La Dona Maria / “Boriken”
Regret, at so young an age, is regret unto oneself…one looks at how brief life is and regrets the unfortunate choices made as battles lost without ever having fought them…
Memories…
And she longed for...
All that she left and was…
All she had known and wanted…
Alone…
...she longed for...
the fair haired boy she knew so long ago, who amused her in youth, long before Baldo, never could...
...she longed for…
all she promised herself, those she dreamed of and still dream of...
...she longed for…
Her father, Don Lilo…the day before his death upon which he left her a trinket and a thought of defiance, “Dando y dando, palomita volando” ...he sang as she danced roundabout his guidance...once he was everything to her but she never really knew him. And now there was only darkness...
Padre / “Dando y dando, palomita volando” / remember that you have to die
Don Lilo, long delayed a much needed journey back home to Genoa... “Dando y dando, palomita volando"... he recalled the days of life together with his daughter before the dilemma of wealth and the cold indifferent world that had come between them..."you were a free bird once and yet, you chose irons to bejewel yourself in tarnished glamour."
Don Lilo had come into money, after selling his small shipping concern in Genoa to Baldo and The Church. Moving to Málaga, Spain with his daughter Maria, Don Lilo continued to manage shipping details of the business while he set his daughter free who then turned against him, broke his heart to be an elitist socialite. Don Lilo unhappy with the wealth bestowed upon him sought to give Maria the rich life he felt she deserved...the life that would eventually drive her away from him...and to Baldo.
Don Lilo was openly against Maria’s relationship with Baldo, who was more than fifteen years her senior, too old it seemed, to pique the interest of such a young and innocent girl, but the glimmer of wealth in a big city became the draw and her comfort. Though in doubt, she longed for the hope she imagined upon agreeing to marry Baldo...despite her father...and the awareness that her self-imposed ignorance resulted in Father’s death.
The sound of duende filled the air as he walked alone in the streets of Málaga after a drink and celebration then sadness, the cries and the sound of anguish and tragedy from an open window came the sound of a gypsy song… death in the guise of familiar faces from the darkness of la cantina. A night of misery that caressed him in fear, the two men came to him as he drank and as festive as they were they wondered who he was, where he came from, why he was here in Malaga… "you sound Genovese, si, why are you here?"
"My daughter…"
"Su hija, si, bella, si….
"Es bella."
"Let us drink with you, liven your misery, jest with us until then, until your misery is gone."
And they did, their familiar faces became darkness without jest, death was their friend to introduce to Don Lilo…The men hovered and laughed over Don Lilo’s bloodied body, his eyes and body deflated of its soul, the shell collapsed of structure but longing for Maria...the two men walked away with death having spoken it’s orders and carried out.
Aaron Dessner, Transpecos: Final Theme
Don Lilo dragged his limp and beaten body back to the Last Cantina he visited; by the time The Crowns soldiers noticed and identified the body and his importance, he had died from the assault. An inquest ordered by the court found no suspect... before Maria left for the new world and had lost interest...
duquende
remember that you have to die
To see the darkness...
after the light
haunts the light and is always there...
Even in the light there is darkness without expectation...
There is never only light...
But when there is no light there is darkness...
Before the light there was always and only darkness...
Light must rest from questions of the darkness...
Darkness by default questions existence itself...
Darkness is why...
It is assumed that only the light consumes energy but darkness is the energy...
It is a side that seems to deceive...
But in truth is honest, almost to a fault...
Its feared because it represents as unknown as the truth really is...
What we perceive as the truth is an assumption and accepted without question while darkness is questioned and preferred but humankind doesn't ask but more often questions the light assuming the answer and fears the darkness because it's questions answered...
Darkness has its consequences as all does, always ask a question or be taken a fool...
In this year of our Lord, 1569 and great King Philip II of Spain, Don Baldo and his wife, Maria now known as La Dona Maria had come to live their lives in San Juan Bautista. Now a young important lady of Spanish society, La Dona Maria, finally came to live with her husband, Don Baldo in the King's recent land possession, a very large parcel in La Isla de San Juan Bautista. Twenty-four years old as history reveals her, Maria arrived long after Baldo had and neither was especially eager to see the other when she finally did and sat for a quiet dinner… a civilized, proper woman of status who often said the right things at the right time in the right way but deliberately remained uneducated and illiterate when she married. While in Spain and previously as a child in Genoa, Maria didn’t beckon opportunity, query or challenge the existing societal protocols. Spain and the new land held nothing for her but isolation, thus she would come to regret having so far wasted her life...
The King had awarded Don Baldo, along with a small group of landowners in Spain, an opportunity to develop commerce in “El Puerto Rico” through the development of agriculture and the mining and transport of gold and other minerals in the Kings new land; called such by the merchants who noted the potential for great wealth the Island and the new world offered to the old.
Don Baldo hosted a tour for his guests; the elite of society, through most of the completed parts of the new house, all of whom traveled from Spain to spend time on the estate; having sailed for weeks to celebrate a new life, a new home and distinction appointed by The King to settle the new land along with a few other Spaniards and celebrate Nochevieja.....Don Baldo, a brutish man of obvious intelligence, physically fit and thick though showing the legacy of a physique once built, now soft and plump...Baldo had been honorably discharged from the King’s army and was now tasked to begin an operation in the King’s new world, taking his brother Tomas, who had been told to leave the King’s army under the guidance of his brother. Tomas also brutish still built and self indulgent, but showing age and wear though sharp almost invasive eyes where the fear of age had instead become an acute awareness of danger and death...and the strength he held to manage the consequences of confrontation...
Baldo, after several problems with the presence of blood money in his and Tomas’s financial dealings; were sent to establish a hold on Puerto Rico’s trade market to supply the Spanish, traders and partners in the rich port of San Juan Bautista...
Maria…
She looked down upon her cupped hands to see the memento mori a reminder of life as it is...
And she thought...
Love and hate...
...cry the wont of desire in words of song that emerge from the music of an Iberian-Muslim performer and band leader, Esteban Daza and his band…Seńor Daza’s band, whose performance was a gift from the King, was a contemporary and prominent musical artist throughout Spain and much of Europe. Well known for their very edgy look, Daza and his band displayed a very sexy, effeminate and androgynous look; they arrived a few days before Baldo's other guests, played favorites, establishing a theme for the house and the King’s authority, played Nochevieja, an ode to all that has come before and will… a ballad of all our regrets, our pain and desires we are leaving behind in the past year and hope to encounter in the next…
As Daza and the band performed, Maria looked across the room to the stair landing. There her deceased father stood for a moment, dressed in a fine tanned linen suit...sadness seemed to overwhelm his sudden appearance and she wondered, knowing it was her sadness...his death teased her, tears welled up calling attention to the emptiness she felt even when Baldo was about...but she smiled, nonetheless.
After providing a tour for his guests, Don Baldo took note of Seńor Daza and paused at the top of the stairs a moment…he looked across the room at Daza as his guests collected on the stair landing and then to Maria as she returned a quizzical gaze...
Maria stood from her chair, summoning Irene, her ladies maid; perhaps her closest friend and the other women of the colony and their Maids. They approached and encircled Daza and his band of Troubadours where she greeted him and the band…
"Nochevieja, Señora...May I play a song for you, Dona Maria"?
Maria nodded, a flirting perhaps coy smile the other women emulated...she was desired again as she had been on the continent...for a moment here where she was alone in a veil of male desire...
