B004L2LMEG EBOK (8 page)

Now my hand’s fallen asleep on me, Chichi, it’s already dark and it’s gotten to be very late. I’ll have to send you this letter in a trunk so it’ll all fit. Let’s see if you answer me right away, and as long as mine and with piles of gossip. Are you still going with Roberto or have you switched already? Tell me everything and, honest, in the future I’ll write to you right away.

Thousands of kisses, Chichi, from your sister who misses you and loves you,

P
OCHITA

Night of August 29–30, 1956

Images of humiliation, snapshots of the stinging and inflamed history of the tormenting itch. In the strict, stately Flag Day formation, in front of the monument to Francisco Bolognesi, the cadet Pantaleón Pantoja, in his senior year at Chorrillos Military Academy, while elegantly executing the goose step, is suddenly transported in flesh and spirit to hell, through the conversion of the mouth of his anus and rectum into a wasps’ nest: a hundred stingers martyrize the moist, secret wound, while he, grinding his teeth to the point of crumbling them, sweating great, frozen drops of perspiration, marches without losing step; at the gay, sparkling party offered to the Alfonso Ugarte class by Colonel Marcial Gumucio, director of Chorrillos Military Academy, the young, recently commissioned Second Lieutenant Pantaleón Pantoja feels his toenails suddenly freeze when, having barely begun the steps of the waltz with the seasoned wife of Colonel Gumucio, radiant in his arms, the night’s dance having recently been opened by him and his vaporous spouse, an incandescent itching, a serpentine swarming, a torture in the form of tiny simultaneous and biting itches widens, swells and irritates the privacy of his rectum and anus: his eyes clotted with tears and without increasing or decreasing his pressure on the plump waist and hand of Colonel Gumucio’s wife, Second Lieutenant (Quartermaster) Pantoja, not breathing, not speaking, continues to dance; in the field tent of Regiment 17 of Chiclayo, with the thunder of mortars close by, the ratatatat of grapeshot and the dry belches of the shots from the lead companies which just began the end-of-year maneuvers, Lieutenant Pantoja, standing in front of a blackboard and a map board, explaining to the officers corps in a firm and metallic voice the supplies, system of distribution and the estimates of supplies and provisions, is suddenly and invisibly raised off the ground by a frightening, fiery, effervescent, emulsive and crackling current that burns, stings, exaggerates, multiplies, torments, maddens the anal vestibule and rectal passage and stretches itself out like a spider between his buttocks, but, abruptly livid, suddenly covered with sweat, with an ass secretly puckered by all the stubbornness of a cabbage, his voice hardly blurred by his trembling, he continues to emit numbers, to produce formulas, adding and subtracting. “They’ll have to operate on you, Pantita,” Mother Leonor murmurs maternally. “Have an operation, dear,” Pochita repeats softly. “Get them taken out once and for all, pal,” Lieutenant Luis Rengifo Flores echoes. “It’s easier than being circumcised, and in a spot that’s less dangerous for your manhood.” Major Antipa Negrón of the Military Hospital laughs: “I’m going to decapitate these three hemorrhoids with one slash, as if they were the heads on animal crackers, Pantaleón.”

Around the operating table, there is a series of moves, splices and grafts that torment him much more than the silent bustle of the doctors and the nurses in their little white shoes, more than the blinding cascades of light that the ceiling mirrors send him. “Is not going to hult you, Mistel Pantoja,” encourages Tiger Collazos, who, in addition to the voice, also has the slanted eyes, the quivering hands and the syrupy voice of Porfirio the Chinaman. “Quicker, easier and with fewer complications than the extraction of a tooth, Pantita,” he is assured by Mother Leonor, whose hips, double chin and breasts have firmed up and overflowed to the point of intermingling with those of Leonor Curinchila. But there, also bent over the operating table, where they have placed him in a gynecological position—between his legs Dr. Antipa Negrón manipulates scalpels, cotton, scissors, receptacles—are two women as inseparable and opposite as certain couples spinning around in his head now and bringing him back to his infancy, to the beginning of adolescence (Laurel and Hardy, Mandrake and Lothario, Tarzan and Jane): a mountain of fat wrapped in a Spanish mantilla and a child crone, in blue jeans, with bangs and smallpox scars on her face. Not knowing what they are doing there or who they are—but remotely he has the feeling of having once seen them, as if in passing, in a crowd of people—brings an endless agony and, without trying to stop it, he begins to cry: he hears his own deep, loud sobs. “Don’t be scared of them, they’re the first recruits for the Special Service. Don’t you recognize Knockers and Sandra? I already introduced you the other night, at Casa Chuchupe,” soothes Juan Rivera, the popular Freckle, who has diminished even more in size and is a little monkey seated on the round, naked, fragile shoulders of Pochita. He feels as though he could die of shame, of anger, of frustration, of rancor. He’d like to shout: “You runt, you abortion, you fetus! How dare you reveal the secret in front of my wife and the widow of my dead father?” But he doesn’t open his mouth; he just sweats and suffers. Dr. Negrón has finished his work and stands up with a few bloody pieces dangling from his hands which Panta glimpses for only a second, since he manages to close his eyes in time. Every second he is more pained, offended and shocked. Tiger Collazos laughs. “You’ve got to face realities and call a spade a spade: the men got to get laid and you either arrange that for them or we shoot you with blasts of semen.” “We’ve chosen the Horcones Post as the pilot project for the Special Service, Pantoja,” General Victoria announces cheerfully. And although he is pointing with his eyes and with his hands at Mother Leonor, at the delicate and gaunt Pochita, imploring discretion, reserve, delay, deletion, General Victoria is insisting: “We already know that besides Sandra and Knockers you’ve enlisted Iris and Lalita. Long live the four musketeers!” He has begun to cry again, at the height of his helplessness.

