Sunderland / broken shoes / y Nada Mas

Buenos Aires skies couldn´t hold on any longer, and rain pissed down on the streets, washing away the smeared turds and fallen leaves into the gutters. Me and JJ sat damp and blinking in the back seat of the taxi wondering when it would arrive. "Oooh la la" JJ exclaimed as the taxi splashed through the watery roads like a hovercraft.

Everard was just arriving as we pulled up. The Melbournian was dressed suitably in black and the three of us marched through the entrance to what looked like a basket ball court with chairs in it.
"I´m hungry"
"We´ll get you something to eat blossom" JJ said as she eyed the room for a table. A table was found. Everard stared asking stuff about which wine to choose and I spied the menu.
" my shoes my shoes my shoes!!!" the red and black stillettos were extracted from their special bag and presented on the table. "Aren´t they gorgeous!"
"Very nice" Everard reached over to take one."Ooops!" the shoe fell from his grasp and he ducked quckly under the table to retrieve it.
"Oh that´s it just throw my new shoes around!"
"I´m sorry, it just jumped out of my hand " his voice was muffled under the table cloth. "ouch!"
"That´s for being so careless with my things"
"your shoe madam" Everard´s head emerging over the edge of the able.

Satiated after my meal, I watched Everard and JJ take the dance floor. Her long arms draped over his shoulder and back, his eyeline just making it above her shoulder line. We had been in Buenos Aires for only 7 days.

There is so much weariness and disappointment in travel that people have to open up — in railway trains, over a fire, on the decks of steamers, and in the palm courts of hotels on a rainy day. They have to pass the time somehow, and they can pass it only with themselves. Like the characters in Chekhov they have no reserves — you learn the most intimate secrets. You get an impression of a world peopled by eccentrics, of odd professions, almost incredible stupidities, and, to balance them, amazing endurances. - Graham Greene, The Lawless Roads (1939)

JJ´s laughter rang throughout the basketball court and I saw her red head bobbing up and down beside Everard´s silver and tan visage.
"did you see what happened?!! Look!!!" she held up her red stilleto minus a heel. " My new shoes!!!! not even ten minutes of dancing"
"One minute we were dancing and then ...."
"I can´t believe it!!! My beautiful new shoes!" She started showing the neighbouring tables "look! cinco minutes.....cinco minutes!"
"Shall we?" Everard says to me
"Oh that´s right. Break one and just get another off the shelf eh!?
"yep"
"yes he´s a pig. Dance at your own risk....I´m drunk" I issue the warning, stand up and sway. I too am newly shod. I make a mental note to not get drunk at milongas.
"Don´t worry I won´t do anything fancy"
"that´s right none of that funny stuff on the dance floor or you´ll be sent off court"
"So how long will you be in Buenos Aires?"
"another 5 weeks"
He stepped out "Oh that´s good"
"and you?"
"about that, but I have some stuff in need to do in Peru" He executes a giro which makes my head spin.
"Business?"
"In a way......you know it´s rude to talk and dance?"
"Are you telling me to shut up ?"
"nope. I´m actually wondering if you and JJ would do me a favour while I´m in Peru? I have some bags I need stored until I get back, just clothing and shoes"
"I´m sure that wouldn´t be a problem"
"Thanks!"
JJ was telling the table next door about her shoe mishap. The boy she spoke to was Julio Balmaceda's son. I recognised him from the class I did with his father, he was one of the assistants. He was wearing his signature royal blue velvet jacket, beside him was Balmaceda's partner Corina. I also saw Carolina, Salas' partner and later they were joined by Chicho and his partner Lucia Mazer. Now they all knew about JJ's shoe.

"Chicitita!" I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Bailamos?" Jesus was smiling down at me and I rose.
"This time you have to pay her!" JJ said
He smiled in a puzzled kind of way and motioned to the dance floor. He smelt of rain and there was a dampness in his hair. Jesus held out his hand and I took it, our arms circled each other and a tango waltz began. It was as if he took the rain in with him, as I felt a raining sensation inside me. I know it sounds strange but it was raining inside me. We were both raining. Joined together in a wet downpour, like two horses our heads bowed and rivulets trickled down legs and back pulling the flesh down with its gentle direction. Horses were galloping in my chest and I saw a hazey grey landscape. It was as if everything was made of velvet, the outline was soft and seemed to soak up the light and the rain. It was raining here too.

No despiertes si sueñas amores
niña hermosa, que amar es soñar!
despertar es quebrar ilusiones
y hallar entre sombras la amarga verdad,

Don't wake up if you're dreaming of love
pretty girl, that to love is to dream!
To wake up is to distroy illusion
and to find in the shadows the bitter truth.

Was I walking through this landscape or was it me? It was raining in me not on me. A horse appeared on the next ridge and reared. It moved closer then disappeared over the horizon. But there was still a gallopping in my chest, it was the horse's gallopping. The feeling pounded in my heart and made the blood flee to my extremities. A cacophany of senasation surrounded me. The rain the horse the pounding the heat. Lightning veined the sky and the thunder clapped like the end of the world. and then the rain......

Soñar y nada mas
con noches de inquietud,
que misteriosas van
cantando amor y beatitud,
volaran las estrellas
de divinos resplandores,
y en esa eternidad
vivir un ideal
soñar y nada mas!

To dream and nothing else
with nights of anxiety,
that are misteriously
singing love and beatitude
the stars will fly,
the ones of divine brightness,
and in that eternity
to live an ideal
to dream and nothing else!

---

Part of trip: South America with JJ

---