweet, fruity. She patted me twice on the back: two paperweights. Everything that happened on the day of her betrayal returned to me like a blaze of lightning. The weight of her hands—the same hands that had shoved me onto the pavement—was instantly unbearable.

María needed to understand that I wasn’t the weak little girl she once knew. Now I was Inés, brave animal. I’d lost three more teeth and I could touch the bottom of the pool and hold my breath for ten seconds. I could also read all the signs at the drugstores, corner stores, and cafeterias along the blocks that separated my grandparents’ house from the park, while María could barely write her own name.

I was Inés, demon. Inés, submarine. Inés, half-falcon, half-hammerhead shark.

I shook off María’s hug and grabbed her arm. If we were going to play together, I was the one who’d get to make the rules. Any act of disobedience on her part would make me tattle to Julia and my grandmother and she’d be banished once more. First, I wanted to force my friend to listen nonstop to “La Lambada,” which I was proud to own on tape. One of my TV shows constantly replayed a video of two kids dancing in the middle of a group of grown-ups, and I’d learned the steps by heart. I pressed Play. With the first accordion chords, introducing the mournful voice of a woman singing in Portuguese, I placed my hand on María’s back and started moving my hips, guiding her feet as she tried to follow the rhythm.

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