But now, around the bed of the man who has recently been operated on, Leonor and Pochita watch with love and tenderness and without the least shadow of malice, with an obvious, marvelous, comforting ignorance shining in their eyes: they know nothing. He feels an ironic rejoicing that rises through his body and mocks him: How
could
they know about the Special Service if it still hasn’t come into being, if I’m still happy and a lieutenant, if we haven’t even left Chiclayo? But Dr. Negrón has just entered, accompanied by a young and smiling nurse (he recognizes her and blushes: Alicia, Pocha’s friend!) who cradles an irrigator in her arms like a newborn child. Pochita and Mother Leonor leave the room, giving him a united, almost tragic, farewell from the door. “Knees spread, mouth kissing the mattress, ass up,” orders Dr. Antipa Negrón. And he explains: “Twenty-four hours have passed and the time has come to clean out your stomach. These two quarts of salt water will take away all the mortal and venial sins of your life, Lieutenant.” Despite its being covered with vaseline and despite the doctor’s talent as a magician, the introduction of the irrigator into his rectum tears a shout out of him. But now the liquid is pouring in with a warmth that is no longer painful, pleasant even. For a moment the water pours in, bubbling, swelling his bowels, and meanwhile Lieutenant Pantoja, his eyes closed methodically, thinks: The Special Service? It won’t hurt me, it won’t hurt me. He lets out another little yell: Dr. Negrón has taken the irrigator out and has placed a wad of cotton between his buttocks. The nurse leaves, carrying the empty irrigator. “Up till now you haven’t felt any postoperative pain, right?” the doctor asks. “Right, Major,” Lieutenant Pantoja answers, twisting himself with difficulty, sitting up, getting out of bed, a hand squashed against the cotton pinched between his buttocks, and moving toward the toilet, as rigid as a Judas doll, naked from the waist down, on the arm of the doctor, who observes him with kindness and something like piety. A slight warmth has begun to work its way through his rectum and his elephantine bowels now suffer cramps, rapid muscular spasms, and a sudden shudder electrifies his lower back. The doctor helps him to sit on the toilet, pats him on the shoulder and sums up his philosophy: “Console yourself by thinking that after this experience,
everything that happens to you in life will be better
.” He leaves, gently closing the bathroom door. Lieutenant Pantoja now puts a towel between his teeth and bites down on it with all his might. He has closed his eyes, buried his hands between his knees, and two million pores have opened like windows all over his body to vomit out sweat and bile. With all the desperation he is capable of, he repeats to himself: “I will not shit specialists, I will not shit specialists.” But the two quarts of water have already begun to descend, to slither, to fall, to burst out, fiery and satanic, pernicious and homicidal, traitorous, dragging solid chunks of fire, knives and awls that scorch, prick, sting, blind. He has let the towel fall from his mouth so he can roar like a lion, grunt like a pig and laugh like a hyena all at once.

Confidential Decision: S.S.
Pachitea
, Peruvian Navy

Considering:

1. That he has received a request from Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, Chief of the Special Service for Garrisons, Frontier and Related Installations (SSGFRI), recently created by the Army for the purpose of solving a long-standing biological-psychological problem of the noncommissioned officers and soldiers who are serving in remote regions, asking that the River Forces of the Amazon offer him assistance as well as use of their facilities in the organization of the transport system between the command post of the Special Service logistics centers and its utilization centers;

2. That the aforementioned request has the authorization of the Department of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army (Gen. Felipe Collazos) and of the Command of Region V (Amazon) (Gen. Roger Scavino);

