LADY WITH HAT ON A VERNISAGGE IN PUNTA DEL ESTE.

   LADY WITH HAT ON A VERNISAGGE IN PUNTA DEL ESTE.

  I received an invitation from a female painter to see her new paintings in a shop in downtown Punta del Este.

   Many well-dressed guests paraded in front of the oil paintings in silence.I do not like abstract art, or performance, or body paiting or those skeletal figures with long Modigliani collars that would be better actresses of a XXX video type like Deep Throat. Nor are those Picasso womens who have eyes on their necks, hands like scissors and pubic hairs on the side of their lips.

  The painter friend-had to have many monetary resources because here art is expensive and mounting exhibitions in spacious and elegant galleries costs a fortune.

  I devoted myself to observe the paintings. At the end, painting of plump women, as we like Cubans -not skinny or skeletal- but with meat on all sides that exacerbated the libido of the dark skin of the Caribbean. They reminded me of the naked ladies of the Flemish painters like Rubens and others. They did capture the opulence of feminine beauty with all the voluptuousness.

  The artist was standing near her works, radiant chubby as the women she painted and who were all like an idealized copy of herself, although improved. I greeted her kindly and praised her work. She told me to go to another room where canapés and fine drinks were served.

  Already bored I went to the table and had a drink with a Vermouth and then I saw her. The Lady of my dreams. From the back, with a poncho of original colors typical of the Mapuche Indians that reached almost to her knees, from which she wore red trousers and beautiful patent leather shoes of high and thin, heel of the same color.

  But what caught my attention was an exquisite hat, big, big, wide wings, with a red ribbon in the dome, from which a copious hair dyed of a plain blond corn like the still water of a spring .

  I confronted the Lady. What was my surprise. I was about 120 years old but she looked like 105, you know, makeup, masks for skin care, etc. There are women who never age. Which mummies are beautiful and attractive and are still able to animate the psyche of a younger man.

  I broke the ice:

  -We know each other before?

  She looked me up and down with a scrutinizing look that only women who have lived a long history between wealth and infidel lovers have.

  -Do not. Sir. I have not had the taste.

 -Do you want a glass of whiskey or vermouth, I reach it with great pleasure? You are a charming lady.-I said flatteringly and telling myself that I would be one of my future lovers, so much money projected and that I am NOT ambitious.

  -Thank you so much. I already have my favorite drink: a Fermen, which apart from being a good wine is good for the stomach.Duodenal ulcer or chronic gastritis! 

  "I muttered to myself. I could not stop being a doctor even in the most unfavorable circumstances.The lady with hat-capelina-like only seen in the photos of the English Royal family moved away from me and took a seat on a bench. I imitated her equally. I did not let this lady escape so easily. I sat next to her.

   She looked at me with her eyes lost in nothingness and asked me:

  - What do you do?

  -I'm a doctor and I practice in Punta del ESTE.

  -Well, I'm a lonely widow. Married in first nuptials until my husband died.

  -Ahh I'm so sorry!

  -Do not feel anything. He was a damned bastard, greedy, unfaithful and greedy. Good thing he left me a small fortune. Now I travel around the world and attend local vermisagges, like this one to drink Fermen.

  The lady with the broad-brimmed hat and red ribbon was so attached to me that I did not know whether the capeline was hers or mine. We were in an almost ridiculous situation. We looked like a couple of old hunters in love with meetings of this kind to gobble up canapés and drink a drink that would make us forget the past or our old age.

   But the lady got the Fernen on her head until she landed on my legs. I kept the wide hat in my hands while she went into a deep sleep.I did not even know her name nor did she ask mine.

  And so we both remained as two lovers without direction to whom the drink had forced them to dream in a damn eternal dream.

      ORLANDO VICENTE ÁLVAREZ