Ofelia Conclusion

Ofelia picked up her bag and started to throw things out of it carelessly, looking for some kleenex. Daniel got up and hurried over to her. She was sitting on the floor.

"Sweetheart, sit down in the..."

"Leave me alone!" she shouted, and swiped at his arms. Daniel never felt like a bigger idiot in his life, and he had been a monumental idiot. Luckily for him, however, there were all sorts of ways to rationalize his acts of idiocy, and he let that cold knowledge soften the self-contempt that was sawing away inside him like a rusty blade over an open wound.

Daniel started to pick up the things she had tossed out. Her phone, lip gloss, extra keys, tampon, calling cards, breath-mints, countless slips of paper, small photos of youthful faces he didn't recognize, except one which was obviously Dominga as a younger woman. Her whole life was scattered across the floor of his office.

"Fuckin' leave it be!" she shouted at him. She finally found a little pack of tissues and tore it open. Daniel gave up trying to help her and slinked away, like a skunk who was growing sick of his own stink. "I can clean up my own fuckin' mess, goddammit." she threw at his back.

Ofelia got to her feet and her face was wrecked, despite the fact that she hadn't put on a stitch of make up. It was as if her beauty realized it wasn't doing her any good and decided to make a run for it. She looked younger. Ofelia wouldn't look at him. But she wasn't finished with him yet. Someone opened the door and Daniel barked across the small room, "Later."

"We ne..."

"Later!"

The door closed again. Daniel waited. Eventually she stopped sniffling, wiping her nose, pretending to organize her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and the two made eye contact, finally. Daniel held his arms out. "Ofelia, I am very, very sorry. I'm an idiot. I got a shiny new toy and I wanted to show it off. I didn't think you would ever know. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Yes, you did." Ofelia told him, "You did. If I never found out, that means it didn't happen, you didn't go against me, you didn't lie to me? Why? If you kill a man with a bullet in the head, right here," Ofelia pointed to her temple, "such a good shot he don't feel nothing, straight through, boom. That means it's okay because he didn't know you did it?"

"How can you compare the two things? I didn't harm you, I didn't kill you for Chrissake!"

"If you just asked me, I would let you take a thousand pictures of me, a million, and I would let you show them to anybody, anybody, as long as you asked me! It could have been something nice, something exciting for us both. Instead you leave me out of it, like my body doesn't belong to me, like I have no right who sees it and who doesn't. You did worse than kill me. You treat me like something not even alive, like a machine."

"My God, Ofelia, you're reading way too much into this. Who's putting all this bullshit into your head? Come on."

"Nobody. You think I'm stupid too?"

"Of course not. How many times have I told you how smart you are? How many times?"

Ofelia blinked. She crossed her arms, cocked her hips. Her natural grace, her exquisite poise and presence, was returning to her. "I love you, Daniel. You're the first man I ever said that to. But I can't forgive you, especially because you don't understand what you did. It's not because people could see me naked, something stupid like that. I don't care about that. You know me. I don't care who sees me, every single inch of me. But I say who and when and where. I gave myself to you, but I didn't give myself away. I was yours, but I was not yours to give out. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, I do." Daniel answered. And he was telling the truth. "Was yours. So that's it. Bonjour, sayonara, adios."

Ofelia nodded her head. "If it's not because of this, you'll find some other way to get rid of me. I'm not coming back here. I quit. When somebody calls for a reference, talk nice about me."

"Ofelia..."

"If I'm pregnant..." There was a long pause. "I'll contact you."

"Ofelia. Please."

"Via con Dios, Senor."

The door opened and closed, and Daniel was alone.

~

Ofelia drove back home and was happy to see that Manuel's bike was still there. She ascended the stairs and walked past her door to Leonard's. The two of them had a long talk, and it would have been even longer were it not for the fact that Leonard had to go to work. Leonard confessed his love to Ofelia, and Ofelia told him in very gentle and sincere terms that while she loved him, she was not in love with him. She couched an offer to him in terms that she believed would make it sound as decent as possible. She saw Leonard's eyes brighten up when it dawned on him exactly what she was offering.

