Sometimes not even the maid takes her seriously.”
“I’m beginning to like your mother. I get on better with unlucky people.”
“I’m lucky.”
“You’re something else. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“Five. They’re all older than me, married with kids and all that. Except for Sonsoles. She’s the eldest, but she’s single. My brother Pablo says she’s been left on the shelf. She gets angry when he says that.”
There was a cruel indifference towards Sonsoles in Rosana’s tone of voice. I did some digging. “Do you get on well with your sister?”
“With Sonsoles? She’s too much of a smart aleck to get along with anyone. She never does anything wrong and she thinks everyone around her are idiots. By all accounts she’s forever rubbing her colleagues at the Ministry up the wrong way. She does it to my mother too, and even my father.”
“What about you?”
Rosana put the leg she had tucked up on the bench back down and stretched both legs out in front of her. Comparing them with Sonsoles’ scrawny sticks it was hard to believe they were related. “Sonsoles knows I’m not an idiot,” she replied maliciously.
“For any specific reason?”
“Sisters have secrets … ”
“I won’t ever tell her. I don’t know her and I don’t intend to.”
She stared at me, as if giving me an X-ray.
“I’ll keep your secret,” I promised.
“It was just after I turned thirteen. At that time Sonsoles had a suitor. A guy with a belly and a moustache. I’m glad you don’t have a belly or a moustache. I thought that all policemen had moustaches.”
“Those are the Guardia Civil. Were.”
“Well this guy was a lawyer or something like that, but he had one anyway. They both came to our summer house in Llanes. One day I was in my room changing after a trip to the beach when I saw him in the garden, spying on me. I’d already stripped off and he’d already seen me, so I took my time. I got dressed as if nothing was wrong and went downstairs to eat. At dinner the guy was so laid back, calling Sonsoles
darling
. I ate the starter and main course without saying a word. When they brought dessert I snapped at my sister that another summer she should bring a boyfriend who wouldn’t go behind her back. At first Sonsoles didn’t understand, then she told me to shut up. But I said that Mr. Moustache liked younger girls. Then Sonsoles got really mad and my father sent me out of the room, but the guy had already turned bright red and on my way out I took the chance to advise him that next time he wanted to watch me undressing he should either hide himself better or ask my permission. The lawyer left first thing next morning and my sister hated me, but she never again thought I was an idiot.”
From what she’d told me I could imagine everything: the lawyer drenched in sweat in the undergrowth, his hairy legs bowed under the weight of his hideous paunch; Rosana slowly getting dressed and pretending not to notice; Sonsoles’ fussiness at first and then being shown up by her not-so-charming prince’s sticky onanism.
The child her parents had unfortunately given her as a sister had turned out to be her worst enemy, a walking humiliation which served to pay for all her sins. It was a perfect twist of fate: to make her live under the same roof with a child who had exactly what she lacked, the ability to charm others. I imagined all her efforts to hide how much she hated her, going to pick her up from school, taking her shopping, telling her secrets and sharing confidences. For the first time I felt sorry for her, sorry for that bitch Sonsoles.
“A nice little story,” I observed. “Especially for the pig with the moustache. He must have had a great time huddled in the bushes.”
“Don’t you believe it. I was only a child then. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“You were?”
“My bikini fits much better now.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”
She smiled. She had a knockout smile, with
“I’m beginning to like your mother. I get on better with unlucky people.”
“I’m lucky.”
“You’re something else. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“Five. They’re all older than me, married with kids and all that. Except for Sonsoles. She’s the eldest, but she’s single. My brother Pablo says she’s been left on the shelf. She gets angry when he says that.”
There was a cruel indifference towards Sonsoles in Rosana’s tone of voice. I did some digging. “Do you get on well with your sister?”
“With Sonsoles? She’s too much of a smart aleck to get along with anyone. She never does anything wrong and she thinks everyone around her are idiots. By all accounts she’s forever rubbing her colleagues at the Ministry up the wrong way. She does it to my mother too, and even my father.”
“What about you?”
Rosana put the leg she had tucked up on the bench back down and stretched both legs out in front of her. Comparing them with Sonsoles’ scrawny sticks it was hard to believe they were related. “Sonsoles knows I’m not an idiot,” she replied maliciously.
“For any specific reason?”
“Sisters have secrets … ”
“I won’t ever tell her. I don’t know her and I don’t intend to.”
She stared at me, as if giving me an X-ray.
“I’ll keep your secret,” I promised.
“It was just after I turned thirteen. At that time Sonsoles had a suitor. A guy with a belly and a moustache. I’m glad you don’t have a belly or a moustache. I thought that all policemen had moustaches.”
“Those are the Guardia Civil. Were.”
“Well this guy was a lawyer or something like that, but he had one anyway. They both came to our summer house in Llanes. One day I was in my room changing after a trip to the beach when I saw him in the garden, spying on me. I’d already stripped off and he’d already seen me, so I took my time. I got dressed as if nothing was wrong and went downstairs to eat. At dinner the guy was so laid back, calling Sonsoles
darling
. I ate the starter and main course without saying a word. When they brought dessert I snapped at my sister that another summer she should bring a boyfriend who wouldn’t go behind her back. At first Sonsoles didn’t understand, then she told me to shut up. But I said that Mr. Moustache liked younger girls. Then Sonsoles got really mad and my father sent me out of the room, but the guy had already turned bright red and on my way out I took the chance to advise him that next time he wanted to watch me undressing he should either hide himself better or ask my permission. The lawyer left first thing next morning and my sister hated me, but she never again thought I was an idiot.”
From what she’d told me I could imagine everything: the lawyer drenched in sweat in the undergrowth, his hairy legs bowed under the weight of his hideous paunch; Rosana slowly getting dressed and pretending not to notice; Sonsoles’ fussiness at first and then being shown up by her not-so-charming prince’s sticky onanism.
The child her parents had unfortunately given her as a sister had turned out to be her worst enemy, a walking humiliation which served to pay for all her sins. It was a perfect twist of fate: to make her live under the same roof with a child who had exactly what she lacked, the ability to charm others. I imagined all her efforts to hide how much she hated her, going to pick her up from school, taking her shopping, telling her secrets and sharing confidences. For the first time I felt sorry for her, sorry for that bitch Sonsoles.
“A nice little story,” I observed. “Especially for the pig with the moustache. He must have had a great time huddled in the bushes.”
“Don’t you believe it. I was only a child then. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“You were?”
“My bikini fits much better now.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”
She smiled. She had a knockout smile, with
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