Juanita la Larga: a Novel

Chapter 19

Chapter 19 F ather Anselmo’s sermon was discussed and interpreted throughout the entire town to the detriment of both Juanas. Nobody stood up for them, except the schoolteacher, who did so at the Casilla that night. The Casilla used to be and still is in some towns the original, traditional casino and athenaeum. As a general rule, and this was the case in Villalegre, the Casilla was housed in a relatively comfortable and spacious room behind the pharmacy, and was a place where one could read newspapers, smoke, chat, play card games, and maybe chess, dominoes, and checkers. Don Policarpo, Villalegre’s druggist, did the honors admirably and almost all the town’s male notables gathered there, in spite of the women, who were devout and detested the druggist, because, far from being in the odor of sanctity, he had the not very enviable notoriety of being an unbeliever and a materialist. He had always been a bachelor; he had a razor-sharp tongue with which he destroyed reputations; and in his evil-looking face, in his bright and somewhat squinty eyes, in his aquiline nose, and in his derisive, sunken mouth there showed a certain diabolical and caustic mischief. Stupendous peculiarities were related in the town about his doctrines and scientific faculties, with many people maintaining that not all of what he did and said was natural, but originated in large part through the inspiration and assistance of the devil, for which reason he would declare, when speaking of himself, that if the Inquisition were still in force he would be among the departed because they would have burned him alive. It was an article of faith with 99 100 Juanita la Larga him that all things are the same and that any difference in them is more apparent than real and more superficial than profound. Difference in things is produced by a force that lives and is stirred among them, hiding the root of their essence, and which, according to their varied effects and operations, whether they be heat, light, electricity or magnetism, are the source of transformations and changes and life and death. This force was Don Policarpo’s god. Because of it he boasted of being possessed and of being an energumen. In order to work miracles through his medium and in his name, Don Policarpo did not have a magic wand, but instead he did have a very long, sharp, and hard nail on the little finger of his right hand, which usually served him as a toothpick. The ladies filled with terror when they saw it, as if they were gazing upon that of Satan incarnate. It was said that first the druggist magnetized, lulled, and subjected people to his will, releasing magnetic fluid through said nail, then that he electrified everything, rapidly rubbing his feet against a wolfskin , and emitted through the same nail a stream or plume of bright bluish sparks. And there were some who added, and swore they had seen, that merely by bringing the nail close Don Policarpo, when he was fully charged and saturated with electricity, ignited an oil lamp or fired a cute little cannon that he used for the experiment. I cannot confirm that there was or was not some exaggeration in such assertions, but whatever the case, the druggist was an amusing and hospitable person, even though the ladies detested him, a sentiment that must have been provoked by his uncommon ugliness. Every night eight or ten regulars showed up at his tertulia. The parish priest did not go, on account of the impious talk heard there, but the doctor, two or three town councilors, the mayor himself, several of the major taxpayers, and the schoolteacher Don Pascual went. Don Policarpo commented on that day’s sermon with malicious wit, ironically maintaining that Father Anselmo was right. “Yes, sir,” he said, “there are no Church possessions to be distrib- uted. The distribution was done badly and made to a very few individuals , who got rich. So the next revolution will have as its objective to seize other possessions and distribute them with greater impartiality among the poor.” The schoolteacher, who was a liberal and an individualist, responded in this way: “It is not accurate to say that the revolution has iniquitously divested the Church of its riches. If it has expropriated them, there has been indemnification. The State can expropriate, indemnifying for...