A short while later an older black colored lady wear a red-colored scarf over light locks emerged regarding next-flooring window. She checked baffled but accepted Willy. “ Hola. Hola. ” She anticipate united states upstairs.
Their own term try Gladis Castaneda, and you will she is a professional traditional pianist inside the Havana throughout the newest 1950s. She is actually a little lady in her eighties or 90s. She nodded as he mentioned Los angeles Reina. Sure, she told you, he would lived-in this area, correct next-door. Here, on the skin, is an individual who realized new epic Superman-evidence, indeed, the guy indeed stayed.
Superman, Castaneda said, is high, solid, acknowledged. “Visitors knew him because King,” she told you. “He was gay, nevertheless didn’t mess with your.” She questioned me to sit. “He had been your top. But solid. Muscle.” He’d surface particularly hers: black, although not really. “He was a beneficial guy. Not one person had an issue with your.” I asked if everybody in the neighborhood understood exactly what the guy performed to own a full time income. “Young buck, it absolutely was many years ago. The guy kept years ago.”
Willy expected in the event the she realized just what became away from him, and you may she told you she thinks he died during the Miami. Their opportunity is waning, and Willy nodded if you ask me to indicate the time had come i wade.
Upon the road, i met an old people leaning contrary to the wall. Their term is Elado. The guy sent an effective cane and used a loose eco-friendly sweater which have good Masonic icon holding of a string as much as his neck. Willy informed your we had been selecting details about the man it called La Reina.
“ Si, si, ” the existing guy told you. “Los angeles Reina-everyone else understood your. Mulatto. Regarding the peak,” the guy nodded during my guidance. “Everybody else acknowledged him. He stayed here getting 2 decades. Obviously, anyone realized what the guy performed getting a full time income.” He told you Superman left with the U.S. for the 1959. “Not one person knew their identity. Everyone else simply named him La Reina.”
I entered their own large apartment, and you may Willy said whatever you had been performing
Across the street by chapel, roosters crowed. A good girl wear Rollerblades talked on the a wages cellular telephone. A vintage people from inside the a fabric tennis limit smoked a good cigar into the a good backless wood sofa.
Their hair is actually white and nuts
We went by way of Los Sitios towards the Barrio Chino until i turned up at 507 Marquis Roadway. We stood on the street looking at the access so you’re able to a martial-arts college or university: Escuela Cubana de- Wushu. It had a purple and you will red-colored facade that have a silver foo puppy and you can a purple iron entrance.
The entranceway is actually open. During the top entrance was a great courtyard having a tiny restaurant Papua-Neuguineer BrГ¤ute aus and many stationary exercise equipment. Brand new theater shortly after stood where school’s backyard courtyard has become. We attempted to consider where stage might have been. New dressing up area where Superman prepared for the latest inform you. The fresh balcony where drunken people saw the fresh performance.
A few days later we returned to Barrio de los Sitios so you’re able to canvas for other people whom could have understood Superman. Regarding flat building alongside Gladis Castaneda’s, i found Superman’s genuine next-door neighbor: an old pizza pie chef titled Roberto Cabarero, 82 years of age, having a heavily tarnished and longer strength clothing, drooping brownish trousers towards travel open, and you will black clothes with gaps regarding feet. Their epidermis sagged such as for instance a sea turtle’s.
Cabarero’s flat, where he stayed with his partner, is actually little and you can ramshackle, littered with rubbish. His spouse sat in the middle of the little family room, rocking backwards and forwards during the a solid wood chair, speaking loudly within no-one specifically. A radio blared tinny dated Foreign language sounds, and you will a puppy came in and you will out from the place to consume crumbs from the flooring. A security clock sounded through the duration of our fulfilling. No-one troubled to show it well.
