Subject: Book 2: Chapter 11
Author: Robin N (157.198.3.51)
Date: 08-20-1999 18:42
Chapter 11
Colibri returns to tell Monica what’s happened and she’s can’t
believe her ears. He recounts how Juan went with the papers to
arrange the cargo and buy something and when they went to the door
they took him in and shut the door in Colibri’s face. He’s sure
though that they hit Juan in the head and then he said nothing more.
He escaped himself, though not without injury. Monica begins to take
action. She asks him to find Segundo and the others, who’ve gone to
a tavern. Soldiers are coming to board the Luzbel and take
possession of it. Monica steps forward and demands an explanation
(Shades of the embargo of their house in the tv adaptation). The
soldier looks her over admiringly and asks if she’s the woman of
Juan del Diablo. “I’m his wife and mistress of this boat and I know
you’ve detained him and arrested him without any cause, and now…”
she responds. She wants to know on whose authority this is
happening, but the soldier is only following orders. He wants to
take Colibri into custody but Monica turns on him and tells him to
keep his hands off the boy. Then who shows up but Renato!
At first, Monica thinks, here’s someone to help, but she hardens to
him almost instantly. “Rechazando los brazos de Renato, se yergue
desafiadora y decidida: “Que es esto? Que significa este horror,
este atropello?” She instinctively suspects him and he tries to calm
her down, telling her it’s nothing. “What do you mean nothing’s
happening? This assault on the boat… they’ve detained Juan! It must
be a horrible mistake! Who has done this?” “Yo,” confiesa Renato con
serendidad. Monica is both surprised and indignant. She tells him
(and not for either the first or last time) “You must be crazy!” He
wants her to come with him and he’ll try to explain things.
In a cell on the ship the Galion, Juan comes to and Segundo tells
him that they “fished them all,” or rounded them all up. His next
question is, “Where is Monica?” Segundo tells him that nothing has
happened to her. He wants to know how. Segundo tells him that there
was someone who made them treat her with care, a Don Renato
d’Autremont y Valois… who told them he was her brother in law. Juan
struggles to his feet, in spite of being tied up. He’s furious.
“Renato? Malhaya! Ha sido Renato quien…?” He knows that this is
Renato’s doing. Colibri is pushed into the cell too. Juan asks him
where Monica is and he tells him that she’s still on the Luzbel with
Renato, that she ran to him and hugged him when she first saw him
and he said, “Al fin, mi pobre Monica.” Juan’s green eyed monster
surges, “No! No puede ser!” Segundo tries to reassure him that this
is good, that nothing will happen to her.
Meanwhile, Monica is trying futilely to make sense of Renato and
what’s happened.
“Quieres acabar de explicarme, Renato, por que has hecho esto? Que
significa? Donde esta Juan?”
“Monica querida, un momento. Te lo explicare todo, pero calmate…”
“No puedo mas! Llevas horas sin acabar de hablarme claro. Cien veces
te he pedido que me expliques. Dijiste que eras tu quien habia hecho
esto. Por que? Quiero saber por que lo has hecho! Quiero saber por
que me has traido aqui! Y sobre todo, quiero saber donde esta Juan!
Quieres acabar de explicarmelo?”
Monica asks him if he’s trying to drive her crazy because he won’t
explain himself. He begins by telling her that he is trying to
rectify the consequences of his sins of incomprehension,
selfishness, anger, and cruelty. He never thought he could be cruel,
let alone with ‘my poor Monica.’ This tells her nothing and she’s
increasingly impatient. He tells her that she’ll pretend not to
understand him, that she will lie and heroically continue faking
that things are okay, but he knows what a farce her relationship
with Juan was. She tells him that he is totally mistaken, but he
continues. He tells her that he knows her to have been an innocent
victim and he committed a crime forcing her into Juan’s arms and he
is going to free her from that ‘canalla.’ Monica leaps to Juan’s
defense.
“Juan no es un canalla! Ni tu ni nadie dira de el una cosa semejante
delante de mi! Donde esta y que le han hecho?”
Renato tells her she doesn’t need to play the role of the concerned
wife any longer. She tells him that she’s not playing any part, she
has no complaints against Juan! Renato doesn’t believe her for a
minute.
