Yolardis
by: Hojat Salehi
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"No pictures?" She asked.
"Sorry, I did not bring any."
Then she turned the light off, snuggled next to me in bed and, resting her head on my shoulder, drifted off.
When I woke up, Yolardis was still asleep. Through the small window high above my bed another hot and bright day in Havana poured in. In the daylight I examined her perfect body inch by inch. She only had a couple of vaccination marks on her arm and a tiny scar on her knee. Sweat was forming on her body like dew on an orchid. I took a shower and by the time I was done she was already dressed and anxious to go. Before she left she said:
"I have to stay home tonight. I will come by tomorrow afternoon."
"I'll be waiting."
"Now listen carefully: No woman for you tonight. Understand?"
That day I took a taxi to the beach and stared at the blue sky and the low clouds on the horizon. At night I stayed in and read. When I went to bed the unchanged sheets had her scent.
She came by the house the next day shortly after noon. She was wearing another tight black T-shirt imprinted with the word L o v e in large silver letters. When we went to my room she quickly undressed and, without much hesitation, we made love standing in front of the mirror. Then we lay in bed for a while where she closed her eyes and took a little nap. She was perfectly peaceful and silent in her sleep. Watching her, I pondered doing something uplifting with the rest of the day. Though I truly liked her pure and mysterious wordlessness, I suddenly felt like doing something to make her cheer and smile. I wanted to see her unabashed expression of joy.
When she woke up we got dressed and decided to go shopping. Yolardis took me to a large state subsidized clothing outlet where she had probably bought all of her clothes. The clothes seemed to have come from garment liquidators in China and South America or some international charity organization. There were a few leftover promotional T-shirts and some specialty clothes favored by the poor working girls. Yolardis said that she visited the store often and at best there were slim pickings. That day she did not find anything she liked.
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