Luz: book i: comings and goings (Troubled Times 1) Read Online Free Page A

TransAmerica Pyramid or this Ferry Building at Market Street.”
    “I’ve never told you about the stadium called Candlestick Park either, how it’s located right on the water and how, for years, I’ve dreamed about seeing a baseball game there. I mean, why talk of things that have no chance of ever coming true?” he said. “Why even mention them?”
    “Candlestick Park, huh? What an unusual name.”
    “It’s a beautiful name, amor, and San Francisco is a beautiful city.”
    I kept ruminating, contemplating. “Market Street, eh? San Francisco? I just assumed we’d always end up in Miami.”
    “Never!” Rigo shot back. “Out of the question! San Francisco it has to be. I’ll find work in a firm that designs clock towers and bridges and schools and libraries and come up with the best designs the Americans have ever seen.”
    “What about hotels?” I asked. “What about the luxury hotels you’ve always wanted to design?”
    “Forget it!” he said flat-out. “I’m not interested in hotels of any kind anymore, luxury or otherwise.”
    “Yes,” I said. “I understand.”
    “And I have a confession to make too,” he added.
    “Confession, Rigo?”
    “Well,” he hesitated. “If something had to be the catalyst of all this madness, this Maleconazo, I’m glad it was a rock through the Deauville, that’s for sure!”
    “Why is that?” I asked in surprise.
    “That hotel is a complete eyesore!” he said “Not only Art Deco dull, but it’s always looked as if somebody sheared it in half!”
    I didn’t respond. Personally, I liked the Deauville. But after what Rigo had been through the last couple of years, I certainly understood why he was averse to hotels and wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Maybe that would change in time, once we settled in the United States.
    “Well?” he asked. “Are we in agreement?”
    I hesitated. I didn’t know much about San Francisco, beyond the Golden Gate Bridge and all the gays. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the sound of it. It seemed that San Francisco was just as much a writer’s city as an architect’s.
    “Fine,” I said. “Agreed! San Francisco it will be. I don’t know how we’ll get there, and we definitely won’t know anyone there, but if you want to live in San Francisco, San Francisco it is.”
    Rigo threw his arms around my waist and lifted me up before kissing me. He held me in place for the longest time and peered at me with his infectious smile. I hadn’t seen him this happy in over a year and hadn’t felt happier myself. He put me back down.
    “Just one question, amor. Why tomorrow? Why so soon?”
    “Why not tomorrow? Why wait and leave things to chance?”
    “It’s so soon, amor. How can we possibly get ready by tomorrow?”
    “What’s to get ready, Rigo? We’re going by raft, remember? There’s only room for four bodies, and that’s it.”
    Rigo shook his head at me. He smiled and cupped my face with his hands. “You always have an answer for everything, don’t you, amor?”
    I pulled him close to me and draped my arms around his neck. “Well, remember that miracles don’t last forever, Rigo.We have to act quickly, move fast. What if tomorrow is the last day of it? What if today was and we don’t know it yet?”
    The expression on Rigo’s face changed ever so slightly. His thoughts turned inward even though he looked straight at me. I wanted to know what worries had just invaded his thoughts, but I wouldn’t push.
    “You really think this is a miracle, amor? You really think so?”
    “I know so, Rigo, and so do you.”
    “And you’re sure it has to be tomorrow morning?”
    “Tomorrow morning, amor, August 15, 1994. The day we’ll leave this all behind and never look back.”
    He kept peering into my eyes, but his thoughts turned ever inward and silent. Something was bothering him and the look that hung on his face said it all. Whether it was a look of acceptance, resignation, or reality