that Gomez wasn’t treating his country right. That he had a great talent and it belonged to the United States. That his behavior had been irresponsible. That Gomez would have to come to heel and realize that his wishes weren’t the most important thing in his life. That he could and would be drafted if there were any more such escapades. “As a starter, Mr. Gomez,” the admiral snapped, “I want you to set down, immediately, the enfieldment matrices you have developed. I consider it almost criminal of you to arrogantly and carelessly trust to your memory alone matters of such vital importance. Here!” He thrust pencil and paper at the boy, who stood, drooping and disconsolate. Little Rosa was near crying. She didn’t have the ghost of a notion as to what it was about. Gomeztook the pencil and paper and sat down at the writing table silently. I took Rosa by the arm. She was trembling. “It’s all right,” I said. “They can’t do a thing to him.” The admiral glared briefly at me and then returned his gaze to Gomez. The boy made a couple of tentative marks. Then his eyes went wide and he clutched his hair. “Dios mlo!” he said. “Estd per dido! Olvidado!” Which means: “My God, it’s lost! Forgotten!” The admiral turned white beneath his tan. “Now, boy,” he said slowly and soothingly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. You just relax and collect yourself. Of course you haven’t forgotten, not with that memory of yours. Start with something easy. Write down a general biquadratic equation, say.” Gomez just looked at him. After a long pause he said in a strangled voice: “No puedo. I can’t. It too I forget. I don’t think of the math or physics at all since-” He looked at Rosa and turned a little red. She smiled shyly and looked at her shoes. “That is it,” Gomez said hoarsely. “Not since then. Always before in the back of my head is the math, but not since then.” “My God,” the admiral said softly. “Can such a thing happen?” He reached for the phone. He found out that such things can happen. Julio went back to Spanish Harlem and bought a piece of the Porto Bello with his savings. I went back to the paper and bought a car with my savings. MacDonald never cleared the story, so the Sun-
day editor had the satisfaction of bulldozing an admiral, but didn’t get his exclusive.
Julio and Rosa sent me a card eventually announcing the birth of their first-born: a six-pound boy, Francisco, named after Julio’s father. I saved the card and when a New York assignment came my way-it was the National Association of Dry Goods Wholesalers; dry goods are important in our town-I dropped up to see them.
Julio was a little more mature and a little more prosperous. Rosa- alas!-was already putting on weight, but she was still a pretty thing and devoted to her man. The baby was a honey-skinned little wiggler. It was nice to see all of them together, happy with their lot.
Julio insisted that he’d cook arroz con polio for me, as on the night I practically threw him into Rosa’s arms, but he’d have to shop for the stuff. I went along.
In the corner grocery he ordered the rice, the chicken, the gar-banzos, the peppers, and, swept along by the enthusiasm that hits husbands in groceries, about fifty other things that he thought would be nice to have in the pantry.
The creaking old grocer scribbled down the prices on a shopping bag and began painfully to add them up while Julio was telling me how well the Porto Bello was doing and how they were thinking of renting the adjoining store.
“Seventeen dollars, forty-two cents,” the grocer said at last.
Julio flicked one glance at the shopping bag and the upside-down figures. “Should be seventeen thirty-nine,” he said reprovingly. “Add up again.”
The grocer painfully added up again and said, “Is seventeen thirty-nine. Sorry.” He began to pack the groceries into the bag.
“Hey,” I said.
We didn’t discuss it then or ever. Julio just said: “Don’t tell, Beel.” And winked.