25 In deliberation
In this part you listen to the album:
This is for the whites in your eyes by Choir of Young Believers
Very slowly, a black cloud began to form over my euphoric thoughts. Was this the right time indeed? Did I want this now? Could I seduce this now so vulnerable woman and make her mine? Would her feelings for me then be real or driven by clinging to a lie? And was this the way for me to make her mine?
"I'm sorry Juanita, through your story I couldn't restrain myself. But I don't want to take advantage of your situation now." My hands were on her upper arms and my arms stretched to distance her.
I shook my head. "No, not now, not this way. As much as I would like it. I am sure that with all the emotions of the day, the hassle with Carlos and my good intentions, your vision is now blurred. And I don't want to take advantage of that."
I released her as she met me looking with a dazed look. "But, but ..."
She put her hands over her eyes and started to cry.
I gently guided her to the armchair and let her sit.
"Listen honey, I think there is an opportunity for us. I just want to wait with that until you are back in a more stable situation. In addition, you know absolutely nothing about me, you have no idea how I live my life. Let's get to know each other better before we decide to enter into a more intimate relationship. What I did just now was not smart of me, but you see, that's what being a human being is even to me. I also make mistakes."
All this time she had been sitting with her hands over her eyes. Now she looked up and started outraged. "Was it a mistake I longed for you?"
"No, girl, of course that is not a fault, only the moment was not right. But I mainly blame that on myself. I got carried away in your story. I saw something in your eyes that I could only answer at that moment by kissing you. I'm sorry."
She looked at me angrily, "Are you sorry? You're sorry? I ... I ..." The tears welled in her eyes and she got up.
The temperature in the library dropped well below freezing. "I'll call a taxi and I'm gone."
Fifteen minutes later I was standing on the landing while I stared at the red taillights of the car.
"You did well again, Miss Delgado. Fantastic as you did this. You lost her before you had her," I muttered to myself.
Angrily I closed the door behind me and entered the library.
I stopped at the entrance. What now?
Something had never left me.
I looked to the left and stared at the lamp on the display cabinet. That woman who had stood there all these years and never revealed her secret.
Would it?
I stepped over to the box and bent down to unplug the cord from the outlet. I got up, picked up the lamp, and went to the desk. The key rang against her buttocks.
I put the lamp on the desk and turned on the desk lamp.
I walked to the other display cabinet behind the door and from the lamp with the figure of father I took the keys that were still hiding on his back in his hands.
Trembling with excitement, with the keys in my hand, I walked around the door to the other display cabinet. I couldn't stop my hands from trembling and I put the keys on the cabinet. I turned around and looked for my wine glass. Where did I put that damn thing?
Oh yes, I had put it on the floor when I wanted to kiss Juanita. Stupid action, I now thought. I shouldn't have been carried away like this. That is not my style. Get yourself together again, Miss Delgado. Regain control. If my parents...
My thoughts started racing again.
My parents had noticed something was wrong with me after Victoria left. The second morning after Vicki and I had that tumultuous night, there was a soft knock on the door of my room.
I had been staring out the window after finding Vicki's bed was un-slept in, again. Where could she be now?
Again there was a knock, a little louder.
"Come in." I turned to see who entered.
"Dito, we need to talk, I think." Father hesitantly entered my room. I looked surprised. What was he doing here? He never entered my room. And certainly not to talk to me. What did he know or suspect? Did I feel like having any conversation about this? Did I want to talk to him?
He looked at me seriously. I went to sit on my bed and sighed.
"What is it?" I raised my head and looked at him.
He cleared his throat and after looking at me for a moment his eyes scanned the room for a place to focus. He ended up just looking out the window.
"Dito, I think ... no, Mommy and I think that, ehhh that ..." that surly man was quite shaken by the angry, determined look that I kept giving him.
"Well, uh, we feel like you feel a little more for Vicki than, uh, an ordinary friendship." He looked at me again.
"That must be over and done!!"
He turned and closed the door behind him, leaving me bewildered.
Wow, so this is what a dialogue with my father looked like!! If it hadn't been so deeply sad I would have pissed my pants with laughter.
Had I now treated Juanita as my father had done to me at the time? Had I given her the opportunity to tell her side of the story?
I shook my head, no I didn't. I wanted to protect her from myself because she had been so vulnerable just now. I didn't want to take advantage of the situation and ... and...
I felt tears well up in my eyes. I didn't want to hurt her, not like that, not now. After picking up the bottle and the wine glass I went back to the display cabinet.
I was thinking about what happened tonight. What Juanita had looked like, how comfortable she was. How she had unwittingly built up a tension with me. A tension that eventually led to a shocking kiss.
No, not the kiss, but her reaction, no my reaction...I put the bottle and the glass on the cupboard and dropped to the floor, holding my hands over my eyes.
Think, Dito, think.
I got up and left the library. Under the stairs I opened the door to the wine cellar. I turned on the light so that a soft glow lit the stairs to the basement, then went down the wooden stairs. The steps creaked with every step I took. At the bottom of the stairs, in the dark, I searched for the switch.
Two pear-shaped lights lit the hundreds of bottles neatly placed in the racks on either side of the passage. The smell of stale wine from the broken bottles here, combined with the somewhat musty smell of dust, filled my nostrils.
I didn't look up, left the bottles untouched and walked to the back of the basement. Against the back wall was a slightly smaller rack in terms of size. There were only a few bottles in it. A handle was attached to the wood on the left side of the rack.
After putting my arm in the rack and hearing the dry click I knew so well, I pulled the handle and the rack opened the wall.
Without bothering to turn on the light, I walked through the secret "door" to the right where there was a black chest of drawers. I opened the third drawer by touch and took a grip.