Delirium Read Online Free Page B

their acts, whether it was original sin or some other sin committed along the way that expelled them from paradise and revoked their privileges; among her many faults, Agustina committed the cardinal sin of getting involved with me, because number one on the list of the internal rules that govern her people is not to fraternize with inferiors, much less sleep with them, although of course Agustina was already exiled when she chose to keep company with me, so who knows what other crimes she may have committed before.
    I’d rather not think about my mother-in-law, but I can’t forget the absurd phone call she made after Agustina’s breakdown. Eugenia rarely calls here, and she hangs up if I answer, but the other day she deigned to speak to me for the first time in the three years I’ve been living with her daughter, and that was only because Agustina got extremely upset when she heard that it was her mother and refused to pick up the phone, I don’t want to talk to her because her voice makes me sick, she repeated over and over again until she went into one of her nervous states, so Eugenia had no choice but to talk to me, though without ever calling me by name, twisting herself into knots to avoid mentioning my connection to Agustina and speaking in an impersonal tone as if I were an operator or a nurse, in other words as if I were nobody and she were leaving a message on the machine, which was how she informed me that from now on she herself would look after Agustina, Look, Señor, what my daughter needs is a rest, she said to me, or rather didn’t say to me but to the nonentity at the other end of the line, This is to let you know that I’m coming today to take Agustina away to a spa in Virginia, What do you mean a spa in Virginia, Señora, what are you talking about?, I shot back at her, and since Agustina was next to me screaming that her mother’s voice made her sick, I was having trouble hearing Eugenia, who was listing the healing treatments that her daughter would receive at one of the best spas in the world, thermal baths, floral therapy, seaweed massage, until I cut her off, Listen, Señora, Agustina isn’t well, she’s in a state of uncontrollable agitation and you come to me intending to take her away for some Zen meditation?, And who are you, Señor, to tell me what’s best for my daughter, at least have the courtesy to ask her whether she wants to go or not. Agustina, your mother’s asking whether you want to go with her to some hot springs in Virginia, Listen for yourself, Señora, Agustina’s saying that all she wants is for us to hang up right now.
    But Eugenia, who seemed not to hear, told me that the decision had already been made, and that when she came by in two hours her daughter should be waiting for her downstairs in the lobby, passport in hand and suitcase ready, since there wouldn’t be anywhere to park and the neighborhood is so dangerous. And I said, Well no, Señora, Agustina is not leaving this house for any reason whatsoever, so go have seaweed plastered on yourself in Virginia if that’s what you want, and immediately I regretted it, it would have been better to issue a firm but polite no, I let her see the worst side of me, I thought, This woman thinks I’m a boor and I’ve just proved her right.
    Upset at having made such a mistake, I lost the thread of the conversation for a minute, and when I picked it up again, Eugenia was saying, You don’t know how that girl has made me suffer, she’s never shown me the slightest consideration, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, now it turned out that the victim was Eugenia and she wasn’t really calling to offer her help but to present a laundry list of grievances, and even though it was the first time that Agustina’s mother and I had spoken, we ended up fighting over the phone with the assurance of old antagonists and what began as a brief, dry exchange, in which each word was weighed so as not to go beyond the strictly