Nochevieja
A whole year had passed and Baldo was finishing a new house, modeled on a contemporary architectural style popular on the continent and constructed amongst the Iberian imperial experimental fields of sugar and coffee as well the islands crop of cassava, corn, vegetables, fruit, and rice that he was charged with. When complete, already six months under construction, Baldo would inform his guests and many queries from Spain; the house would occupy the same land area as that of the town…a residence for he and his wife, guest rooms, a military barracks to accommodate the King’s soldiers, a master kitchen, a dining salon and mess hall, stables to accommodate horses and other animals adjacent to a farm, a small garden, a jail on the same floor as the slave quarters...
Maria and her clique of lonely women surrounded Daza and the band performing serenades meant for the women of the colony, a concern often discussed on the voyage from Spain; the loneliness of their lives in a foreign land and the void he hoped to fill for them through his music... “Si Señor, una canción de la gitana reprimida.”
Taking note of the small mirror Daza presented to the women, Baldo approaches Daza with a greeting, hoping to break Maria’s attention to the mirror and the fondness of the other women to the bands allure…though even Daza’s wasn’t enough to satisfy Maria’s desire; how does anyone find the solace they wish in such a male dominated wilderness? La Dona knew she was nothing else but a possession to Baldo, to flaunt and use in society to promote his single minded purpose of power.
"Seńor Daza, isn't my new home so beautiful?” Don Baldo spoke up. "Very much like the homes we left behind in Spain, si Seńor?" Looking at Daza, touching the white walls, fondling the brushed white cement and waiting for an acknowledgment, getting nothing then looking to his guests, Don Baldo announces…
"Hombres, please join me for a drink of the Kings brandy and celebrate Nochevieja...Señor Daza, if you would please...play." Daza broke the song he had been playing for Maria and quickly found something to serenade Don Baldo.
…Maria knows the experience of the others...
So lost…
So out of touch...her only acquaintances that of the other lonely women on the island, the soldiers and the occasional traveler passing through...
"Seńor, I’m told you are a fantastic performer, desired by many of the most important families in Spain"…she said to Daza.
"Señora, I am here to perform for you and you are a member of one of these important families from Spain…why are you here?"
"At the request of the King, after all, there’s more than gold to be had from San Juan…"
"Si, Seńora...and how is your relationship with Don Baldo?"
"Married and quite lonely...Baldo is often occupied with his and the Kings island interests…"
Baldo and the visiting colonists celebrate Nochevieja, the arrival of the New Year, eating grapes hourly and nursing the King's strong Brandy until dawn. Seeing themselves as revolutionary by challenging the will of the Spanish Empire and the wishes of the King, commending themselves, while at the same time ignoring their elegant wives and using slaves for hard labor.
Domingo, a caballero and rancher loyal to the King, different from the others, a suave, handsome man, arrived with a gift from the King to La Dona Maria; a very dark male native standing strong and tall against the weight of iron cuffs, chains and wooden blocks held taut by Domingo's men as they hauled him to the landing. Domingo, very intelligent and thoughtful man, composed and aware of the volatile midst within which his mild almost innocent demeanor he must operate in, who felt all men should be free, often spoke his mind, shining a brightness many felt was too bright.
Domingo's men held the dark native taut in the harness he was lashed in at the top stair landing knowing they had caught the bull of the natives and one would think, how he was a so strong a man to be caught. Turning to Baldo, Domingo explains the native is not just a worker but a native who has thwarted Indian and Spanish authorities for years, living in the wilderness, a native cura, his intelligence is superior to the others and he might be useful for more than just tending to the fields.
"Domingo, please," Baldo said. “You sound enthused by the natives abilities, leave intellect to the Spanish…”
“And you?” said Domingo. “
“Never mind what I am to them and what you think of me except that I am a warrior… those we conquer only serve the Crown, whatever that may be and nothing else. The Church has decreed their dark skin is a sign of their deficiencies.” After a moment, Don Baldo continued, “Maria will find some use for it, if she can, if it is worth making use of...if not I will.”
Baldo's guests join him in laughter and walk off into a larger sitting room where the servants pour them more drink.
As he joins the other guests, Domingo takes note of a man who bears an incredible likeness to Baldo who then proudly turns to all and introduces Tomas, his brother. Tomas and his aides, reluctant to step out of the darkness they cluster evermore in a tighter circle around Tomas. Tomas arrived on the ship with the others but stayed alone and isolated from the rest...Domingo did at one point during the voyage, notice a man on deck who reminded him of Baldo but before he could approach, the specter disappeared..."como un vampiro". Tomas deliberately stayed unseen and hidden from the other passengers until their landing and even then Tomas disembarked separate from the other passengers, trying to stay, unnoticed.
Tomas drank alone...sulking, fuming constantly as a flame one can never truly stamp out...something if not everything gnawed at him, it seemed that he couldn't quite care for anyway, a gnaw he tells no one of...it smolders and he relishes it to rise from its ashes as a flame seeking to expire with everything around him...
Warrior brothers, Baldo and Tomas...Baldo entered into business with funding from the King, his criminal behavior and associates from the wars...Tomas became a mercenary who relished in the misery and death of others, much more sadistic than Baldo and eventually entering into the employ of The Inquisition…then of course the employ of his brother...
Though not twins, Baldo and Tomas look very much alike; Tomas, who is not so trusting of most people, especially of Maria’s assumed innocence believes her untrustworthy and cunning…Tomas, a paranoid man, likewise not to be trusted and equally not trustworthy...single minded about his intentions, very much into his own interests above all else...he sees protecting Baldo equal to protecting his own interests and will do so without concern for others…
In conversation with Domingo who, like other men, is enamored with La Dona, Tomas detests La Dona and other women equally, he sees La Dona as a threat to his brother and any threat to his brother is a threat to him. Standing just outside, Tomas listened in and could hear the women yearn and talk of their mundane lives away from the luster of Spain. Surrounded by thick jungle there was nothing but the monotony of green fauna as far as they could see...
Baldo appears from behind and requests Tomas’ attention. Domingo has provided Maria a gift, a slave to attend to her needs. Along with Tomas, Baldo tells Maria they have received a gift from the King, delivered by Domingo.
"Señora", Domingo informs La Dona, "Anani, the new male slave taken during a recent rally, comes from deep in the jungle outside of the compound who supposedly never worked any ones field’s, a renegade Taino native...a cura who has avoided capture.” “Which means,” Tomas says, “he has not experienced hard work as has all the slaves but has been frolicking in the forest avoiding responsibility.”
Maria points out “we have many servants and slaves. What will we do with another who cannot speak our language nor understand our customs, what to do with another slave?”
“An answer, my love or I will decide.” Baldo turns to walk away as his men file away in unison...
Anani stands in the dark, trying to look into the room as a guard pulls him back. Likewise, Maria looks back into the outer room where Anani stands in wooden blocks and chains his darkness beholds a mystery she doesn’t understand but hopes to, seeing the whites of his eyes pierce through the darkness he stands in…he sees her past the others who fill the room and for a moment they have recognition of each other and desire lights a candle of interest…
Irene, reaching in to comment from behind, points out that it is "a gift from The King, it is only appropriate that you accept it, Señora…"
Looking at Baldo as he walks away…"Well, if my husband believes so... and you put it with the others and awaken Tilda to tend to him...keep him chained until I decide what better to do…"
Irene approaches La Dona to whisper, "Señora, I would like you to meet Sema, a native who can act as ladies maid I've trained her myself."
"That's fine; do you think I will need her?"
"It's possible I may have to tend to Don Baldo's additional needs when he travels", taking notice as she walks along the balcony La Dona Maria sees Don Baldo and his visitors take a native woman and raping her in the old stable on the perimeter of the fields…Angered, upset and interrupting Irene, “that he would rather consort with a slave rather than bed me in such passion to provide her a child…”
"Señora, in time...."