When she gave him his kiss goodbye that day she made it a good one, one that he would be thinking about all day long. She made little moans bubble up out of his throat, brushing her lips across his, flicking her tongue lightly across them, and across his tongue. He deserved it. Like her mom had said so many times, he was a good man. "Someday." she told him, straightening his badge, his collar, "You'll find a beautiful girl who won't be crazy."

"Never". Leonard said, "There's only one girl in the world." He surprised Ofelia by bounding down the stairs, singing out loud. He seemed happier than he had ever been before.

~

Once inside her own apartment, Ofelia had a problem. Dominga looked smug. She looked at her daughter over her shoulder as she was washing dishes in the sink, and it appeared to Ofelia that her mom could hardly keep from jumping up and down.

Ofelia could hear the girl's voice even as she left her sandals on the mat. She lingered in the kitchen for a good while, wondering when someone was going to do the polite thing and make introductions. What was wrong with this family, anyway? Didn't anybody have any manners around here? Her heart was pattering away as she walked into the living room and finally caught her brother's attention. He and the girl were looking at family pictures mounted on the wall.

In the corner, on a small white table, there were a few tall glass vases and some smaller potted plants. The girl was admiring one flower in particular: a tall red rose. It looked like time was taking its toll on the flower. Ofelia's heart dropped into her shoes. It was the rose Manuel had given her last week, which he had left for her on their bed, with his sweet note.

"Yeah, some poor fool gave that to a lady he loved, but she didn't even say nothing about it." Manuel was telling the girl, who was cooing her sympathies. "I think he was a poet or something stupid like that."

Ofelia closed her eyes tight and cursed herself. She had never even mentioned the gift to Manuel. Dominga must have put it in water while Ofelia was sleeping off her hangover; and Ofelia had simply forgotten about it. She cleared her voice and said, looking straight at Manuel once he turned around, "The lady was sick and forgot about the rose, but it was the sweetest gift anyone ever gave her. And she's very sorry now. Very sorry." She put her fingers to her lips and blew a God-am-I-sorry kiss to her brother.

"Hey, Pooper." Manuel said, and by this time the girl had turned around also. She smiled a big smile at Ofelia, and didn't do a very good job of hiding her nervousness. Manuel walked her up towards his sister and Ofelia smiled brightly, her eyes darting from the girl's eyes to Manuel's. He spoke in Spanish, as formally as he could, "Graciela, I'd like you to meet my sister, Ofelia. Ofelia, this is my good friend, Graciela."

Ofelia thought Manuel had overdone it with the tone. "Hi!" she said, and took the girl's little hand in her own. It was clammy.

"Hi!" Graciela returned. She smiled so brightly Ofelia thought her teeth would blind her. If there's a single flaw on this one, you'll need a microscope and the tiniest comb in the world to find it, Ofelia thought to herself. Ofelia let her eyes take the girl in as Manuel returned to showing her the pictures on the wall. For one thing, she wouldn't be caught dead in those shoes. And for another, those highlights in her hair made her look like the Bride of Frankenstein.

Feeling a little better, Ofelia returned to Dominga. She had some lunch, and was surprised to discover that she had an appetite. She was glad for Manuel, and seethed with pure, two-hundred proof, undiluted, unmitigated hatred for Graciela. She took out her cell and called Kenneth, and gave him a brief synapses of her wonderful day off from work. After Kenneth gave her his condolences, he meekly told her that, if it was even remotely possible, he would like to see her again. His sister Conny was going to be home over the weekend and he was wondering if she would like to join them for dinner. Ofelia told him she would be happy to go. She was looking forward to meeting any human being who might actually be more beautiful than him. She smiled as she put her phone down and continued to eat. Manuel and Graciela went out for a walk.

When she was finished eating Ofelia remembered something and searched through her bag. She was relieved to see she hadn't lost it. She unfolded a tiny piece of paper and read Devin's name, rolled his phone number around in her head, and decided she would call him, but no now. She was exhausted.

When Ofelia entered her bedroom she walked halfway over to the bed and then stopped suddenly. She put her hands to her mouth and her eyes welled up again.

There on the bed, he had left her another. Another long-stemmed red rose.

FINIS March-May 2006