3. That naval headquarters has considered the request for assistance favorably, at the same time pointing out the suitability of having the SSGFRI extend its services to the Navy bases in the remote regions of the Amazon where the sailors find themselves afflicted with the same necessities and appetites as those of the Army’s noncommissioned officers and soldiers that motivated the creation of the Special Service;

4. That having been consulted in the matter, Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, replied that there are no obstacles to the SSGFRI’s acceding to said suggestion, specifying that the River Forces of the Amazon should administer a test of its own devising in the jungle bases for the purpose of ascertaining the potential number of users in the Peruvian Navy (PN) of the SSGFRI, which test, implemented by the officers in charge with all due speed and care, yielded a
potential number of 327 users
, with an
average aspiration per user of 10 monthly services
and an
average duration aspired to of 35 minutes per individual service;

Decides:

1. That the ex-dispensary boat the S.S.
Pachitea
, with a permanent crew of four men under the command of First Subofficer Carlos Rodríguez Saravia, be provisionally assigned to the Special Service as a means of transport on the rivers of the Amazon Basin between its logistics center and its utilization centers;

2. That before leaving Santa Clotilde base, where she has remained after being retired from an uninterrupted half century of navigation in the service of the Navy, a record that began with her outstanding participation in the conflict with Colombia in 1910, the S.S.
Pachitea
, PN, be stripped of flags, insignia and other distinguishing marks that point to her being a ship of the Peruvian Navy, that she be painted the color indicated by Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, provided that it is neither steel gray nor cloud white, which are the colors of the PN boats, and that its original name, S.S.
Pachitea
, on the prow and on the command bridge be replaced with that of
Eve
, which the Special Service has chosen for her;

3. That (a) before assuming their new duties, First Subofficer Carlos Rodríguez Saravia and the crew under his command be duly briefed by their superiors on the delicacy of the mission they are going to execute and the necessity for them to dress as civilians in the performance of same and to hide their status as members of the Navy; (b) they observe maximum restraint in regard to what they see and hear in the course of their deployment and, in general, (c) they avoid the slightest cognizance or disclosure about the nature of the service to which they have been detailed;

4. That the fuel required by the S.S.
Pachitea
, PN, in its new mission be paid for proportionally by the Navy and the Army, according to the respective use of the Special Service, which can be determined by the number of services rendered to each branch per month or by the number of sailings to military garrisons or river bases assigned to the SSGFRI;

5. That because of its confidential nature, this disposition may not be read into the orders of the day, nor posted on the bases, but must be communicated exclusively to the officers who must execute it.

S S G F R I

Dispatch Number Three

The undersigned, Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, Chief of the SSGFRI, respectfully presents himself to Gen. Felipe Collazos, Chief of Administration, Supply and Logistics of the Army, salutes him and reports:

1. (a) That in the entire Amazon District there exists the belief that the red species of porpoise (the dolphin of the Amazon rivers) is a creature of considerable sexual potency, which induces it, with the aid of the devil or of evil spirits, to rape as many women as it can in order to satisfy its instincts, and that to accomplish this end it adopts a human form that is so virile and handsome that no female can resist it. (b) That owing to said belief, another belief has become common: porpoise oil increases the sexual drive, making the male irresistible to the female and creating an enormous market for the product in stores and markets. (c) That the undersigned decided to personally carry out an experiment with the purpose of determining in what form this popular belief, superstition or scientific fact could have a bearing on the problem that gave rise to and lies at the foundation of the Special Service. Setting to work with the pretext of a doctor’s prescription, he requested his beloved mother and his dear wife to prepare all meals at home with porpoise oil as their basic ingredient, with the results set forth here:

2. (a) That starting with the second day the undersigned experienced a sudden increase in sexual appetite, the abnormality accentuating itself on the following days to the point that on the last two days of the week dirty thoughts and the virile act were the only ideas occupying his mind, as much during the day as at night (dreams, nightmares), with serious detriment to his powers of concentration, his nervous system in general and his effectiveness at work. (b) That he consequently found himself with the need to solicit from his wife and to obtain from her, during the week in question, intimate relations on an average of twice daily, with a resulting irritation and surprise of the same, since the undersigned was in the habit of having relations of an intimate matrimonial nature at a rate of once every ten days before coming to Iquitos and once every three days after arriving, because, undoubtedly due to factors already identified by his superiors (heat, humidity), the undersigned had registered an increase of the seminal impulse from the very day he set foot on Amazonian ground. (c) That at the same time, he was able to confirm that the aphrodisiacal function of porpoise oil is registered only in the man, although he cannot discount the fact that his spouse, affected by the stimulant in question, disguised it with great fortitude on account of the natural feelings of modesty and decorum in any lady who deserves that name, as the undersigned is proud to say is the case with his good wife;