Daza
"La Dona?"
"Si Senor, Daza."
"Puedo entrar?"
Maria walked the halls alone. Daza and his band were provided with wonderful rooms on the master level like the other gusts of privilege. Maria walked the halls looking for interest…Señor Daza opened his door after Maria had passed, she stopped and looked back to meet his attention.
"Senor Daza, are you alone?"
Opening the door a little wider, Maria looked in to see Graziela, his singer, laying on the bed vaguely trying to hide behind lingerie.
"Tonight I am Senora."
"May I join you?"
Daza opened the door a little wider and Maria invited herself in to which he stepped back and allowed her to pass and close the door…
Anani’s First Night
The distant sound of a flute, a guitar, each tuned with a hunger for melody, danced along the stone walls...a rumbling of hand played drums emerged, distant thunder caressing each demanding the senses listen…the halls fill as semen in a cup of warm menstrual blood.
Blood trickled from the kiss of cold iron against Anani's skin, the cuff wrapped tightly around his wrist, hanging from chains dribbling moisture, clasping the iron lattice roof completing the cage. The strength of the Spaniards and priests of The Catholic Missions; vampires eating the living, the dead and the soul of those they conquered, fuel for imperial tyranny was almost more than Anani expected, almost, though he would resist what was soon to come. Anani's arms wrenched high and above his head, kneeling forward, knees scarred and tender from the pain inflicted by the guards whose indifference was equally palpable as they walked passed...
Sema knew Anani, his might and his intentions, exceptional though he would never have been caught if he desired it...Sema was long an acquaintance and even now a friend of Irene. Irene had long hoped for a friend with an established native when she arrived; Sema had become a friend almost immediately. They were both looking for an advantage in an unknown world and culture and despite their innate differences there were many similarities that would get them through the storm.
On November 1493 or thereabouts, 1493 Christopher Columbus was hailed by the Spanish Crown for his discovery of Puerto Rico on his second voyage to claim lands for the rulers of Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. In 1493 the island was called Borinquen by the Indians who lived there. Columbus re-named it San Juan Bautista.
Anani was born in 1518, 51 years of age at this point, he was captured while sharing a small last supper with his followers and a group of Taino during a Spanish rally and immediately submitted to the Spanish guard present.
A very patient man, much older than most imagined, Anani knew of all the hardship to come... ever since the Spanish arrived he had been preparing for death, aware of how sudden it could happen…the force, that of hurakan... had come again... Anani knew of the forces that guided men to wantonly rule over others without care or respect… Years before, lost in memory, he had suffered such agony under the rule of a Native group that had seen fit to oppress the others… Anani found it possible to escape with an ailing cura, Mendoza and clear the oppression and develop under her guidance.
Anani learned much about his own people after the Spanish invasion, the fear the Spanish felt as well as the fear they commanded. The Spaniards and the Catholic Church saw the world in such a different way that The Taino frightened the Spanish as well as earned their respect…
Born after the Spanish had turned on the Taino… Anani noted the Spanish weren’t angry with them but angry with themselves and the stress of filling their need to rule those they conquered, their rage and a terrible fear of the unknown in The New World. Restless giants, moving on to fulfill restless needs undefined... cálmese... Frightened animals of fear...the end result wasn’t about winning but surviving the restless might of the Spanish... Anani, spent a lot of his time learning about himself and his people gathering information that would help defend the history of his people before the rage of the Spanish wiped them out... a Cura, a wise man...he spent most of his life living off the land away from his own and the rage of the Spaniards…
A man like Anani is never just killed...his soul lives on without a proper ritual death that eliminates his being, his value to others, otherwise he lives on in the hearts and minds of those who worship and love him and as a threat to their conquerors… Anani will die young, relative to the ages of those who came before him, the world, civilization moves too fast and there is little time for his contributions... Where did the Spaniards find such rage...like most humans, conquerors lived under their belief of a well ordered existence, a well oiled machine with an established direction lacking purpose and that to follow order and procedure is what existed...to follow your own wishes was against the church, god and wrong… in that respect, Anani was a natural threat to others especially those in authority and must battle a Spanish guard while chained…
Looking out across the horizon, cloudless and filled with the colors of a setting sun, a great foreboding came over the calmness he knew for so long. After guiding Mendoza through her last few days of passage through life, he was now alone and knowing for so long that what had come before was to come again...
Last Rights
Maria sat in her wicker chair on the balcony looking out on one of the many acres of Don Baldo's fields…
Daza approached La Dona, reminding her of the night before but she immediately reminds him last night, “was last night, a casual necessity, Seńor, an amusement that I need no more of as wonderful as it was, thank you...” she does own the hearts of men who desire her and in the new world she reigns…. but of nothing else...but herself, her proper ways, her ability to present herself as a woman of substance and though not a player among many, he exits her life no more than, no less than... "I hold the world but as the world, Dona Maria; a stage where every man and woman plays a part, mine favored by others, though a sad one."
Baldo approaches as Daza leaves, neither acknowledges the other…
“I must go my love...” Baldo says. “The King requests a task that will take me time, months, and a year perhaps...as usual throughout the islands and eventually the mainland, the new world, to which I have yet to travel...” Baldo holds a hidden agenda; an objective... doubts seem to defy his objectives…
“I will have Tomas with me and he will leave aids to care for our needs as the King needs them and yours...”
Baldo rests her chin in his outstretched fist, clear in the knowledge that she knows, Baldo tries to console her “we will have sex when it is decided we will have a child…you are my love Maria, to be the mother of my son...in a place held high in waiting...I’ve chosen your purity and beauty...patience my love for you are greater than I desire, than I deserve...I will return, but I need you to tend to the business of the house at hand while I'm gone, most will tend to itself but stay aware...Be aware of the others. All this is yours while I am gone; but I shall return.”
Baldo turns quickly, calling the others to follow as the clamor of their swords; armor and the cadence of their march announce their departure... while Tomas slows his pace and turns to give Maria a penetrating look of distrust…
So much more and now the concerns of their domain become her concern…
Irene approaches from behind, "Señora, as I had previously mentioned, Sema is a confidant who I have enlisted, to care for you and only you as I am in care of so much more..."
"I need no one..." she said proudly.
"Perhaps, you believe....but it will be comforting while Don Baldo is gone..."
Maria quickly turned to Irene…"You worry that Baldo will be gone?”
"Yes, content that Tomas will not be here and instead will be with Baldo. Tomas has left an aide, to care and watch you, but not assist you... I have been made busy by them and I worry, Sema will help my concern, she is very good and devoted to her duty, to me and you...”
”Entonces Irene; bless your friendship in my Father's absence...”
“Señora, I and the women of the island are devoted to you, whatever preparation is needed will be brought to bear to protect La Dona's freedom...”
Irene noted, “and you should know, Dona, that Anani has been put to work in the fields...”
“Que?”
“The native cura brought to you over Nochevieja. Do you want him working in the fields?”
“A cura?”
“Si….”
“Put him to work in the field nearest the balcony so I can see him…”
“Si senora.”
Fugue…she imagined, nothing seemed complete, direction was given without completion…and the tasks of the slaves was continuous, likewise the tasks of their Masters…who were as much slaves to themselves, no one was truly free.
Anani had been put to work immediately by Quicando the arbiter of slaves, felt it necessary to be aggressive with Anani. Yes to nurture, to make him submissive and learn the ways of the church and the ways of a slave under the Spanish empire...only then would he survive, their way…
Quicando wasn't known to care for the slaves but was practical in his concern for labor's efficiency; which inherently translates to the slaves benefit...despite that truth, Maria noticed Anani seemed to attract a large measure of abusive care and… he was more dangerous to the Spaniards than one dare admit.
