Blinding Mirror Read online

  “No, it doesn’t transport very well. If you don’t get it when it’s fresh out the water, it’s no good. Maybe one day you can go back with me when I visit and it’ll be the first thing we put into our bellies.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, sure. Why not?”

  “Well, for one thing I don’t have the money to go there...”

  “Oh please. I’d take care of that. I’ll probably go next year sometime so be prepared.”

  “Pilar, I would love to go there!” She had barely left the confines of her county much less the country and the possibility was exciting. “Thank you. I wouldn’t even know how to repay you.”

  Pilar waved her hand. “Don’t even think about it. Do you have a passport?”

  “Nope,” Oliva answered with a note of dejection.

  “That’s okay. We have plenty of time to have that taken care of.”

  Oliva took another bite of food and thought over Pilar’s offer of a trip to Portugal. They’d only met yesterday, yet here they were planning a trip together. It was strange but at the same it felt so right. She hoped Pilar wasn’t just talking and really did intend on taking her to Portugal.

  “I don’t mean to be rude by asking this but are you rich?”

  Pilar covered her mouth so that her laughter wouldn’t cause food to fly out.

  “You’re very much to the point. I like that because you never know the answer to a question unless you ask. Let me just say I’m not hurting financially. My family has done pretty okay plus I married well.”

  Oliva felt a twinge of disappointment. “So you’re married.”

  “Not anymore. Here’s the story: my parents wanted me to come work at my brother’s business—Carvalho Enterprises. But I didn’t want to do that. I have no interest in working and why should I? So I met Jerry Machado and once I found out how loaded he was I got him down the aisle as fast as I could. Once my grandfather kicked the bucket and I received my inheritance it was bye-bye Jerry. Now I’m living off of what my grandfather left plus my alimony.”

  “With all your money, what made you want to move to this neighborhood?”

  “My ex-husband refuses to accept that it’s over and to let me go. I thought I’d go somewhere he’d never look.”

  “I see.” For some reason Oliva didn’t believe her. She had a feeling there was more to the story.

  “It feels so good to be free of him. I’m only twenty-four. I have my whole life ahead of me. He served his purpose, now it’s time to move on. I’m going to have fun as a single gal for a while before hooking another big fish. The alimony and inheritance is good but why continue to settle for good when I can have great?”

  Oliva stared at Pilar with awe.

  “I can see why your ex-husband has a hard time letting you go. You’re amazing.”

  “Oh, aren’t you sweet? My cousin Lori says I’m a gold-digging hussy.”

  “She’s probably just jealous.”

  “Tell me about it. May I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ve been dying to ask this all day. What exactly are you? From the makeup of the neighborhood I’m guessing Mexican.”

  Oliva slightly squirmed in her seat.

  “I’m mixed with Spanish and Indian.”

  “Ah, Mestiço. Spanish, Indian and what else?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You look like you might have something else in you. Like Black for instance. Just a touch.”

  “What difference does it make what I have in me?”

  “No reason to get testy. It was just a question. I mean there’s nothing wrong with it if you are. We have some Moor blood in our background.”

  They fell into a strained silence for a few minutes.

  “Oliva, don’t think for a minute that I’m prejudiced in any way. You could be purple for all I care. Okay? I was simply curious, is all.”

  She cleared her throat. “My mother is a Black Mexican.”

  “I see. Well, I was only guessing really because you could pass for a dark Greek with your olive skin and that long and black straight hair. Senhorita muito bela!”

  “What are the last two words?”

  “Very beautiful.”

  Oliva blushed at the compliment.

  “I actually considered taking Portuguese but took French instead. My parents never wanted me to speak Spanish. And only speak a little here and there themselves.”

  “I’ll have to take you under my cultural wing then and teach you my language.”

  “Since you’re Portuguese, are you considered Hispanic?”

  “No darling. That’s a term we don’t use. That’s an American thing,” she sniffed. “I’m a white European—Moor blood or not.”

  “Do you think I could pass for Portuguese?”

