A couple of minutes later an elder black colored woman wear a reddish scarf more than light hair emerged throughout the second-floors window. She searched perplexed but accepted Willy. “ Hola. Hola. ” She greet united states upstairs.
Their unique label is actually Gladis Castaneda, and she was actually an expert traditional pianist during the Havana during the the latest 1950s. She is a tiny woman inside her eighties otherwise 1990’s. She nodded when he stated La Reina. Sure, she told you, he’d lived in this community, best across the street. Right here, on the tissue, is a person who understood the newest legendary Superman-proof, in fact, that guy indeed stayed.
Superman, Castaneda told you, are tall, good, respected. “Group realized your because the Queen,” she said. “He had been gay, you failed to wreak havoc on him.” She expected us to sit. “He had been the height. But solid. Muscular.” He previously body eg hers: black, yet not most. “He had been an excellent guy. No-one got a problem with him.” I asked if everyone in the community know just what he did having a full time income. “Child, it had been many years ago. The guy kept years ago.”
Willy questioned when the she knew just what turned out-of your, and you will she told you she believes he passed away inside the Miami. Their own time is waning, and Willy nodded if you ask me to point it was time we go.
Down on the Norwegische Singles trail, we came across a vintage people tilting against the wall. His title are Elado. He transmitted an effective cane and dressed in a loose green jacket with a great Masonic symbol dangling from a string as much as their shoulder. Willy informed him we had been searching for information on the man it named Los angeles Reina.
“ Si, si, ” the outdated people told you. “La Reina-people knew him. Mulatto. Regarding your height,” he nodded during my guidelines. “Folks acknowledged him. The guy stayed right here to possess 20 years. Obviously, anyone understood what the guy performed to own an income.” He told you Superman kept toward You.S. in the 1959. “No-one knew their term. Everybody else merely called your La Reina.”
I inserted their own large apartment, and Willy said what we should was undertaking
Across the street because of the church, roosters crowed. A great girl sporting Rollerblades talked toward a cover mobile phone. An old people within the a fabric golf cover smoked an effective cigar towards the a backless wooden chair.
Their tresses try white and you will crazy
We moved thanks to Los Sitios toward Barrio Chino up to i showed up at the 507 Marquis Highway. We stood in the street taking a look at the entrance so you’re able to a great martial-arts school: Escuela Cubana de- Wushu. It had a reddish and you can red facade with a gold foo canine and you may a yellow metal gate.
The door is discover. In the top gate is actually an excellent courtyard having a little restaurant and several stationary exercise equipment. The movie theater immediately following stood where in actuality the school’s outdoor courtyard has become. We tried to envision the spot where the stage has been. The new dressing up room where Superman open to the brand new show. Brand new balcony where drunken tourist saw the fresh performance.
A short time after i gone back to Barrio de- los Sitios to fabric for other people exactly who have identified Superman. Regarding flat building near to Gladis Castaneda’s, i found Superman’s genuine neighbors: an old pizza chef called Roberto Cabarero, 82 yrs . old, having a heavily tarnished and you may stretched muscles top, drooping brown jeans to the fly available, and you will black colored socks which have openings in the base. Their facial skin sagged such as a-sea turtle’s.
Cabarero’s apartment, in which he stayed along with his wife, is lightweight and you may ramshackle, full of junk. His spouse sat in the small living room area, rocking to and fro from inside the a wood sofa, talking loudly during the no-one in particular. A wireless blared tinny dated Language music, and a dog came in and out of the space so you’re able to eat crumbs off of the floor. An alarm time clock sounded during our very own appointment. No-one annoyed to turn it off.
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