Maria could see Anani buckle under the hardened bamboo reeds the guards used to beat him, first below in the darkened and misty lower floors of the building and now in the scorching crop fields above. He had lost the statuesque physique over night that she had seen stand before her the previous night on Nochevieja. This was the first he had been taken above to be trained, early in the morning just as the sun rose until Maria’s shaded appearance in the heat of the sun. He looked about but could never see beyond the shadows of the crippling heat, the sun and the punishment of the guards. Anani knew only the darkness from below until his sight grew used to the light and then he noticed her as she walked away into the darkness of the cool shade.
La Dona, they called her, as he had heard from vague ramblings, of the others and of those above, concerns that she would be alone now that Don Baldo had gone off on business and left the command of the house to her. She had become aware of all she had purposefully dismissed from thought. At first a task that she was less concerned with was now one of interest and then one of great concern.
La Dona sat on the balcony in the comfort of her wicker chair looking out on the field where dozens of field workers, men, women and children toiled in the high noon sun tilling the soil. Unaware of the hardship and trauma the work really was putting them through... she was the child of privilege she imagined she was like them but they were far worse off than her, privilege isn't a given, she thought, nor is it a right we deserve, it can be taken away and neuter you. The slaves’ lives were always in danger if anyone could imagine what their lives were like. They were tools of labor, nothing more. A man working in the distance looked like her Father. He stood for a moment, back hunched, shoulders down. Maria then looked away but every direction she chose to look in was another person; a person. She didn’t see or acknowledge them as tools from a kit to be used but more closer in she could see Anani, who became less a thought and more the reality of what she was causing and what she was becoming. One can never notice the mechanics of concern when it occurs, it is suddenly present and you become aware and act…
“Irene, when Quicando has finished with him for the day take me down to see Anani...” she stood up from her comfort and walked away...
Maria has lost her way…all those blessed intentions are lost…those moments I expected have become a truth so unexpected…I was to stay without wonder, without question, the horror was the truth discovered and unsettling making her defiant…
Sueño…
Maria recalled a dream and awoke to the abyss, to look in between soft blood red and black satin curtains, she could see the Wizard awaken from his work, turning and noting the slightly parted curtain through which she could see him and it thrust a single eye of truth that turned her away in fear...
The day’s sun left the heat of the forest to fill the midday of the room as La Dona lay nude on the large bed, disturbed by the sudden dream subverting a rare moment of freedom away from the chaos she seemed to have inherited…a distant sound of footsteps danced along the wooden floors and stone walls than faded away. She could hear the sound of restless guitar strings, then a blanket of silence settled upon her for a moment…she turned over, facing the window into the fields, the forest, hands clasped and the world spoke to her in new sights and sounds she had never been aware of before… eyes and ears opened upon a new world and the old world pressed upon the forest like the boot of a child removing an ant hill from its imperial wanderings…suddenly cold, she unclasped her hands to raise the blanket and revealed her palms covered in blackness… she sat up to examine the blackness of her hands, painted in a black abyss of nothingness; dios mio, she proclaimed and clasped her hands as if to pray… Maria turned around to face the door and there stood a very large black dog watching her with blue eyes as if it had brought a gift to show. Maria was startled for a moment but the dog continued standing in position at the threshold, looking at her then at the window and then walked gently across the room, it's large paws barely producing a sound from its paws and stood up on its hind legs in front of the window. Looking back at Maria, the dog paused to wonder then back to the window, when it jumped over of the railing, through the window and into the forest…Maria quickly turned over, leaping forward off the bed to look out over the window ledge into the forest and saw nothing, not a leaf had been disturbed. The dog was gone. Maria stepped back from the open window taking note that her palms were clear now. Looking back up into the room she saw that her Father appeared with Maria as a child sitting on the mattress. Whispering into the child's ear, then looking back at Maria beside the open door he turned quickly to see Baldo marching, walking intently down the hall toward them in his formal military uniform and regalia. Don Baldo burst through the open door and roared like he had become a beast, angrily turning his head, stepping right up to Don Lilo, grabbing his arm to pull him viciously away from Maria and tossing him like a doll to the side. Baldo turns quickly back to Maria, his eyes bloodshot with rage, his mouth foaming, grabbing her by the arm and tearing it off to reveal the older Maria; then looks to see her at the window then turns and marches away…Don Lilo stands from the floor and crosses back to the bed, watches Baldo walk and turn to the stairs… he turns to look at Maria, holding his hands out pleading, “por favor.” A thunder clap and a heavy rain begin, she turns to see water pour from the sky… lightening strikes bringing sudden daylight… She stepped back from the window and the subtle spray of rain, to crawl back onto the bed. The thunder continued to roll until she turned and could hear the rumble become a stomping throng of slaves rushing passed the door. Maria looked out into the swarm filling the halls and a fire had been set to the wood trimming the stone walls. There, a large silhouetted figure, a black man, walking forward from among the flames, stood still, surrounded by the fire as the throng dissipated. She rests against the stone wall by the door away from the hall and she could hear the steps of the black giant walk gently by but never pass and instead become the distant sound of footsteps dancing along the stone walls and wooden floors fading away, silence and disappears… she awakens… in bed again
The house is darker, an early evening sun sets…
She thought, “Where am I? I have lost my way…all those blessed intentions are lost…those moments I expected have become a truth so unexpected…I was to stay without wonder, without question, the horror was the truth discovered and unsettling making her defiant…
Cleansing…
“Quicando!!!” La Dona, called out.
Awaking in a terrible panic, La Dona looked out on the dark fields, the slaves were gone and noticed the sun was setting outside... She called for Irene, demanding she be escorted to the lowest floor.
“Señora, porque?”
“Irene, ayudame, escort me to the lower levels.”
“I don't understand?”
“The slaves; take me to their stalls.”
La Dona looked angrily at Irene.
“Si,” Irene turns, leading the way…
On the walk down the wide stone stairs Irene asks, “Que pasa, Señora?”
“Very much to me but nothing that concerns you.”
“Si Señora.”
Arriving at the lowest landing, a staircase away, she noted the stains on the stone walls, marks made by the hands of slaves as they guided themselves up and down the stairs as well as the rotted stench coming from the slaves sleeping quarters and the slaves themselves...iron cages in-line with each other stretching from the darkness and a single lit torch in the distance...Once she effectively adjusted to the smell, Maria walked along the cages, looking...from behind appeared Quicando and soon as well, Padre Gonzales...both concerned with La Dona's sudden interest in the slaves...
“Señora, how can we help you?”, said El Padre, “You seem bothered?”
Finally Maria slows to a cage holding Anani...
“I am.”
Unsure of La Dona’s needs they wondered and waited…
“Clean him! “Maria demands Quicando provide that Anani is given a bath and his wounds tended to…
“Señora?”
“Bathe him…”
La Dona’s aides hesitate when she does not go or turn away… “I have seen a naked caballero before, clean him!”
The aides rushed about gathering wooden containers and filling them from water troughs along the walls at the bottom of the stairs. Two aides hauled one water filled container, propped it at the top of the cage and flipped to pour water over Anani’s head as he held onto an iron lattice to which he is chained crossing the ceiling. This man, they treated him like an animal and helped to gather their food, her food…the water had washed away the earth and revealed a man… not a savage…
Maria stands before the Taino, Anani while he sits alone in the cage...he stares back then rises in place... a lack of clothing leaves the animal exposed, the ambient window light sculpting his physique out of the darkness…
Anani emerged from the mist arising from the water poured upon him by the other slaves over his massive black skinned physique; his shoulders reflected the weak light still streaming in from outside, his strength and beauty appeared in the living silhouette.