  Pilar tilted her head as she studied Oliva.

  “Yes, you could as a matter of fact.” Pilar took a long sip of wine and glanced at the clock. “I know you probably have to get home soon.” She reached across the table and took Oliva’s hand in hers. “When will I see you again?”

  Oliva was taken aback by the affectionate gesture—yet pleased.

  “I can come by tomorrow if you’d like.”

  “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

  Chapter 4

  Oliva entered her house to see her mother on the couch watching “Hart to Hart” and eating a Marathon bar. A box of Cheese Nips was propped against her hip and a can of Tab was between her ample thighs. Her eyes never left the television. Her ratty dog Pumpkin was lying at her feet. Pumpkin looked up at Oliva and moved to a spot between Inès’s feet and the couch. Her father and his friend Carlos were sitting at the dining room table playing cards. Even though her routine was to come home and go directly to her room, no one seemed to take note or care of her whereabouts for the last few hours. Carlos gave her a lecherous grin and wink. Oliva shuddered in disgust and went to her bedroom, closed and locked the door. Ever since she’d begun to develop physically, she endured Carlos’s unwanted attention and advances. She found him repulsive. He smelled of cheap cigars and musty body odor.

  She pushed the unpleasant thoughts of Carlos out of her head went and stood before the mirror propped on her dresser. She turned her face from side to side and studied herself, as she’d never done before. She reached up, removed the rubber band and shook her head, letting her hair fall. She tilted her head to the side, formed her mouth to a sexy pout and struck a pose.

  “Muito bela.”

  Oliva turned and took off her clothes and changed into a pajama top. She went over to the window and propped the box fan in front of it, and turned it on medium. She would’ve turned it on high but she didn’t want to hear her parents bitch about it. They thought turning it on high translated to a higher electricity bill and would have made her turn it on low but fortunate for her, the low setting didn’t work. She fell on the bed, stared at the ceiling and replayed the day with Pilar. Pilar was extremely fascinating. Even her name was engaging. Pilar Machado. She had such flair and personality–the likes she’d never seen. Oliva admired how she not only went after things she wanted, but she got it. She was beautiful, desirable and confident. Before meeting her, Oliva thought all the things she dreamt of being or having was just that-a dream. Now it had a glint of a possibility to actually happen. Perhaps Pilar could help her out of her shitty existence.

  She thought of when she was leaving and Pilar gave her a long, lingering hug. She felt so good, so soft. Oliva could still smell the sweet scent of her perfume. When she inquired about it Pilar told her it was Chanel No. 5 and that it was her favorite fragrance. The only fragrance she owned was the Love’s Baby Soft that she lifted from a nearby store. She turned on her side and put one of the pillows between her legs and rocked softly against it.

  Later that night Oliva was awakened by the sound of her parents in the midst of yet another argument. Their voices rose above the hum of the fan. She wiped away the perspiration on h
er face, got up and left the bedroom to get something to drink. As she walked through the living room to the kitchen she didn’t even look at either of her parents.

  “All you do is sit on your fat ass all day! You do nothing but feed your fucking face yet you want me to buy this and buy that!”

  “I don’t ask for much, Alphonso! All I want is a decent couch for the living room. You’d think I asked you to buy a vineyard! I thought you could at least be man enough to provide something nice for the house. Stupid of me to think that! You can’t stop smoking your yerba long enough to do anything that resembles what a man would do!”

  “Who keeps the lights on? And the gas? Who pays the rent? And who pays for all the food you stuff in that big mouth of yours? That alone almost requires a second job! And you wonder why I don’t touch you anymore. Look at you!”

  “I don’t wonder about that at all! I wouldn’t want you to lay a finger on me anyhow! I don’t care if you never pull that chilito out ever again!”

  “Chilito, huh? It was enough to have you screaming and begging for more, baby! At least back when we used to do something! I bet I couldn’t even find your stuff under that belly now.”

  Inès let out a laugh devoid of mirth.

