#11 Love And Decisions

Nina had tripped on an armadillo hole and Gustavo, knowing his fate,still grabbed the tachuelo or thumbtack tree- the closest support to him- and saved Nina from falling. He knew he would take a wound, had calculated its importance versus his novias' fall ,and chose pain. He was treating the deep hole with sangre de drago the red sap or resin, with so many documented curative powers ,that he had harvested himself from the tree he found on the way back from their excursion making several cuts into the bark with his machete and catching the sap in a leaf with a prominent drip tip.Nina , upon seeing the wound, became upset. Gustavo with a little bit of machismo but a lifetime of experience with the drug,shrugged it off with a laugh and Nate explained its many curative powers, antiseptic powers, internal powers against ulcers and other ailments and began a discourse that lasted all the way back to the cabin about the many healing herbs and oils of the rainforest. It was a virtual pharmacy, he said, all you had to know was what to look for and where to look.


Benecio announced that he was going to leave the next day and said he was going to cook his famous jungle dinner for lovers, sarcastically letting everyone know that he was aware of what was going on in and out of the cabin.

Each night Nate and Dory, attempted to emulate with their mouths what they brought back brimming in their hearts and souls from their excursions into the trembling forest. Fecund tongues propagated pleasure in original and exciting ways like some newly discovered carnal beasts so deep in the Amazon,dripping with sexual juices , pleasure their only motive for existence. These creatures became real in their pristine love jungles, orgasm after orgasm, producing enigmatic ecstasies.

Gustavo would slip into the room Nina supposedly shared with Dory from his place in the bottom rung of a bunk bed off the kitchen- always to return before daybreak, sometimes encountering Dory in the dining room as she too made her way back to her room which repeatedly startled both of them.They both tried to suffocate their laughter with a hand over the mouth which made them laugh even louder.

The last night Nate stayed up drinking with Benicio . First at the dinner table and then outside on the parted canoe that served as a bench.

Dory carefully opened her door so that she could hear the conversation on the porch which was quite drunken. She knew she had missed a lot that had gone on in the dining room.There had been yelling and it sounded as if the two men had pushed each other in a kind of angry duel which neither had much heart in and now they were drinking out of jars, aguardiente, pure sugar cane alcohol and both were slurring there words.
Nate made a passionate plea: "Benecio, my friend, my brother, my partner in crime, I don't think you have the emotional experience to understand what I am going through. I am in Love god dammit."
"Love , "said Benecio, and he spit over the railing as if for emphasis."Nate, I am an old man.
"Hombre viejo," he drunkenly signed the same words," and old men do not have the luxury of three week fuckings with holandes putas... and with the money, hombre, you will be able to buy your share of french, german, American whatever you want. The oil people will be back here one day maybe you know dat. Or someone will find this place and then we are jodido man. You want to be rich or do you want to fuck ?"
"I want to be rich," said Nate softly.
Dory who had her head up against the door lost her balance made it creak.
The men heard it.
They started talking to each other in sign language.
"Hokay " ," said Benecio, for the benefit of of anyone who might be listening, "and then you say your goodbyes.And Gustavito can take them back to town."
"It looks that way," said Nate.
"I'll be gone with Fernando before sunrise,"said Benecio,"And I am leaving the bitch with you."
"I don't mind looking after Dolores," said Nate protectively.
"You know why I named her Dolores," said Benecio, because she is an Dolor, a pain."
"I don't think your wife would agree with that."
"What does that puta know?"
"I think it's time to go to bed Benecio,"
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