Chap 3: Santa Maria
Monday
Next morning, Lee rang
"How are you?" he asked across the phone
"I'm alright," Mariah fingured uneasily the unpaid bills.
"Big news: Madame Kon's coming next Sunday."
"WHAT??!!"
Mariah raided up immediately.
"She wants to make sure her only son is living conveniently," Lee said in a disgusted tone.
Mariah let herself fall down on the floor. Great, this is all I need, she thought thickly. They were on Monday; she would have just a week to prepare for the mother-in-law's arrival. She got up and picked up the vacuum cleaner. Here goes, she sighed.
Tuesday
Started working out the menu with Ray. Found out that the wooden floor was eaten by woodlice. Call the insecticide company (no idea if it existed...).
Wednesday
Ventured in the cellar and found a set of silver cutlery and china dishes. Polished the cutlery and cleaned the dishes. Ignored the phone, in case it was the tax collector.
Thursday
Mariah went to the supermarket. She decided to make aromatic ducks and noodles. Ray told her that they were his mother's favorite dishes. She just hoped it would come out comestible. When she walked out of the supermarket and saw the bus speeding off pass her. Damn! Now I'll have to walk home.
Suddenly someone tapped on her shoulder. She twisted around and, to her disbelief, it was the man of the supermarket. Today, he was wearing a white sleeveless shirt, showing off his muscles and a tattoo around his right arm (you know, the surfer's kind). His sunglasses were up and she could see his misty grey eyes.
"Wanna ride on my beauty?" he asked in a casual way.
She was speechless, both by the unexpected income and by the strange question. Seeing her puzzled look, the stranger stepped aside revealing a red flame vintage motorcycle, still in good form.
"La Belleza, I call her," he said and underlined the name in burning yellow on the red surface. "Means 'beauty' in Spanish," he added. "So, what do you say?" He straightened up and faced her.
Mariah glanced hesitantly at the shopping bags then answered, "All right."
"Jump on." He got on the motorcycle and handed her a helmet.
"Hold on," he murmured as they sped through the city streets. The fresh wind played with their hair and the Sun glared jealously at their joy. Mariah felt at ease and laughed as the wind tickled her. She could feel the man's warm body between her arms. She blushed at the thought of holding a complete stranger but decided she shouldn't care. The man turned and smiled at her.
"Where would you like to go?" he asked as they stopped at the red light.
"The park," Mariah answered without hesitating.
"O.K."
The race was on. They arrived at the park in no matter of time. The park ran 15km across the city. It had a small forest, a wide lake surrounded by little cafés and low hills. Her favorite place was the little apple hill overlooking the lake. They settled themselves under an apple tree and breathed in the view (unfortunately La Belleza had to wait outside, in the parking).
"May I know the name of my charming companion?" the stranger asked as they sat there.
"I'm Mariah," she answered with a smile.
"Ah, Maria Callas!" the man exclaimed.
"No, not that Maria," Mariah laughed. "I'm a Mariah with a –h at the end."
"Mariah Carey?" he raised an eyebrow.
Mariah shook her head and pulled a face.
"I don't like her," she said.
"Neither do I. You know what, my heroine's name is Maria too, without the –h though." He took out his red leather book and showed her the title: For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.
"It's a love story between an American soldier and this Spanish girl, Maria," he explained, "who was captured by the fascists but freed by the Republicans, during the Civil War. It's a wonderful book," he finished. "I'm Ramón, by the way." He held out his gloved hand which she took. The leather was rough and far from new.
"Are you Spanish?" she asked him.
"How I'd love to be," he sighed but didn't add more. Instead they started talking about his book, Ernest Hemingway, the city, their interests and other things of the sort, without trying to enter each other's world. Mariah had never had such a conversation. Though she wasn't into reading books, Ramón had a gift to make the things he said interesting. Ray read a lot too but he never shared them with her.
"What were you doing in front of the supermarket anyway?" Mariah asked after a long silence.
Ramón stretched before answering, "Since I've seen a pretty pink haired girl coming out of the supermarket, I couldn't bear not to see her again."
Mariah turned as pink as her hair but she tried to mask it by laughter.
"But before seeing me, why did you choose that particular place to read?"
Ramón looked into the distance,
"I was waiting for someone who never came."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Mariah didn't know what else to say. It was clear that he was still grieving.
"That's okay. Now I've found you." He smiled at her, taking her breath away.
"I - I'd better go," Mariah said, unable to stand his penetrating gaze.
"O.K. I'll drop you off."
Mariah jumped down at the corner of her street. Before leaving, Ramón handed her his book.
"Enjoy reading, Santa Maria."
He waved and sped off. Mariah opened the book and spotted a phone number scribbled on the front page.