The Black Witch of Mexico by Colin Falconer Page A

cross on a cord around his neck. He was shirtless and his skin was tanned the colour of tobacco. Bernard Fox had a mane of grey hair and a silver beard and looked nothing like the pastor Adam had imagined. He looked like a pirate.
    “Hola, guapa,” he shouted at Jamie. “Que pasa?”
    Her mood changed instantly. “P apa, que tal?”
    “Better for seeing you. You look more beautiful every time I see you.”
    She smiled and hugged him.
    “Have you brought my new doctor with you?” hesaid.
    He came down the steps and squinted over his spectacles at Adam. “So, you’re my new angel in a white coat. Welcome to Santa Marta.” He held out his a large freckled hand. He had a grip like a wrestler. “You’ve come at a good time,” he said.
    “Why’s that?” Adam said.
    “There’s no cholera!’
     
    * * *
     
    He gave Adam a quick tour of the clinic; there was a waiting room with two long wooden benches, some posters about breastfeeding, vaccinations and the correct use of condoms taped onto the bare walls. The treatment room had a table, a desk and a chair and was lined with wooden shelves crowded with medications, some of them covered with thick layers of dust. The whole place smelled like a bus station that had recently been doused with disinfectant.
    He was astonished to find the clinic was equipped with a centrifuge and an X-ray machine. There was even a petrol generator for back-up. “There are power cuts all the time,” Bernard said.
    He would be lodged with one of the families in the village, he said. Luis was Bernard’s acolyte and would also be his translator and informal assistant. He took him next door to meet him. Luis looked as if he was barely out of school even though he already had a braided, dimple-cheeked wife - Rosa - and two hijos , four and two.
    The house he was to live in was much like the others in the village; it had whitewashed adobe walls and dirt floors. His room was sparse; there was a cot pushed against the wall, made up with a sheet and a light cotton blanket, and a window with wooden shutters.
    “Where’s the remote for the air conditioner?” Adam said.
    Bernard gave him a tight smile. “It’s on the DVD player next to the Swedish sound system.”
    This is where his daughter gets her quick tongue , Adam thought.
    Bernard asked if he would like to have dinner with him and Jamie, but Adam pleaded exhaustion. He couldn’t endure more of Jamie’s icy silence, and anyway he guessed Bernard might like to spend some time alone with his daughter.
    Luis said that Rosa had made tamales but he didn’t make it to dinner. After Bernard left he collapsed onto the bed and was almost instantly asleep.
     
     
     

Chapter 28
     
    He woke suddenly in the dark, with no idea where he was. He stared into the blackness, his heart hammering. He lay there for a long time, disoriented and a little frightened.
    “What the hell am I doing here?” he said aloud.
    He did not remember falling back to sleep, when he woke again it was still dark but he heard horses trotting past his window and someone slapping tortillas onto a griddle for breakfast. He tried to doze but the roosters crowing under his window made that impossible. Then he smelled the tortillas roasting and he remembered how hungry he was.
    He stumbled into the dim, lantern-lit kitchen. There was a smoky wood fire and a few rickety wooden chairs. Luis and Rosa were already awake. Rosa put a stone bowl in front of him and he gratefully gulped down some watery beans and steaming tortillas. They were not at all like the ones he had eaten in Boston; they were rich and grainy like whole wheat pancakes. There was not even a spoon, he used the tortillas to scoop up the beans and dripped juice onto his jeans or onto the table. Afterwards there was a cup of warm milk flavoured with powdered coffee.
    He ate with Luis. Rosa and the children would eat later, Luis told him, after they had left for the clinic.
    After their rudimentary breakfast, Luis