“Gracias Señora...”
Surprised, she looked up as the rest did and she said…
“Tú entiendes?”
His voice a soft though deep timbre, resonant and clear, "Si Señora”…
Bath water drained lines of moisture, coursing across his physique, tributaries accent the flow of moisture raining onto the ground where he stood and continued to watch with expectation…
“Where do you come from?”
Anani cocked his head in wonder of the obvious…
“A savage land, Señora,” said Quicando
“I was asking him.”
“Si Señora”
“This land…this land that you have taken…no more savage than your land… we call it Boriken you have renamed La Isla de San Juan Bautista…I come from here, Senora, and it is far less savage than yours.”
“Are you saying that we have…”
“Stolen our world, I am saying the truth…”
“Are you a man?”
Quizzically, “Yes? Like any of these so called Spanish caballeros.”
“How did you learn our language?”
“Out of necessity; it is important that I know the language of my oppressors so that I can communicate and if necessary battle them with ease…to be in their mind to understand and be aware of their thought.”
“Amazing you believe you can battle the Spanish…”
“I don’t believe that I can, I must, we must defend ourselves; you give me, us no choice…”
The Spanish have infested our world with your customs and your diseases and your language…”
“Why?”
“You might consider me as one of your priests in a way, I teach the way of life and death and the concerns of life.”
“Are you a man?”
“Like Spanish men.”
“A savage man...”spoke Gonzalez
“Aren't we all...savagery is an act of reckless abandon, brutal and severe to any other being...which the Spanish have done.”
“If you were Spanish men perhaps.”
“What qualifies you to define the word? Says Anani.”
“We define the word and God qualifies us to do so...”
“Why are you so different?”
“Black?”
“Yes...”
“That is the color that I am, you are white and that is the color that you are, why? Because that is the color no more…”
“Leave!
Maria notices the extent to which Anani is injured and commands Irene to come up with her and dismiss the others
“You have fallen in love Maria.”
“Don’t be silly.”
Maria returns to Anani and waits for the sounds of the others of to dissipate
I have ointment…and hands it to Anani to apply.
“Senora, I can’t reach whatever that is…”
“True…” she looks and sees no one is about, “I shall have to apply it myself, it is an ointment you can apply using your fingers, scoop it from the jar and rub on the injuries to your skin…”
"It's very similar to many ointments born from the jungle..."
"I'm sure..."
Irene is rushing down the stairs and finds Maria applying it on Anani herself and backs away from sight...
“Senora?”
“Irene?
“Yes, do you need my assistance applying the ointment?”
“No Irene. I can do this myself.”
“The savage as well?”
“Yes, I can manage the man myself as well.”
Maria continues to apply the cream on Anani’s wounds as she listens for Irene’s steps to fade as she walks away. “Irene is gone. Can you speak quietly, in a whisper, so that no one can listen?
“Senora, my intentions and yours as well are innocent; there is nothing to fear, you don’t have to stay, but are you afraid?”
“True, but I should, I’m sorry, I feel I must and I am not afraid.”
“Minor remedies will not soothe years of pain. Your efforts are kind and I am grateful but your concern is unnecessary.”
Anani is somewhat unnerved by her presence but then she touches him….and smells him…
He Spoke to God
“Question what you perceive, what is every truth, even your most sacred of truths, one should never accept what you are told...” he said to Maria as she gently, very calmly rubbed the ointment on his injuries…”questioning does not mean disbelief but that you are not willing to accept what is given, than you know why and how. You won't be like God but you will be informed... you are not saying God is wrong, you want to know the whole truth, trust God but question God...to ask why is to know...”
“Does it hurt?”
“The ointment?”
Yes.”
“No, it does not.”
“You talk as man who believes he has spoken to God...”
“I believe I have... yours, mine, or both… I found myself open to all thought at once, to question and answers from me and to divinity, what I asked and thought was opened to me and discussed until my awareness was filled like a pool of divine water from which to draw from and quench my thirst when needed… the heavens had opened it doors and offered me the greatest knowledge, it is a vast ocean.”
“Anani has told Maria of his lone adventures with The Gods and learned of them and their ways…” Equating how humankind is treated by greater beings as the Imperial nations treat natives…
“Yes God, the heavens, is indifferent… We personify what we don't know what we wish to know and doesn't seem to be personified by itself...the universe is indifferent, God has a name because we really don't want God to be indifferent, we want God to be strong and decisive, we want someone to tell us what to do as confirmation...we may assume we do what we want but we want confirmation of our father, our mother, because it assures us a greater being is aware of our needs....what a horror it could be to truly realize God is indifferent; doesn't care, that we are alone and we are truly self reliant...no one can tell us what to do, no one cares to tell us what to do...we were never abandoned but never even considered of relevance...what is the great revelation of our cosmic consciousness the we are essentially on our own...our place is to question the universe...and often the question goes unanswered.The questions, the answers are of no concern.
“Baldo is gone and has left you alone to be yourself. assuming you will take charge what you believe is your opportunity to take control and show your ability… to show that you are aware… an opportunity to stand up for the truth and take a stand against the monarchy without the Monarchy being aware you have…”
“You are my Master, I am your tool...teach me…
Maria lusts for him…
Anani lusts for Maria…
Irene entered Anani’s cage, where he squat on toes deep in thought as she knelt, then sat in lotus beside him and applied the oil from a leaf to his injuries: considering her fondness for him…the light was still subdued casting a late afternoon blue light…barely any sound but quiet conversation from the other cages could be heard…
“Senora has already applied an ointment…”
Irene leans in close to note the scent upon him, “yes she has.” Looking up at him, she sat in his shadow, “did she apply it herself?”
“She did…”
“I didn’t know –”
“…that she would do such a thing?”
“Yes…she has changed, when first she came to the island she would never do that.”
“Where has she gone?”
“She’s asleep, resting. The day for her has been long…”
“She needs to learn…”
Irene backs away and with measured concern, asks…“Why are you here, Anani?”
”Irene, you do you know who I am.”
“I do and what you are but why are you here… as if I am not aware that you must have given yourself to the Spanish.”
Irene stood from up from sitting on the grass, turned to the gate to step away from Anani then stood still for a moment, a thought suddenly held her then…
“Anani, she is a good woman, a good young woman… sacrifice, no.”
“No…she will pass our heritage…through our son…”
“She is not with child…”
Anani stayed in silence… then stood and walked away to stand with his back to Irene as she turned and hurried off…
Lessons / The Dancing Slave
Areyto
The areíto or areyto was a Taíno language word adopted by the Spanish colonizers to describe a type of religious song and dance performed by the Taíno people of the Caribbean. The areíto was a ceremonial act that was believed to narrate and honor the heroic deeds of Taíno ancestors, chiefs, gods, and cemis. Areítos involved lyrics and choreography and were often accompanied by varied instrumentation. They were performed in the central plazas of the villages and were attended by the local community members as well as members of neighboring communities.
Irene awakens La Dona notifying her that Anani seems to be dancing.
For a moment, Irene looked at Maria while she slept, “Maria, el esclavo está bailando…” she says… Things were changing, for better or worse she didn’t know, but all would be different if Maria awoke to what she was saying. She had come to love and care for Maria like a daughter…she needed to be protected, to be set free how her father imagined, to become aware… Baldo had become her prison but never understood his role…Tomas knew and would soon at some point interfere and know what his role was becoming with respect to Maria’s place in it…
“Que?” said Maria…
She had been in the throes of a dream…
“I was in a dream… a child was calling my attention, a wave from the shadows, so dark I couldn’t see but felt its call...”
