A short while later on a senior black lady dressed in a yellow scarf more white tresses emerged from the next-flooring window. She searched baffled however acknowledged Willy. “ Hola. Hola. ” She allowed united states upstairs.
Their particular identity was Gladis Castaneda, and you will she had been an expert traditional pianist when you look at the Havana through the brand new 1950s. She was a small woman in her own 80s otherwise 1990s. She nodded as he said La Reina. Sure, she said, however lived-in this society, correct next-door. Right here, about tissue, is actually somebody who realized brand new epic Superman-proof, actually, that the guy indeed lived.
Superman, Castaneda said, are high, good, acknowledged. “People knew him since the King,” she told you. “He was gay, however don’t wreak havoc on your.” She questioned us to stand. “He had been their peak. However, good. Muscular.” He’d body eg hers: dark, yet not really. “He had been a guy. No-one got an issue with your.” I asked in the event the everybody in the area understood what the guy performed getting a living. “Young buck, it absolutely was many years ago. The guy leftover years ago.”
Willy asked when the she understood exactly what became from your, and you can she said she believes he passed away in Miami. Their unique time was waning, and Willy nodded in my opinion to point the time had come i wade.
Upon the trail, we fulfilled a vintage man bending against the wall structure. Their label try Elado. The guy carried a great cane and you will used a free environmentally friendly jacket with an effective Masonic symbol dangling out of a cycle doing his neck. Willy told your we had been wanting information regarding the guy they named Los angeles Reina.
“ Si, si, ” the existing guy said. “Los angeles Reina-everybody realized him. Mulatto. About your peak,” he nodded inside my advice. “Every person respected him. The guy stayed right here to have 20 years. Needless to say, everybody else knew MГ¤nner wie Mexikaner Frauen what he did getting an income.” The guy said Superman left towards U.S. during the 1959. “Not one person knew their title. Folks simply called your La Reina.”
We inserted their large flat, and you may Willy explained what we should was in fact creating
Across the street from the church, roosters crowed. A great girl sporting Rollerblades spoke on a cover mobile phone. An old guy when you look at the a leather golf cover used an effective cigar with the an effective backless wood settee.
Their locks try white and you will nuts
I wandered as a consequence of Los Sitios into the Barrio Chino up until i arrived within 507 Marquis Roadway. I stood on the street taking a look at the access so you can a great martial-arts school: Escuela Cubana de- Wushu. They had a yellow and you can red-colored act with a gold foo canine and you can a yellow iron gate.
The entranceway was discover. For the front side door was an excellent courtyard with a little eatery and some fixed exercise equipment. The brand new theater once stood the spot where the school’s backyard courtyard has grown to become. We tried to consider where phase has been. This new dressing up room in which Superman prepared for the tell you. The newest balcony in which drunken tourist saw the fresh results.
A short while afterwards i returned to Barrio de los Sitios so you can fabric for other individuals just who possess understood Superman. On flat building close to Gladis Castaneda’s, i found Superman’s real neighbor: an old pizza chef called Roberto Cabarero, 82 yrs old, with a seriously stained and expanded muscles clothing, sagging brownish pants to the travel available, and black socks with gaps on the base. His facial skin sagged such as for instance a sea turtle’s.
Cabarero’s flat, where the guy resided with his wife, try tiny and you will ramshackle, plagued by rubbish. His spouse seated in the center of the tiny family area, rocking forward and backward into the a wooden sofa, speaking loudly at no body in particular. An invisible blared tinny dated Foreign language music, and your dog was available in and you may out from the area to eat crumbs off of the floor. An alarm clock seemed during all of our appointment. No body bothered to make it off.