3. (a) That in his desire to spare no efforts for the optimum completion of the mission that his superiors have entrusted to him and even at a risk to his physical health and family stability, the undersigned likewise decided to personally test some of the recipes that folk wisdom and the lust of the people of Loreto suggest for the restoration or strengthening of virility, vulgarly referred to, forgive the expression, as “raising the dead” or, even worse, “cock cures.” The undersigned refers only to
some
recipes, because in this part of the country the preoccupation with everything to do with sex is so keen and diverse that there are literally thousands of compounds of this sort, a fact that makes it impossible, even with the best of intentions, for an isolated individual to exhaust the list even if he is prepared to sacrifice his life for the experiment. (b) That the undersigned feels duty bound to concede that this is a question of folk wisdom and not of superstition: certain types of bark used to prepare infusions drunk with alcohol, like the
chuchuhuasi
, the
cocobolo
, the
clabohuasca
and the
huacapuruna
, produce an immediate and interminable itching that can never be relieved except in the very act of manhood. Particularly effective, because of the almost astronomical speed with which it operates on the generative center, is the mixture of
ipururo
and cheap brandy, which, barely swallowed, caused an unforgivable feverishness in the undersigned, along with an embarrassment that can be imagined, since the experiment was unfortunately not carried out at his own home but in the nightclub The Shadows, in the resort of Nanay. (c) That the potion called
viborachado
, being cheap brandy in which a poisonous snake, preferably a fat one, has been marinated, is even worse and truly fiendish, having an even more cataclysmic effect than the preceding infusions, since in this instance it was offered casually to the author of this dispatch at another nightclub in Iquitos called The Jungle and imparted such an urgent and ferocious passion and hardening to him that in order to recover his self-control and peace of mind he had to resort to the solitary vice, which he had believed extinguished in him ever since the days of childhood, in the uncomfortable bathroom of the aforementioned club and with a remorse that has not yet diminished;

4. That for all the above reasons, the undersigned takes the liberty of recommending that his superiors instruct all garrisons, frontier and related installations to categorically forbid the use of red porpoise oil in the preparation of meals for noncommissioned officers as well as its use by individuals among the troops and that the consumption, straight or mixed with other things, in solid or liquid form, of
chuchuhuasi, cocobolo, clabohuasca, huacapuruna, ipururo
and
viborachado
be immediately prohibited under strict punishment, otherwise the Special Service runs the risk of being bombarded by a demand even greater than the already inflated one it must confront;

5. That he requests the strictest secrecy be maintained in regard to this dispatch (and if possible that it be destroyed once it is read) since it contains extremely intimate disclosures about the family life of the undersigned, who has resigned himself to working with the complex mission that the Army has entrusted to him in mind, but who is uneasy and naturally apprehensive about his fellow officers’ jokes, of which he would be the object if this dispatch were disclosed.

NOTE:
(a) Put Capt. Pantoja’s suggestion into effect as a regulation, and, therefore, communicate to all leaders of barracks, encampments and posts in Region V (Amazon) that henceforth the use of the ingredients, potions and spices enumerated in the preceding section is categorically prohibited in the preparation of meals. (b) In accordance with Capt. Pantoja’s request, destroy Dispatch Number 3 of the SSGFRI by burning since it contains indelicate revelations concerning the personal and family life of same
.

Confidential Decision: PAF Catalina Hydroplane
No. 37, the
Requena

Considering:

1. That Capt. (Quartermaster) Pantaleón Pantoja, PA, with the authorization and backing of his Army superiors, has requested assistance from Air Battalion No. 42 for the continual transfer of personnel of the recently created Special Service from its logistics center on the shores of the Itaya to its utilization centers, many of which are so isolated, especially during the rainy season, that the only functional means of transport from said points to the logistics center is by air;

2. That the Command of Administration and Development for the Staff of the Peruvian Air Force has agreed to accede to the request in deference to the Army but certifies that it has reservations concerning the constitution of the Special Service, since it hardly seems compatible with the natural and proper duties of the armed forces and dangerous to its good name and prestige—this being a simple conjecture and by no means an attempt to meddle in the affairs of the sister institution;

Decides:

1. That PAF Catalina Hydroplane No. 37, the
Requena
, be assigned to the SSGFRI on loan, so that the indicated transport services may be carried out once the Technical and Mechanical Division of Air Battalion No. 42 of the Amazon District has put the plane in a state that will render it fit to resume flying;

2. That before it is separated from the air base at Moronacocha, PAF Catalina Hydroplane No. 37 be duly camouflaged in such a way that it cannot be recognized at any time as belonging to the Peruvian Air Force while rendering service in the SSGFRI. For this purpose, changes will be made in the color of the fuselage and the wings (from blue to green with red borders) and the name (from
Requena
to
Delilah
, according to Capt. Pantoja’s request);