“Si pudiera creer que dices la verdad, creo que le daria las gracias
a Dios por haberme escuchado. No sabes como he rogado desde el fondo
de mi alma, que horas de angustia he vivido desde que supe la
verdad! Si Monica, Aimee me dijo al fin todo la verdad..”
Renato tells her that he’s suffered (you see, this is all about
him), imagining the worst and it was all his fault. He was crazy to
have thought that pure little Monica could have been capable of
being someone’s lover. It made him a wild beast… He’s going to take
her from the arms of that savage. Monica can’t get in a word
edgewise, he won’t stop to listen to her. He goes on to say that he
knows everything and he will get on his knees and make things right
and that he wants nothing more than the beautiful love that she had
to give him. She’s nearly speechless with horror at this. He smiles
at her and says,
“Gracias, Monica. Gracias y perdon. Son las dos unicas palabras que
frente a ti debo pronunciar.”
Monica chokes out, “Aimee, Aimee told you…” and Renato confirms
this. Monica tells him, “Aimee is incapable of telling the truth,
she’s a hypocrite, a trickster, a deceiver. She is the most vile and
most cowardly!” Renato agrees, but he thinks she’s told him the
truth. It takes all her strength, but Monica remains silent,
thinking furiously how to resolve this. She wants to know what Aimee
told him.
“No repetire cosas que sabes, cosas que yo habia olvadado… He sido
torpe y ciego, pero quiero que sepas que durante las horas de este
viaje, con la mirada fija en las estrellas, no pense sino en ti, con
el alma desgarrada por el dolor del mal que te habia hecho… Que me
perdone tu pudor de mujer honesta, de mujer dignisima, de mujer
inmaculada.. Tu hermana me lo conto todo: sus celos, su miedo,la
forma infantil pero infame, inconsciente pero baja, con que urdio
alrededor tuyo los supuestos amores de Juan del Diablo. como
ilusiono a esa pobre bestia…”
“No hables asi de Juan!” se enardece Monica ante el procas insulto.
“No sabes lo que dices! Callate!”
Renato goes on about how it’s his fault that this man is now her
husband, but he needs to have the marriage broken. Monica is begging
him to be quiet, but he doesn’t hear her. He tells her that he can
free her from him.
“No tienes que librarme! No tienes que meterte en mi vida! No tienes
que hacer nada! Devuelveme a Juan, Renato, devuelveme a Juan!”
He’s so stupid or crazy, that Renato thinks she’s telling him this
because she doesn’t trust him, not because she cares for Juan. He
asks her if she is trying to tell him that she feels for him like a
normal spouse. She tells him that she’s not trying to tell him
anything but to leave them in peace! Renato thinks she can’t think
clearly, she’s too wounded by all this to know the right thing.
She’s too noble, etc. He understands that her love for him has been
tainted by hate a little bit. She asks once again where Juan is and
he points out the boat where Juan is imprisoned. He tells her that
he’s been arrested and he has denounced Juan. She sees that the boat
is leaving and is anguished. Renato tells her that they’ll leave
tomorrow for home. She can’t believe that the boat Juan’s on will
leave without giving her a chance to see him, or say goodbye. She
wants to know where the crew is and Colibri, and he tells her that
they’ve all been detained. Renato says no big deal, that boy knows
worse things if he’s a cabin boy. Monica is incensed.
“Juan es bondadoso con ese nino, generoso, y humano con cuantos
dependen de el,” defiende Monica vivamente. “En el Luzbel no he
presenciado una sola crueldad, mientras que en tus tierras de Campo
Real… Mejor es que me calle, Renato, pero, en realidad, tu no sabes
nada, no puedes comprender nada.. Quien es Juan, como es Juan.”
“Admirable, verdad?” apunta Renato con fina ironia.
“Si. Aunque no puedas creerlo, aunque no quieras comprenderlo, has
dicho la palabra justa: admirable.”
“No te conocia como actriz, Monica. Encuentro muy sutil y muy
femenina tu forma de venganza. Tu apologia de las virtudes de ese
canalla, de ese salvaje..”
