by Jorge Icaza (1906-1978)
Translated from the Spanish by Richard Gabela
Several times a day Don Ernesto Morejón Galindo, Chief-Director of the Bureau of Economic Investigation, abandoned his small office to monitor the attendance of the employees in his charge. Don Ernesto was a man of uneven temperament. Completely uneven. When he was in good spirits, he exaggerated his Don Juanism by indulging in libidinous confidences like a fishwife or a country bumpkin. With graphic and pornographic gestures indicative of hypersexuality, he’d whisper into the ear of the person who was his confidant at the moment: “What a night of revelry, my dear cholo. Had myself three women. Two turned out to be virgins.… Hee-hee-hee…All for free.” But if he had to publicly reprimand his henchmen—as he inwardly referred to his subordinates—he swelled with omnipotence and meted out threats without concert or order. At such times, when his domineering arrogance exploded, every grotesque feature of his fat face stood out: his cheeks resembled a pair of rosy buttocks, his lips quivered like muddy earth, bilious drool flowed between his teeth, diabolical flames burned in his pupils.
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