"Tales From The Plum Corner" - Chapter 6: The Horse Square

Francisco Antonio was famous in town for how good he was at making houses. He cut the Horcones and Bitter Cane by himself and with dexterity he polished them, made the basic structure, mixed the mud and the straw, and then, using only his hands, he raised up the building that would then become hope and motive, a place to have a family in.

Francisco, Teofila’s nephew also liked to bet on horse races, like most inhabitants in the town. In those times there wasn’t much to do on free days –which were sparse-, and as such, the main distraction were the canteens, all of them located in the Paragüito zone.

Wednesdays were the days when the newspaper came into town, and inside it was the Racing Supplement, one that Francisco studied heavily, with pen and paper at hand, to prepare for that Sunday’s race.

One day he told my mother:

-Antonia, here I brought you the notes for the horses we must bet for when Sunday comes, would you please fill the Square?, I can’t do that now.

-Ajá-she answered.

That Saturday my mother went to make the bet official. When the Sunday arrived, Francisco who of course was very attentive towards the results, screamed with joy when he saw that his predictions came true: all six horses and their respective order in the race.

He ran straight towards my mother’s house, screaming "¡Antonia, Antonia!, did you present the Square as I told you?". And when she heard him she almost blacked out, but not from excitement but rather, guilt. The past day, when facing the paper were she had to write what to bet on which horse, she didn’t like the name of those Francisco choose, and so she changed them.

You are a crazy woman- Francisco said, -I’ve already told the whole town that I won the six places!.

Thinking back on it, if Francisco had actually filled the form himself, he would have had enough money to live far better with little to no work, and he wouldn’t have fallen from those stairs, hurting his flank in such a way that years later, he developed a tumor in that same place. My uncle Juan Ramón brought him to live in San Juan until his death.

In any case, like the people from old times, who were all hard workers with many practical skills, Francisco Antonio had many jobs, like being the one in charge of preparing the lead for the pellets the police used. This job in particular cost him half an index finger from a bullet that misfired.

Francisco also made perfumes, a job he made with help from my mom who tried to pay him in some way after the horse racing issue. He then traveled towards La Pascua to buy Fragancia Sonrisa, to which he added seeds from straw, cayena and albahaca. After coming back to Paragüito, the town’s hub for all drinking places, and sold the perfumes to the women working there.

-Are they any good Francisco?- they asked.

-More than just good, if you want to make a man fall madly in love with you “júntate” in the ears and let them smell you, and you will see how they won’t be able to get you out of their heads.

And I believe they worked, because one of those women was the one my uncle Rafael fell in love with, raising two daughters he had. That woman died just some years ago, in the “Lazo Martí” Eldery Home in San Juan de los Morros.

Glossary (in order of mention):

-Square: in this context, this refers to a fillable form in which one person can place its bets on the race, specifying which horse would get into what place. It is a document necessary to oficialize any bet.

-Horcones: vertical pieces of wood that help in holding house beams of the roof’s eaves.

-Ajá: a way of saying “yes”, but most of the time just a word to signal acknowledgment for something that was said.

-Fragancia Sonrisa: a brand of very basic perfume, who Francisco modified to make new fragrances.

-Cayena: a type of flower, closely related to orchids.

-Albahaca: an aromatic plant used mostly in Italian cuisine, also called “basil” in English.

-Júntate: a regional mispronunciation of “úntate”, which in turn translates into “to spread” or “pour”.