Eme
Eme Julio Paredes Eme got drunk too fast. She seldom drank so she didn’t know how to calculate exactly how much tolerance she had. She had an explosive character and acted as if she always had an excess of accumulated energy. Nonetheless, she was happier than ever that night, and didn’t care if she ended up with a terrible hangover the next day. Before going dancing they had cooked a special dinner in their apartment to celebrate Johnny’s new job in a well-known construction firm. She loved Johnny. The magnitude of her love for him frightened her, as if measuring it might crush her. And she was happy that night because finally, after almost a year, Johnny had found work. Her forehead was resting on her sleeping arm, bent feebly on the edge of the table. She didn’t want to move. She was afraid that if she lifted her head she would get another attack of dizziness. She was aware that her sister and the two friends they had come with were still talking next to her. Johnny had left the table some time ago and had not returned. She wanted to call out to Johnny but decided it would be better to sleep a little. Sleep until she sobered up. But she couldn’t help following the rhythm of the music. How she loved dancing, she thought. Better than sleeping and working, as her lovely Johnny would say when he was in a cheerful mood. Of course, he wasn’t much of a dancer and what he really liked to do was sit in front of the stereo and listen to it very carefully, concentrating, as if he wanted to decipher the true and secret meaning behind the harmony . He would hover over the stereo as if he wanted it to swallow 120 121 Eme him up, although he always ended up being reminded of his frustrated career as a musician. Then Eme would go up to Johnny and hug him and they would laugh. Since they started living together, they rarely allowed themselves to fall into glumness. She tipped over a bottle with her elbow, and the noise of the shattering glass woke her. She opened her eyes, waited for a moment, and then lifted her head. Her sister was dancing with one of her friends in the small space that served as a dance floor. She looked for Johnny. He was standing at the far end of the small bar talking with a couple of guys. Johnny occasionally raised his arm as if he were giving a speech. Eme saw his profile and thought she noted a look of annoyance on Johnny’s face. There was a time before meeting her when Johnny often got into fights. He liked to argue and curse and he routinely lost control. Johnny used to tell Eme how in those days the smallest things would drive him mad, and getting into fights eventually became a kind of hobby for him. “How are you?” asked the friend still sitting next to her. “I could use a soda water with lemon and ice.” Her sister came back to the table and asked if she wanted to leave. Eme assured them that she felt better. She lit a cigarette but put it out right away. She looked for Johnny again, but one of the guys he was talking with was blocking her view. She stretched out her legs and felt the need to urinate. She calculated the distance from where she was sitting to the bathroom and doubted she could make it there without falling over a table on the way. She’d wait a little longer until she felt stronger. She suddenly noticed that a commotion had erupted around Johnny. The people at the bar abruptly stepped back. There was a moment of silence amongst those who had been shouting and then she heard an insult. Eme wasn’t sure if it had been Johnny’s voice. There was a quick, abrupt movement among the people sitting at the tables near the bar. Eme stood up. She walked toward the bar and saw that a guy had Johnny in a headlock. Johnny was flailing feebly like a deflating rubber doll. For an instant, both of them grunted, motionless, and as soon as the guy loosened his grip, Johnny managed to break free and then give him a powerful kick in the stomach. [3.149.255.162...
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