“...and the child?” said Irene.
“It looked like you when it finally appeared it looked like you and stood before me but quickly stepped back to be overcome by the shadows having moved forward to overwhelm and drape the child in its darkness...”
Irene, as if she immediately knew the dream… “The slave, he is dancing?”
“Como? Stay here… let me look.” and slid forward off the bed to dress quickly in a shawl…
“Senora, I will come down with you…”
“No Irene, I must go myself.” And she darted from the room half dressed.
Maria reached the lowest level slowing to a near stop but stepping forward in a soft step as the other slaves awakened and watched Maria become aware... of the dancing slave…
Maria watched without calling attention to herself…
An exotic dance that was overwhelming, every move a story a part of a whole that was the soul of his story…and the words, the song he sang in part with his dance…
…he never stopped once he took note of her, she continued to watch, Anani dancing for her, to her… she slowly steps up to the iron mesh, placing her hands as she watched, enamored by his spiritual exhibition that something whole with in him was dancing, the dancing wasn’t him but from a greater being…
Everyone is aware of Maria’s change, good or bad.
Quicando has been watching Anani while he sleeps. Quicando never trusted black people…their origins vague and unknown if not fearful and came from distant lands. “They are not to be trusted and will turn on each other for gain…and the Spanish don’t? Dona, their recklessness has been documented by even the Church…And you trust the Church, Quicando? Yes, more so than the Church…”
The Indian Taínos celebrated their circumstances through a religious ceremony called Areyto. Music played a vital role in the history and culture of Borikén meaning in their language, the Land of God.
The Areyto is very much a warrior dance he shows her almost showing off his prowess as a Taino warrior…
Anani speaks with Maria, asking of her life in Spain…
Anani speaks of his estranged wife and his children...
Order from Chaos
“Sema?”
“Si Irene?”
“They are in love.”
“You have seen this?”
“I have, everyone seems to and especially the slaves; I know…they carry on as though they have known each other for years yet they have only known each other but a few weeks. Everyone knows, their feelings for each other are clear and the danger they show no concern for is clear, Baldo will return.”
“It disgusts you?”
“No, their love for each other is pure; Baldo’s return frightens me… She nests with him in the cage, she speaks his language and learns his ways and I feel that I should stop their relationship but despite it, I love La Dona Maria as a child and see that she is happy and forbidding her love is not my place. She needs her father and her husband isn’t here to correct her…”
"Anani danced for her, his mannerisms evocative, erotic and very aggressive calling up feelings in her she's never shown before."
“Maria to Irene: he shows me, different ways that I understand and prefer….”
The slave secretly teaches her, finding that it is easier to teach her than it is to teach him. She learns his language and science and history and culture. She learns his myths and poetry. In turn, as she learns to communicate with him, he learns her ways too; though she knows little of her own world. She was brought up dumb and kept that way by society. She has become a show piece.
Irene, Maria’s only friend suggests she look for Sema to find help if ever she finds she must run Baldo...
She wants to know more from Anani since he seems willing to show her more. Maria has become addicted to Anani’s knowledge…
Maria grows fearful of being found out even by the servants...
She learns the beauty that he was taken from, and the horror of his journey.
Quicando, Irene and the others are especially aware of their friendship and especially Tomas’s aides keep notes of it all…
Maria makes love with Anani, never having done so before with her husband.
Love
There was that moment they both imagined they were alone but their love was a call to everyone, and everyone knew…Irene confronts Anani alone of his intentions in their romance…
Anani tells Irene of their growing love…
Much as any man, the desire of a companion becomes overwhelming and a woman as fresh and as pure as Maria is a gift, to know and want her more, to know of her and quench the desire is near unbearable... I worry for La Dona, that she has stepped beyond herself and her true calling…she has fallen for the Native, Anani.
Does she love him?
She does and he her…She knows about life in the cage… as if she were a slave without the labor of the fields…
Irene suspects their love-making.
Yes, their relationship has grown from respect to one of love and desire.
Anani has never been with a woman like this woman. Her skin was very white, as if the Great Spirit had forgotten to apply color on his creation and left it to her to decorate herself; a rouge dressing softens the bite of her plump cheeks over a white paste on her skin, black mascara and liner around her eyes. But the rest of her body covered in milk, the skin soft and forgiving to be caressed with wanton desire, softly to avoid any injury...her soft lines and plump curves…
Speak of the Taina loves he’s been with, she is different…
Lay in the grass of the cage that had become their bed of occasion…
Baldo was gone….
Maria reveals her cruel love for her father and tells Anani much of her past...
Irene watched, disconcerted and concerned at first she came to love them both…
Anani embraced conformity to survive…
Everyone understood what had become for them both and worried that it would not last…
Maria’s plump began to show, their love endowed, bright was a storm no one wanted to confess was coming….
Anani was aware that she carried small but still her body was carrying their child…
Irene kept their secret...consoled Maria and supported their desire to run before Baldo returned…
La Dona is with child. Do you realize the damage you have done?
I know exactly what I have done and I expected it…
A child?
She’s a grown woman more than able to make choices for herself...if she can make choices for the house
Yes…I allowed myself to be captured…
Irene questions Anani's intention, the love he is showing to Maria, is it true...? Yes, Irene...it is true. I came to find a woman to love, I allowed myself to be captured...hoping to fulfill a prophecy, find a woman I love to give birth to my child...
A boy?
A child, un alma, goeiz(soul), morete(creator)...
Anani chose to be captured, guided by desire to find someone who could carry on what he knows....
Finding Maria he impregnated her with his child to carry on the Taino legacy...he unexpectedly fell in love with Maria.
Maria was very special to him and just before he died she understood she had to survive…
Anani wanted to see the child, hold the child in his arms and bestow his purpose but that wouldn’t be...the world moves too fast...
Irene’s keen love for La Dona worries his reaction to accept death will not be as well accepted by La Dona.
Anani cries to the heavens for guidance…
The Chapel, Padre Gonzalez and Los Taino Angels...
Perhaps...Irene had wondered if escorting Maria to visit the Chapel just outside of Baldo’s compound to attend confession, to awaken her latent love of Christ but instead she confessed her unspoken love of Anani and admits concern that pregnancy is upon her and the fear it foretells… “Irene, I am fearful...I am alone but for you...” she visits with Padre Gonzalez, chosen by Baldo and escorted across the ocean especially for extremism and general instability and great love and misinterpretation of ancient text, Gonzalez was the perfect cleric who’s manic behavior would cause the populous to The Church and Balbo...Irene's thoughts are much more fair of mind and less clouded...Irene has Maria visit the church to evaluate her need for the spiritual...Simply put, there is but there has been no spiritual need in her heart or soul until now….
After a very short discussion with Padre Gonzalez that was without substance, Irene and Maria almost flee, step out and walk along barren path where they come upon Sema partially hidden in a womb of bushes, chanting to guides... An ancient practice of The Taino and of others who speak to humankind that has yet to completely pass giving guidance to many of the worlds adept civilizations aware of its humanity and connection to the fabric of existence. Sema suddenly stops but her eyes still closed, stands and approaches Maria. Guiding her to kneel before her, Sema begins to chant, Channeling Taino angels who ask questions in the Taino language, translated by Irene (Sema channels only in Taino) Maria then answers in Spanish...
Sema's knows of Anani's truth and how dangerous he can be to the Spanish...
