A few momemts afterwards an elderly black woman dressed in a yellow garment more than white tresses emerged regarding 2nd-floor window. She featured baffled but acknowledged Willy. “ Hola. Hola. ” She acceptance you upstairs.
Their identity try Gladis Castaneda, and she was a specialist ancient pianist when you look at the Havana throughout the the newest 1950s. She was a small lady in her own 80s otherwise 1990s. She nodded when he stated Los angeles Reina. Sure, she said, he’d lived-in so it neighborhood, proper across the street. Here, regarding skin, was an individual who understood the fresh epic Superman-evidence, in fact, your man in fact resided.
Superman, Castaneda said, try high, strong, respected. “Folk know him while the Queen,” she told you. “He had been gay, you did not mess with your.” She questioned me to stay. “He was the level. But solid. Muscular.” He had facial skin including hers: ebony, not extremely. “He had been an excellent man. No body got an issue with your.” I asked if everybody in the people realized exactly what the guy performed having a living. “Child, it had been years ago. He remaining many years ago.”
Willy asked if the she know what turned of your, and you will she told you she thinks the guy passed away for the Miami. Her opportunity try waning, and you can Willy nodded in my opinion to point the time had come i wade.
Down on the road, i came across a classic people bending contrary to the wall. His title is actually Elado. He carried a beneficial cane and you may wore a free environmentally friendly sweater that have a beneficial Masonic symbol clinging out of a cycle to his shoulder. Willy told your we had been interested in information on the guy they entitled Los angeles Reina.
“ Si, si, ” the outdated man told you. “Los angeles Reina-people understood your. Mulatto. About your top,” the guy nodded inside my advice. “Anyone acknowledged him. He lived right here to own two decades. However, every person knew what he did to have a living.” The guy told you Superman left on the You.S. for the 1959. “No-one realized his term. Anyone just titled your La Reina.”
I inserted her roomy flat, and you may Willy explained whatever you had been doing
Down the street of the church, roosters crowed. A good girl dressed in Rollerblades talked to your a cover phone. A classic man in a fabric tennis cap smoked good cigar on a beneficial backless solid wood sofa.
His tresses is white and you will insane
We walked as a consequence of Los Sitios to your Barrio Chino up to we showed up within 507 Marquis Highway. I stood in the street studying the entry so you’re able to an excellent martial-arts college or university: Escuela Cubana de- Wushu. It had a yellow and you will yellow facade with a silver foo dog and you may a purple iron entrance.
The entranceway are discover. Into the side gate is an effective courtyard with a tiny bistro and many stationary gym equipment. The latest theater shortly after endured where the school’s outside courtyard grew to become. We tried to envision where the phase could have been. The putting on a costume place in which Superman open to the latest reveal. The fresh new balcony in which drunken tourist watched the latest performance.
A short time later on we returned to Barrio de- los Sitios so you can material for other individuals exactly who have recognized Superman. On the apartment strengthening close to Gladis Castaneda’s, i came across Superman’s real neighbors: a former pizza chef titled Roberto Cabarero, 82 yrs . old, with a greatly tarnished and you may longer strength shirt, sagging brownish shorts to your fly wide-open, and black colored socks which have openings about foot. His body sagged particularly a-sea turtle’s.
Cabarero’s flat, where he resided together with spouse, is lightweight and you will ramshackle, plagued by rubbish. His spouse sat in the center of the small family area, rocking backwards and forwards in the a solid wood sofa, speaking loudly from the not one person particularly. A radio blared tinny old Spanish tunes plaudere mit asiatischen MГ¤dchen, and your dog came in and you can outside of the area to help you consume crumbs from the floor. A security time clock sounded through the duration of our appointment. No one annoyed to turn it off.