“Juan no es un canalla, ni un salvaje!” se encrespa Monica
francamente airada. “Juan es el mejor hombre que ha conocido!”
Renato just doesn’t hear any of this. He thinks she’s a little
mentally disturbed by all she’s gone thru, she KNOWS he’s deranged.
He asks her if she loves Juan. She replies, “Amarle? No lo se, pero
es igual. El no me quiere a mi, no me querra jamas.” This surprises
Renato, who now can’t understand even more why she’s defending Juan.
She asks him why is it important how she and Juan feels. She has no
complaints against Juan and he’s her husband and she swore loyalty
to him at the altar.
“Cuando me arrojaste a el, hubiera preferido la muerte cien veces a
aquel sentirme arrebatada por los brazos de Juan,” recuerda Monica
apasionada. “El peor de los suplicos, la mas terrible de las agonias
eran para mi mas deseables que aquel hombre que me arrastraba, a
traves de los caminos y a traves de los mares, como puede arrastrar
su conquista, un vandalo. Entre las cuatro paredes de la cabina del
Luzbel, llore y suplique, desgarrandome el cuerpo y el alma,
pidiendole a Dios que me enviara la muerte repentina. Si entonces
hubieras corrido detras de mi, si un verdadero sentimiento de
justicia y de piedad humana te hubiese hecho seguirnos, deternos,
habria besado las huellas de tus pasos. Pero todo tiene en este
mundo, su oportunidad…”
“Que quieres decir?” se lamenta Renato.
What she’s trying to tell him is that he’s too late. Things have
changed. She’s not the same person she once was. She has only one
wish, to be together with Juan, to fly to his side, to defend him
against his accusers, and to fight at his side for his life and his
liberty. If Renato wants to help her, let her go immediately to him.
This just makes Renato mad.
“Gracias, por recordarme una vez mas que fui inoportuno y torpe… A
tus pies, Monica!”
Back in the cell on the Galion… The waves are increasing in size and
the journey is not going well. It appears that they’ve been blown
off course. They are in danger of capsizing and in the cell they
could drown! They clamor to be let out so that they won’t drown
should that happen. Two soldiers open the door and ask Juan, “so,
you don’t want to drown like a rat?” He tells them he’s not afraid
of anything, leave him if they want. They do, however cut his bonds.
The boat shakes violently. Two men are washed overboard and the
captain is wounded. There is no one to take charge of the boat, but
Juan steps into the fray and begins barking orders instinctively. He
takes the wheel and steers them away from the rocks. He calls to
Segundo and Anguila and his other men to fill the positions.
Together they keep the boat afloat and weather the storm.
Back on Renato’s boat… Monica is almost a captive too by the
weather. She asks Renato about Juan’s boat, but he comments that he
supposes that Juan’s not afraid of any weather. Monica tells him
that Juan’s not afraid of anything, nor anybody! Well, don’t worry
about him, it’s not the first time he’s been in jail. He goes on to
tell her though, of how he wanted to seek out Juan and comply with
his father’s last request, but his mother warned him to be careful
of him, that he would do him wrong. Renato tells her that Juan has
always hated him. She tells him he’s unjust, and blind and defends
Juan further. “Es bueno, es noble, es generoso…” Renato responds
furiously. You think he’s so good, did you know he’s wanted in
Jamaica for kidnapping a child? Colibri? She tells him that she
knows Juan rescued him from terrible abuse and if that’s the worst
crime they can accuse him of… “Acaso dijiste mas verdad de la que
piensas, Renato. Juan me enseño a mirar el mundo con otros ojos.”
And in return, he’s closed yours, the eyes that loved me. Why do
your cheeks burn only when you think of him, why? Renato is bitter.
She tells him not to look at her like that. He tells her, “I know
what you think, that I’m the husband of your sister…” If that’s all
she was thinking, that would be enough. They turn to talk of the
cyclone and he says that he will cable to see if the other boat came
in okay. She begs him though, one last time if he will withdraw his
accusations. He tells her it’s not in his hands, but don’t worry, if
Juan’s as you say he is, he’ll be set free. She’s lucky that he’s
not the one sitting in judgment. “Ahora voy a complacerter, Monica,
voy a tratar de ultimar nuestro viaje.”