Father / Momento Mori
Don Lilo appears to Maria and they talk of the risk ahead...Your child is beautiful…you must protect the child from all the danger you will confront in the near future…
Elaborate on Maria’s pregnancy timeline; concerned about all the aides knowing she is pregnant, looking for signs of her pregnancy, how to hide all of it from everyone, including Baldo…
Maria is pregnant and hides it from Baldo, who calls her fat. Maria confides in Irene about the pregnancy…
Irene to Sema: I couldn't bring myself to kill the child...it kicked, in need it kicked, at need, when I touched it knew, I couldn’t bring myself to take its life and being our lives back where all was without complexities and conformed but the child spoke to me…
What did it say Irene?
No words but the intention was strong...it spoke, no words and they were filled with will...
Sacrifice / Vision is a Naked Sword
Five weeks left for the child’s expected birth…
Anani wonders of what is about to come, The Master will return soon and Maria’s tender sprout will become evident and he must prepare, he will after defend and still welcome death…
Second Areyto dance to ponder the upcoming battle and the consequences of choices made out of necessity…
You are fat, Maria... Perhaps a strict regimen of exercise will help...Baldo returns and immediately discovers Maria’s pregnancy and goes to see her, which he normally never does…
Her pregnancy is brought to Tomas’ attention by one Tomas’ aides, Ingenio...
But just a day or two of hiding her notice of the pregnancy creates enough stress to cause her to faint before Baldo and the doctor informs them that she is pregnant. Baldo is stunned. How could she be, she is a virgin. He orders the pregnancy aborted the child removed from her body. Dona is held down and the operation is performed. The infant is dark and fitful for a breath as it struggles to breath still alive. The dark baby tells him that she has had sex with the slave. Baldo orders it killed. Then he realizes as he walks away he turns to Maria and the servants and demands the child be kept alive until he returns so that he can kill it himself…Keep it alive! I’ll return to kill it myself after I kill its father
The slaves in the field are wildly alert to the fight and don’t want to get involved in the mêlée, scattering like wild insects they quickly fall away to the edges of the field and watch.
As Baldo confronts Anani, neither understanding each other's language of fighting but quite aware of their intent...Baldo rushes down the short stair case out to bound across the field toward Anani. Baldo walks up from behind Anani and hits him with the flat of his sword, causing a bloody wound on his back. Anani doesn’t go down as Baldo might have expected but without a weapon he turns to confront Baldo who takes another swing but Anani retreats a step to let it miss him but continues facing Baldo. Anani looks up to the balcony, seeing Maria hold the bloody newborn in her arms while urged by Irene to escape by Irene. Baldo looks back to see the same as he is slammed by Anani. Becomes even more enraged and attacks Anani who easily protects himself from each of Baldo’s violent thrusts...while Irene and Maria escape from the balcony. Tomas appears at the other end of the balcony to chase Maria down; his anger toward Maria just as venomous.
And in her heart the strength arises in the child call from her Father “Dando y dando, palomita volando”, she must run.
Irene stands in Tomas’ way and is beaten to death…
Baldo turns back toward Anani and swings a backhand at Anani as he stands tall, open and prepared for the edge of the blade against his exposed neck and see his love, run as he whispers “Corre a Maria, corre ...you have seen the truth and through you all will learn and know the truth, you will not be alone as you move forward, all will see and learn and join the struggle. It will be long and grand and inevitable...” the long slow stare of death came upon him and he cherished what he saw...
continues to beat Anani as Tomas does the same to Irene.
Tomas continues to pursue Maria and the child, at first finding a small trail of blood she leaves that quickly dissipates and replaced by a blood trail from Irene’s fresh blood still draining from his weapon he used and his closed fists...Baldo appears from behind to join Tomas’ pursuit of Maria...but soon Baldo stops Tomas, realizing the chase is futile for now as troops and workers on horseback gather around to organize and pursue Maria…
Tomas flies aloft from the ship he sees below knowing that Sema is free with the child and Maria is free within the compound
Domingo heroically but innocently leads the charge to find Maria, a futile heroic attempt...he sees love in Maria and himself the man she deserves...
Around the madness friends of Irene and Sema join to hide Maria, the child and help them run away...and create distraction that only Tomas becomes aware of...
Sema hides Maria with father's trinkets, running with the child for Baldo and Tomas to chase while Maria waits in hiding...Tomas is aware of the switch, while the others give chase and is aware of Baldo's reluctance to kill her, not seeing her as a great danger, Tomas sees Maria and the child as an even longer term danger and so sees Baldo's weakness as a greater danger...Tomas confronts Maria in hiding while Baldo is witness and surprised... In this confrontation, Baldo sees Maria in danger and finds Tomas the true danger realizing over all that Tomas’s lust for power and notes his ruthlessness apparent...
Tomas, said Baldo, I didn't expect to find you here, but you are right, let her go...gather the soldiers and call them back…
Maria hides in the closet with the child's cloth and cries...
Dando Dando..Maria, she appears revealing herself to Baldo as Tomas…
She speaks the truth to Baldo, revealing her changes
Tomas revels in his vindication
Tomas beats Baldo them cuts his throat, killing him...
Maria waited in the closet waiting for the silence to come, to wait for the commotion to subside until Tomas calmly strolled into the room as one would a glass shop
No Baldo, she has not run away, she is still here...what do you mean Tomas, she has run...
She has not she is still a great concern for us, she is still here...she is still a great danger to us, to the crown, together they are both a great danger....I saw her run
In hiding, Maria sees Tomas kill Baldo, Maria finds Baldo dead with Tomas bloodied uniform, saying nothing, standing still as Maria walks in...She backs away and runs off...Tomas chases and then loses her...
There is no time to ponder dilemma, the loss of Anani…She is alone.
Tomas aware of Maria's trick, calling her out and challenging Maria... "Dando y dando, palomita, no se vuela?"
Maria sees and reveals Tomas as the greater danger of the brothers... Baldo was the kinder and the brother most easy to turn...Tomas the danger
Comes upon Sema, a friend of Irene’s for assistance…
Sema is a Taino woman, a friend of Irene...
Returns after the massive search for her has wound down, All remaining at the house before departure immediately accuse Maria of killing Baldo...
A conversation amongst authority and friends wonder of Maria’s complicity in Don Baldo’s death, was it her, an unknown assailant, political intrigue
But Domingo questions Tomas as he implies his complicity in Baldo’s death… Tomas draws the challenge. Señor, Maria is the only one to gain from such an act…
And you Tomas are to gain from it all in the end…
Maria finds Don Baldo’s body, dying, the assailant gone. Baldo begs for help but Maria watches him die. She cries realizing her whole life is dying as well in all the insignia Baldo wore…she gently touches the badges he’s wearing, why is he wearing them? Her world is gone…
Maria ignored her Father’s death at the hands of Tomas and Baldo...until she escaped Baldo...now she ignores Baldo’s death at the hands of Tomas....where once she had her Father now all she has the child who she nick-named after her father...and Anani...
Maria realizes that she must run…
She mourns for Anani, terrified for her child, afraid for herself but feeling primed for action, to move on...she talks to the child as if she'd always been a mother, she actually mourns for Baldo and terrified of Tomas who she now realizes as the real monster hiding in the shadows…
Part II
She mourns for Anani, terrified for her child, afraid for herself but feeling primed for action, to move on...she talks to the child as if she'd always been a mother, she actually mourns for Baldo and terrified of Tomas who she now realizes as the real monster hiding in the shadows...
Father
Don Lilo appears to Maria and they talk of the risk ahead...
Maria cherishes the child, speaks to the child...
