MECHE: I don’t understand what you’re saying, Chunga.
LA CHUNGA: I know you don’t understand. It doesn’t matter.
MECHE: Are you annoyed with me about something?
LA CHUNGA: No, I’m not annoyed about anything. (Hands her some money.) Here. It’s a present. For you, not for Josefino. Don’t let him have it, and don’t tell him I gave it to you.
MECHE: (Confused) No, I won’t tell him anything. (Hides the money in her clothes.) I feel ashamed to take money from you. It makes me feel …
LA CHUNGA: A whore? You may as well get used to the idea, in case you ever work in the Casa Verde. However … Do you know what you’re going to do with your life? (MECHE is about to answer but LA CHUNGA stops her.) Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. If you leave Piura, or stay, it’s your affair. Don’t tell me. Tonight I wanted to help you, but tomorrow everything will be different. You won’t be here and everything will have changed. If you do go, and you tell me where you’re going, and Josefino holds a knife to my throat, I’ll end up by telling him everything. I told you I didn’t want to lose the battle. And if they kill me, there’ll be no more battle to lose. So come on, make a decision and do what you think best. But above all if you leave Piura, never even for a moment consider telling me or writing to me or letting me know where you are. OK?
MECHE: Right, Chunga. Ciao, then.
LA CHUNGA: Ciao, Meche. Good luck.
(MECHE leaves the house. LA CHUNGA goes back to sit down on her rocking chair. She remains in the same position she was in when the curtain went up, at the beginning of the play. The superstuds’ voices are heard, beneath the smoke of the cigars. Long pause.)
LA CHUNGA: (Energetically) Time! Pay up and be off. I’m closing.
EL MONO: Just five more minutes, Chunga.
LA CHUNGA: Not a second more, I said. Now, be off with the lot of you. I’m tired.
LITUMA: (Getting up) I’m sleepy too. Besides, they’ve completely cleaned me out, down to the very last copper.
JOSE: Yes, let’s go – the night’s become very flat all of a sudden.
EL MONO: But first let’s sing the farewell song, superstuds.
(They sing – their voices sound flat, as at the end of a party)
We are the superstuds.
We don’t want to work.
All we need is a little bit of skirt.
Drinking, gambling, all night long,
In Chunga’s bar where we belong.
Wine, women and song –
Wine, women and song.
And now it’s time to say ‘so long’
Goodbye, Chunguita.
(They get up, make their way towards the rocking chair. LA CHUNGA gets up to take the money for the beers. They give it to her between them. LA CHUNGA goes with them as far as the door.)
JOSE: (Before crossing the threshhold, as if repeating a ritual) Tomorrow you’ll tell me what happened that time with Mechita, Chunga?
LA CHUNGA: (Closing the door in his face) Go and ask your bloody mother. She’ll tell you.
(Outside, the superstuds laugh and sing rude songs. LA CHUNGA bolts the door. She goes to put out the kerosene lamp which hangs over the table where the superstuds gamble. Sleepily she goes up to her room. It’s clear from the way she moves she is very tired. She lets herself fall on to the bed, hardly taking off her sandals.)
LA CHUNGA’S VOICE: Goodnight, Mechita. See you.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER
THE REAL LIFE OF ALEJANDRO MAYTA
THE WAR OF THE END OF THE WORLD
CAPTAIN PANTOJA AND THE SPECIAL SERVICE
THE PERPETUAL ORGY
WHO KILLED PALOMINO MOLERO?
THE STORYTELLER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mario Vargas Llosa lives in Lima, Peru. He is a novelist of international standing whose works include: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta, The War of the End of the World, Who Killed Palomino Molero?, The Perpetual Orgy and The Storyteller.
Copyright © 1981, 1983, 1986, 1990 by Mario Vargas Llosa Translation copyright © 1990 by David Graham-Young All rights reserved
eISBN 9781429901147
First eBook Edition : March 2011
Originally published in Spanish by Editorial Seix Barral, Barcelona.
This collection first published in English by Faber & Faber Ltd., London First American edition, 1990
All inquiries regarding performing rights should be addressed to Rosica Colin Ltd., I Clareville Grove Mews, London SW7 5AH
Phototypeset by Input Typesetting Ltd, London
Library of Congress number: 90—82139
Three Plays: The Young Lady from Tacna, Kathie and the Hippopotamus, La Chunga Page 21