  “I always wanted a career on the stage and I should’ve done just that! Because if you think for one minute that I actually ever enjoyed having that pencil you call a dick inside of me, I should have an Oscar!”

  “Chingate!”

  “A viente!”

  Oliva walked to the dish drainer and retrieved a glass jelly jar, shaking her head in disgust at their vulgarity. She rinsed out the jelly jar and went to the refrigerator. Pumpkin was curled up asleep on folded up old blanket and was awakened by the stirring in the kitchen. When she saw Oliva she quickly got up and timidly walked towards the living room, keeping a wary eye on Oliva. Oliva gave her a swift kick causing Pumpkin to yelp and scurry out of the kitchen. Oliva retrieved the apple juice bottle filled with water and poured a glass.

  Inès stomped into the kitchen carrying her dog.

  “What did you do to Pumpkin?!”

  “I didn’t do anything.” Oliva took a sip of water as she put the bottle back in the fridge.

  “You must’ve done something! Why did she cry out?!”

  Alphonso entered the kitchen and stood behind his wife.

  “I heard her cry out, too. What the hell did you do?”

  Oliva shrugged her shoulders. “I accidentally stepped on her tail. I didn’t see her.”

  “Well, watch where you’re walking, stupid!” her mother spat.

  Oliva casually took another sip of water. She looked on as her mother rocked the dog and planted kisses on her. She slightly winced at seeing the same dog that buried its face in its own shit lick her mother’s mouth.

  “Yes, mommy’s baby. It’s okay,” Inès cooed. “That silly girl wasn’t watching what she was doing. My baby’s poor tail is going to be just fine. Yes, yes it is.”

  Oliva walked past her mother and father and back to her bedroom. She finished the rest of her water and placed the glass on her nightstand. Her parents resumed their arguing and she fell into a fitful sleep. About three hours later she woke up again. The house was quiet except for the snoring sounds coming from her parents’ bedroom and the hum of fans. Oliva went into the kitchen and turned on the light. She went straight for cabinet underneath the sink. After fumbling a little, she found what she was looking for. She took a plastic fork from the dish drainer, went over to Pumpkin’s dog dish and mixed rat poison in with the leftover dog food. She planned on tainting Pumpkin’s food for the next couple of days. Then she figured it might not even take that long though because with her mother’s other dog, Sheba, it took only a day for the poison to take effect and that dog was much bigger than Pumpkin. Oliva put the poison back under the sink, tossed the fork in the garbage and went back to her room. This time she was able to fall into a deep slumber.

  Chapter 5

  Before Oliva even entered her house she could hear voices from inside. She recognized one as that of Carlos. She let out an irritated groan. After having another great time at Pilar’s, the last thing she wanted was to come home and see that pervert. She opened the door to see her mother being comforted by Carlos’s wife Maribel. Oliva saw a box by the door with what looked to be Pumpkin wrapped in a blanket inside of it. It took all she had in her to suppress a smile. She didn’t acknowledge anyone and headed to her bedroom. She didn’t close the bedroom door like she normally would because she wanted to hear the conversation in the living room.

  “She was fine until the day before yesterday,” Inès tearfully explained. “Then she began to look weak. She was always good about letting me know when she had to go potty but the last few times she didn’t and I noticed blood in her urine. And she had nosebleeds too. Why does this keep happening to me, Maribel? First, Tootie and Princess just disappeared, and then both Sheba and Pumpkin up and die. I’m afraid to get another dog! I couldn’t take this happening again! It hurts so bad.”

  “Good,” Oliva whispered. “And what dog ‘goes potty’? What an idiot.”

  “Can you just take her away now? I can’t bear seeing that box.”

  “Sure, I’ll take her where we buried Sheba,” replied Carlos.

  “Thank you.”

  “Ines, you should really go lie down. You look so wiped out.”

  “I am, Maribel. You have no idea. Of all my dogs Pumpkin was my favorite. We just connected.”

  Oliva listened in disbelief at what she was hearing.