Maria hides in the fields, Maria then makes it the Marina…finding friends, never imagining she knew she had, new and old along the way who helped find transport to the new world...
Many die in Maria’s effort to escape with the child...
While on the run, Maria encounters Anani’s wife and family...
Some identifying amulet or ring…that she bestows on the child's blanket...
The child is Anani’s gift...Lilo-Anani
Maria arrives in the new world via a trade ship with the child a small bag with some clothes, money and a trinket from Anani
Maria’s arrival in the new world, as a stowaway on a merchant ship to flee a stagnant life in Europe and discover the world of her greatest love...it is not what she expected...the horrors of conquest, the horrors of what the Spanish were doing to the new world…as they had tried to do to the old.
Maria arrived in the new world when she arrived in Puerto Rico, under the guise of doubt, without intention but like so many throughout history, lack of intention is a Trojan horse until the anger of truth awakens…
She meets those who know of her love…
Truth is anger, a mad dog awaiting revelation hidden in shadows cast by deception...
Maria is no longer La Dona, just a woman among more of the oppressed looking and finding herself… Maria Consuelo De Abate.
She sees the oppression and the subjugation of the natives and their world and liberally compares it to her own, though literally different...she knows theirs is not the world of privilege she enjoyed but it is a privilege of choice she has the slaves don’t have…until now.
Maria must navigate tread the new world with her only love, the child of her and the new world the oppression, the fruit of her love and the love of Anani…
There are many dangers in the new world, there are many dangers in the old...circumstance has guided her to a place on the fence leaning toward the new and thus it is where she will go...once you have chosen to go forward after so much that has occurred, going back isn’t necessarily the best option...there are consequences no matter the choice...choosing the consequence that best may result in a positive outcome is the choice you make...she recalls the consultations of her father who saw great potential in her as a child and hoped she would grow beyond Maria’s mother to settle in Spain’s status quo…
Tomas continues to adopt Baldo’s achievements as familial if not his own to protect him from punishment…
Tomas can’t find Maria at the Port and fears he has lost her but vows to continue despite Domingo’s suspicions…
She can hear him call out but he can’t see her
Domingo takes Tomas under charge of arrest until a military inquest is held...
Domingo, talks to an aide to watch Maria, keep an eye on her…
Maria hid while waiting for Domingo to take Tomas
The Extreme Oath of the Jesuits:
"1, _ now, in the presence of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the saints and sacred hosts of heaven, and to you, my ghostly father, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius Loyola in the Pontificate of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear, that his holiness the Pope is Christ's Vice-regent and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Universal Church throughout the earth; and that by virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Savior, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation and that they may safely be destroyed. Therefore, to the utmost of my power I shall and will defend this doctrine of his Holiness' right and custom against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority whatever, especially the Lutheran of Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the now pretended authority and churches of England and Scotland, and branches of the same now established in Ireland and on the Continent of America and elsewhere; and all adherents in regard that they be usurped and heretical, opposing the sacred Mother Church of Rome. I do now renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named Protestants or Liberals, or obedience to any of the laws, magistrates or officers.
I do further declare that the doctrine of the churches of England and Scotland, of the Calvinists, Huguenots and others of the name Protestants or Liberals to be damnable and they themselves damned who will not forsake the same.
I do further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his Holiness' agents in any place wherever I shall be, in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland or America, or in any other Kingdom or territory I shall come to, and do my uttermost to extirpate the heretical Protestants or Liberals' doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, regal or otherwise.
I do further promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume my religion heretical, for the propaganda of the Mother Church's interest, to keep secret and private all her agents' counsels from time to time, as they may entrust me and not to divulge, directly or indirectly, by word, writing or circumstance whatever; but to execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge or discovered unto me, by you, my ghostly father, or any of this sacred covenant.
I do further promise and declare, that I will have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver), but will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the Militia of the Pope and of Jesus Christ.
That I may go to any part of the world withersoever I may be sent, to the frozen regions of the North, the burning sands of the desert of Africa, or the jungles of India, to the centers of civilization of Europe, or to the wild haunts of the barbarous savages of America, without murmuring or repining, and will be submissive in all things whatsoever communicated to me.
I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity present, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants' heads against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poniard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus.
In confirmation of which, I hereby dedicate my life, my soul and all my corporal powers, and with this dagger which I now receive, I will subscribe my name written in my own blood, in testimony thereof; and should I prove false or weaken in my determination, may my brethren and fellow soldiers of the Militia of the Pope cut off my hands and my feet, and my throat from ear to ear, my belly opened and sulphur burned therein, with all the punishment that can be inflicted upon me on earth and my soul be tortured by demons in an eternal hell forever!
All of which, I, _, do swear by the Blessed Trinity and blessed Sacraments, which I am now to receive, to perform and on my part to keep inviolable; and do call all the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same further with my name written and with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and sealed in the face of this holy covenant."
(He receives the wafer from the Superior and writes his name with the point of his dagger dipped in his own blood taken from over his heart.)
Superior:
"You will now rise to your feet and I will instruct you in the Catechism necessary to make yourself known to any member of the Society of Jesus belonging to this rank.
In the first place, you, as a Brother Jesuit, will with another mutually make the ordinary sign of the cross as any ordinary Roman Catholic would; then one cross his wrists, the palms of his hands open, and the other in answer crosses his feet, one above the other; the first points with forefinger of the right hand to the center of the palm of the left, the other with the forefinger of the left hand points to the center of the palm of the right; the first then with his right hand makes a circle around his head, touching it; the other then with the forefinger of his left hand touches the left side of his body just below his heart; the first then with his right hand draws it across the throat of the other, and the latter then with a dagger down the stomach and abdomen of the first. The first then says Iustum; and the other answers Necar; the first Reges. The other answers Impious." (The meaning of which has already been explained.) "The first will then present a small piece of paper folded in a peculiar manner, four times, which the other will cut longitudinally and on opening the name Jesu will be found written upon the head and arms of a cross three times. You will then give and receive with him the following questions and answers:
Question —From whither do you come? Answer — The Holy faith.
Q. —Whom do you serve?
A. —The Holy Father at Rome, the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church Universal throughout the world.
Q. —Who commands you?
A. —The Successor of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus or the Soldiers of Jesus Christ.
Q. —Who received you? A. —A venerable man in white hair.
Q. —How?
A. —With a naked dagger, I kneeling upon the cross beneath the banners of the Pope and of our sacred order.
Q. —Did you take an oath?
A. —I did, to destroy heretics and their governments and rulers, and to spare neither age, sex nor condition. To be as a corpse without any opinion or will of my own, but to implicitly obey my Superiors in all things without hesitation of murmuring.
Q. —Will you do that? A. —I will.
Q. —How do you travel? A. —In the bark of Peter the fisherman.
Q. —Whither do you travel? A. —To the four quarters of the globe. Q. —For what purpose?
A. —To obey the orders of my general and Superiors and execute the will of the Pope and faithfully fulfill the conditions of my oaths.
Q. —Go ye, then, into all the world and take possession of all lands in the name of the Pope. He who will not accept him as the Vicar of Jesus and his Vice-regent on earth, let him be accursed and exterminated."
El Sol en el Horizonte, de
Nuevo
Looking into the sun resting on the horizon, Maria Consuelo De Abate stood with her son, Lilo’Anani, wrapped in a blanket left them from a Taino woman named Ana, Anani’s wife. Lilo’Anani rose from the warmth of Maria’s bosom, pulling away from the nipple, to look over the soft edge of existence, eyes widened she would recall her father’s hope, much as the child seemed to want as well, forever seeking to compose the reality of God’s creations...
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