The Knight´s Legacy

Esquel- Patagonia

ESQUEL

PROVINCE OF CHUBUT

ARGENTINE PATAGONIA

DECEMBER 2013

Debora was driving in the final kilometers of the long journey that had begun three days earlier in Buenos Aires. The young couple had shared the 1600 kilometers driving with approximately four hours shifts and now Matías was asleep despite the rattle. The small car stood discreetly well the Patagonian roads, although too often the chassis struck against loose rocks producing moral suffering to its owner. As they reached the entrance of the city and the regiment that was at its origin, Debbie woke up to the boy, who took over the driving since he knew the place.

It was the first time that Debbie and Matías were travelling together after a six-month relationship. It coincided with the period of summer recess in the respective faculties and holidays on the work of Matías. The highpoint of the determination of the trip had been to inform him the father of Debbie, not too religious but moderately attached to traditions, who had put the cry in the sky because his only daughter was going with a man, to top it off a penniless goi. Sarah, the mother, a psychologist by profession and Chiche´s elder sister had taken the case with rather more phlegm, although she did not understand that her daughter -whom she considered objectively beautiful and intelligent- had seen in that skinny disheveled and a bit expressionless young man. Debbie was not traveling alone for the first time; actually she had traveled throughout Europe and the East coast of the United States with some friends, so she knew how to fend for itself, but of course, this was different!

The car s garden in front.

The Lucioni, who no doubt were waiting with anxiety immediately opened the door and greeted affectionately  his son, whom they had not seen for exactly a year. Debbie was received with hospitality but with a certain reservation, product more than anything else a certain shyness. Matías had already anticipated this reaction, explaining that they were country people, rarely alternating with strangers. Gerardo, the father, was born in General Roca, a city surrounded by fruit farms in the Valley of the Rio n***o, in the province of the same name. He had then migrated southward following the sheep shearing teams to Chubut. There he met his wife Ayinhual, daughter of a Ukrainian immigrant and a Mapuche Indian, with mixed and beautiful features. Matías and his older sister, now residing in Spain, were born in Esquel. The wider relations environment included Claudio Roselli, son of a friend of Gerardo´s father in the World War II, who was present at the meeting. Debora had a slight shiver as she learnt that Matías and another boy's grandparents had fought together with the Rommel´s Germans in Africa but she soon became convinced that they were simply shenanigans of life that only had to do with the place and time of birth and not belief or ideologies. After a family reunion that lasted until dinner, the girl felt at ease in this simple small-town family. Claudio, who had only traveled to meet with Matías, decided to stay a few days in Esquel to accompany his friend.

That night, Debbie went to sleep in the room that had belonged to Clara, Matias´ sister. However, the emotions of the day did not allow her to sleep despite the fatigue of the journey. She had spent a good while accommodating her clothes in the closet that the Lucioni had put at her disposal

“I brought too much staff.” She meditated by placing a dress that she would absolutely have no occasion to use. Tired, then she disrobed and lay down.

Debbie was already half-asleep when she noticed that the door was opened in the midst of darkness and she felt that Matías had entered the bedroom. She made him a place on the narrow bed and immediately felt his hands in her body. Debbie was mentally prepared for that moment, with the mind set in a preparatory series of grimaces and cuddles but when both bodies approached all defenses fell and all the hormones were shot in a frenzy that culminated in repeated ecstasies. Debbie was not prepared, did not expect Matías momentum or her own reaction to the invasion of every inch of her body. They ended up exhausted and soaked and wanting to stay with their bodies alongside each other. Therefore they decided that the young man would remain in her room until the morning to avoid having to give explicit explanations later. If this bothered the Lucioni they would have to chew their displeasure in silence.

In the middle of the night, Debbie lit the little table lamp, and observed the boy who slept peacefully. She wanted to fix his traits in her memory, something difficult to do in the everyday bustle. It struck her a strange dark spot with a rhomboid shape at the base of his neck.

“Well, many people have birth spots.”  She thought. In that moment Matías stirred in bed and Debbie decided to turn off the light, not to wake him  unnecessarily up. Finally, exhausted she also fell asleep for nine consecutive hours.

The next day and after a short family deliberation, a trip to the Los Alerces National Park was organized. In the old family van they toured the miles that separated it from Esquel. Debbie, who already knew Bariloche and San Martín de los Andes admired the beauty of this site, much more solitary  with landscapes of lakes and wild forests including those of the gigantic and ancient alerces. The views of the lakes from the winding road, sometimes at a certain height from them and others at its level were of a captivating wilderness. No doubt Matías exhibited his native site with a certain pride, although devoid of fuss.

They arrived back in  Esquel shortly before of the dinnertime based on  Patagonian lamb that had been grilled for hours. Debbie wondered how whether she would digest the greasy meat of lamb at night, but she could not refuse to eat it since she was in fact the honoree.

In the extended meeting after dinner they spoke of families and acquaintances. Debbie, a little excited, said that her father's family had been wiped out in Germany during the war, in a dark field of concentration near a site called Wewelsburg, and that only her grandfather had been spared, rescued by the Allies and emigrated to Argentina.

The two women were then talking alone while they were washing and accommodating the dishes, unusual task for the girl. The hostess had already expressed during the dinner that she had lived part of her life in her native Mapuche indigenous reservation, as a member of the Llanquinao clan. Debbie, always interested in the topics of indigenous peoples, asked Ayinhual about the Mapuche ceremonies.

“Ah! The most important  is the nguillatun.” Explained Matías mother. “ It is carried out in February. It is a collective supplication for the welfare of the clan and its families. They assemble a rehue or altar with  coligües reeds and the boys and girls dance the tero dancing to the beat of the kultrún. When I was a child I've been calfu malen.”

“Calfu malen?”

“Yes, blue girl, selected to participate in the supplication.”

The talk continued long. The woman captivated Debbie´s mind her anecdotes and memories. Ayinhual impressed Debbie as a determined and passionate person and involuntarily contrasted her character with that of her husband Gerardo. The woman was burning fire, self-affirmation, security, simple and clear positions, all traits that Debbie thought as best represented by strong primary colors, in her husband were reservation, meditation, self-restraint, silent action and pastel shades.