EDGE of PARADISE Episode 6

 




















Margarita

Antonio has just emerged from a long and gritty sex session with Luz Marie and Lucinda. He enjoys having sex with the girls in the afternoon. He found that they become indifferent most evenings because Luz Marie and Lucinda spend a lot of time together, and by late evening they already had satisfied themselves. Antonio walks from the bedroom with his shirt open and feet bare. He moves to the den which he has developed into a very sophisticated media center. Satellite T.V. systems, computers, fax machines, large screen T.V., and numerous smaller screens, all built into the modern decor. Antonio enjoys this room, it's his only connection with the outside world when he's on the Isle of Joven, otherwise it's a dreamy Caribbean island a million miles from nowhere. Except for the help there is no one within miles of the place, and besides, his security force patrols the entire perimeter of the estate keeping everyone out.

Antonio uses a remote to turn on the big screen T.V. A satellite news service is on. Antonio goes behind the beautiful built in bar to pour himself an aguardiente, a colorless drink made from pure cane sugar and lightly flavored with anise. Aguardiente is very popular in Colombia and Venezuela and it will leave you without a hang over if consumed in large quantities. Antonio fell in love with it many years ago while visiting Cali on business. Now his associates from Cartegena bring it to him when they travel to Cuba.

The news is being reported on T.V. and a reporter is filing his story. "Unnamed sources within the Justice Department have said a group, now known as the Hombres De Negocios have claimed responsibility for the execution style killings of six Miami police officers. The source further stated that eight U.S. Senators were implicated in a bribe scheme to protect drug trade routes from South America and the Caribbean into this country. We spoke with the offices of the Senators implicated and as of 4:00 pm Eastern time there has been no official response. No one seems to have heard of this group and it is suspected that they are a new cartel of drug exporters who have declared war so to speak on some U.S. law enforcement agencies. We have seen this type of violent action in South America for years, and it looks as if now it may have reached the shores of this country. John Savino S.N.N."

Andreas enters the room just as the report is ending. Antonio turns the volume down with his remote control. Andreas, a half-brother and best friend to Antonio, is also his right hand man and business advisor. Andreas and Antonio didn't know they were brothers until they were in their early teens. Antonio is two years older than Andreas. Andrea's mother Margarita was Juan luis Diega's secretary. She worked for Andreas and Antonio's father when he was designing public facilities for Castro. They had an affair and she became pregnant with Andreas. Antonio and his mother lived on the outskirts of Havana in a very modern apartment building during this time and Antonio's mother never knew her husband had a mistress and a child.

In Cuba, and many other parts of Latin America, mistresses are common and usually the wife is well aware of her husband's forays. The culture has a built-in tolerance for infidelity of the husband, but the same behavior on the part of the wife would result in a fate worse than death. Public and family ostracizing, which would result in poverty and ultimately destitution. The fore knowledge of such pending disaster keeps the women for the most part committed to their husbands and tending chores and family at home. Money is power and the Latin men have the money, and they have the power.

Antonio's mother had no choice but to accept the fact her husband had another family across town. It did take twelve years for Antonio's father to tell his wife and son the dark secret he held for so long. Antonio and Andreas, skeptical at first of each other, had become fast friends and spent many years as children running wild through the streets of Havana as privileged sons of a high ranking Cuban official. Juan Luis lost interest in his secretary a few years after Andreas was born and rarely saw her. They communicated through Andreas who moved freely between his mother and father's home. Even Antonio's mother became fond of Andreas after a while. She finally accepted Andreas as a unique person rather than thinking of him as the fruit of Juan Luis' affair with his beautiful secretary.