  “I’ll sit with you until Carlos comes back. I’m sure that daughter of yours won’t be a bit of help to you. She’s so rude the way she just walks into the house without speaking to anyone. I could just take her over my knee.”

  Oliva smirked at the comment.

  “I tried to tell you. She’s a very selfish child. She thinks only of herself.”

  “I’m going to use your bathroom real quick before I go.”

  Carlos was already in the hallway when Oliva heard him. There wasn’t enough time to close the door so she pretended to primp in the mirror.

  “Hello, gorgeous.”

  Oliva’s eyes never left her reflection. Carlos leaned against the doorframe. He was a few feet away but

  Oliva could already smell his rancid, unwashed scent.

  “Funny how your mother’s pets always meets a bad end,” he spoke in a conspiratorial whisper.

  “Yeah, funny.”

  “If I ain’t know better I’d say someone poisoned little Pumpkin. I mean she had all the symptoms. But I wonder who would do that? Who could be so vicious as to kill an innocent little doggy?”

  Oliva responded with a nonchalant shrug.

  “I didn’t tell your mother this because I ain’t wanna upset her anymore than she already was. But uh, me and my friend Earl was out looking for Princess when she disappeared and we found her. Oh yeah. In the park all beat up and inside a plastic bag. There was a bloody bat lying nearby. Somebody had whooped that po’ doggy to death. Now I ain’t no educated man or nothing so I could be wrong. But it seems to me somebody got it in for your mother’s little pets. Maybe it’s someone who’s mad because she’s giving the dogs more attention--”

  Oliva turned swiftly to him.

  “You shut the hell up old man,” she hissed. “As much as you pass out drunk in the park, maybe someone will creep up on you and take a bat to your head and put you into a permanent sleep. Now get away from my room. Or I’ll walk in that living room right now and tell your wife how you offered me money to sleep with you.”

  The look in her eyes startled him a bit. There was a cold, evil glint to them. As a fifty-six year old man he felt silly being scared of a teen-aged girl but he couldn’t help it. He knew what she said about him getting his head bashed in wasn’t an empty threat. Nor was her telling his wife about his proposal. At that moment he knew she was more than capable of doing just about anything. He backed into the hallway as if
he didn’t want to turn his back to her. He then went into the bathroom.

  Oliva looked back to the mirror and brushed her hair.

  Chapter 6

  Over the next few weeks Pilar and Oliva were inseparable. When they weren’t at Pilar’s home hanging out, they were at the park or the movies. Oliva quickly became used to going different places with Pilar instead of leading her solitary life in her room. But Pilar’s affectionate nature wasn’t something Oliva was accustomed to. Oliva could count on one hand the hugs she received from her mother and she never had one from her father. However, once she did get comfortable with Pilar’s affection, she realized how much she enjoyed it.

  One day when they were both lounging in the living room and listening to music, Pilar decided to make a confession.

  “Darling, I have to tell you something.”

  “Shoot.” She couldn’t help but smile. She loved it when Pilar called her that.

  “Remember when I told you the reason I was hiding from my ex-husband because he wouldn’t let go of our relationship?”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “Gosh, how do I say this? That wasn’t entirely true.”

  Oliva had been lying in her lap. She then sat straight up and turned to her friend.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The real reason is I took something from him.”

  “What was that?”

  “Even though I get a good amount of money in alimony, I got a little greedy. My ex-husband Jerry does side work for some pretty connected people back east and has money stashed in a safe that he doesn’t want to keep in the bank—that along with some other items. I hope you get what I’m saying without me having to spell it out.”

  “I think I understand.”

  “Well, I found out the combination to the safe. Instead of memorizing it the dumb oaf actually had it written down. I came across it by accident right before we separated and kept it handy until just the right time. When he was out of the country doing more work for his bosses, I let myself into the house and helped myself to some of the stash. I thought ‘why not’?” He’ll just end up spending it on his floozy on the side or at the racetrack so why shouldn’t I get a little extra pay off? I heard he thought maybe one of his bodyguards had taken it but a nosy neighbor informed him they saw me coming out of the house and that fingered me.”