Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry [135]
"--Tlaxcala!"
"--or perhaps it was on his rump--"
After a moment, comprehending the Consul's plight, Cervantes advised:
"A stone, hombre, I bring you a stone."
"Cervantes!"
"--branded--"
.".. clean yourself on a stone, señor?
--The meal had started well too, he remembered now, a minute or so since, despite everything, and: "Dangerous Clam Magoo," he had remarked at the onset of the chowder. "And our poor spoiling brains and eggs at home!" had he not commiserated, at the apparition, swimming in exquisite mole, of the spectral chicken of the house? They had been discussing the man by the roadside and the thief in the bus, then: "Excusado." And this, this grey final Consulate, this Franklin Island of the soul, was the excusado. Set apart from the bathing places, convenient yet hidden from view, it was doubtless a purely Tlaxcaltecan fantasy, Cervantes's own work, built to remind him of some cold mountain village in a mist. The Consul sat, fully dressed however, not moving a muscle. Why was he here? Why was he always more or less, here? He would have been glad of a mirror, to ask himself that question. But there was no mirror. Nothing but stone. Perhaps there was no time either, in this stone retreat. Perhaps this was the eternity that he'd been making so much fuss about, eternity already, of the Svidrigailov variety, only instead of a bath-house in the country full of spiders, here it turned out to be a stone monastic cell wherein sat--strange!--who but himself?
"--Pulquería--"
"--and then there was this Indian--"
SEAT OF THE HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST
VISIT TLAXCALA!
read the Consul. (And how was it that, beside him, was standing a lemonade bottle half full of mescal, how had he obtained it so quickly, or Cervantes, repenting, thank God, of the stone, together with the tourist folder, to which was affixed a railway and bus time-table, brought it--or had he purchased it before, and if so, when?)
¡VISITE VD. TLAXCALA!
Sus Monumentos, Sitios Históricos y De Bellezas Naturales. Lugar De Descanso, El Mejor Clima. El Aire Más Puro. El Cielo Mas Azul.
¡TLAXCALA! SEDE DE LA HISTORIA DE LA CONQUISTA
"--this morning, Yvonne, when we were crossing the river there was this pulquería on the other side--"
.".. La Sepultura? "
"--Indian sitting with his back against the wall--"
GEOGRAPHIC SITUATION
The State is located between 19º 06' 10" and 19º 44' 00" North latitude and between 0º 23' 38" and 0º 30' 34" Eastern longitude from Mexico's meridian. Being its boundaries to the North-West and South with Puebla State, to the West with Mexico State and to the North-West with Hidalgo State. Its territorial extension is of 4.132 square kilometres. Its population is about 220,000 inhabitants, giving a density of 53 inhabitants to the square kilometre. It is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, among them are those called Matlalcueyatl and Ixtaccihuatl.
"--Surely you remember, Yvonne, there was this pulquería--" "--What a glorious morning it was!--"
CLIMATE
Intertropical and proper of highlands, regular and healthy. The malarial sickness is unknown.
"--well, Geoff said he was a Spaniard, for one thing--"
"--but what difference--"
"So that the man beside the road may be an Indian, of course," the Consul suddenly called from his stone retreat, though it was strange, nobody seemed to have heard him. "And why an Indian? So that the incident may have some social significance to him, so that it should appear a kind of latter-day repercussion of the Conquest, and a repercussion of the Conquest, if you please, so that that may in turn seem a repercussion of--"
"--crossing the river, a windmill--"
"Cervantes!"
"A stone... You want a stone, señor?"
HYDROGRAPHY
Zahuapan River--Streaming from Atoyac river and bordering the City of Tlaxcala, it supplies a great quantity of power to several factories; among the lagoons, the Acuitlapilco is the most notable and is lying two kilometres South from Tlaxcala City... Plenty of web-footed fowl is found in the first lagoon.
"--Geoff said the pub he came out of was a Fascist joint. The El Amor de los Amores. What I gathered was he used to be the owner of it, though I think he's come down in the world and he just works there now... Have another bottle of beer?"