Havana Bay

selling cigars, and I mean beautiful girls selling Cuban cigars. Perhaps a little cocaine, though who needs it? It's the sound of the ball on the track, the excitement around a craps table. The man says 'Bets, gentlemen' and people bet. Do you gamble, Arkady?'

'No.'

'Why?'

'I don't have the money to lose.'

'Everyone has the money to lose. Poor people gamble all the time. What you mean is, you don't like to lose.'

'I suppose so.'

'Well, you're unusual, most people need to. If they happen to win, they keep on playing until they do lose. Right now around the world more people are gambling than ever in the history of man.' O'Brien shrugged to show that the phenomenon was beyond him.» Maybe it's the coming millennium. It's as if people want to shed material things, not in a church but in a casino. People are willing to lose everything as long as they have fun. They can't resist. It's human. The worst snub in the world is a casino where they won't take your money.'

'Were you here before the Revolution?'

'A dozen times. Jesus, that was a long time ago.'

'Did you gamble?'

'I'm like you, I don't like to lose. Mostly, I admired the operation. You know who I pointed out to my wife? I pointed out Jack Kennedy. He had a peroxide blonde on one arm and a sultry mulata on the other. During the missile crisis I wondered if Jack ever thought back to that night.'

'There were other casinos, too,' Walls said.

'Deauville, Sans Souci, Montmartre, Tropicana,' said O'Brien.» The Mafia's great plan was to tear down Havana and rebuild it, make it completely modern and create a triangle of tourism between Miami, Havana and the Yucatan, an international zone of prosperity. That's what the Revolution stopped, not that the Revolution wasn't overdue but, economically, Cuba lost forty years.'

'That's your plan, to reopen old casinos?'

'No,' O'Brien said, 'still too many hard feelings. Anyway, the Havana Yacht Club and Casino can be ten times bigger than any of these.'

'You're ambitious.'

'Aren't you?' Walls asked.» The Cold War's over. I was a hero in that war and look what it got me. Marooned.'

'What kind of life is Moscow?' said O'Brien.» Wake up. You have sailed into Paradise and you're about to sail out. Don't do it. Stay here and work for us.'

'Work for you? Take Pribluda's place?'

'Like that,' said Walls.

'Why is it that I can't take this offer seriously?'

'Because you're suspicious,' said O'Brien.» It's the Russian attitude. You have to be positive. Every millionaire I ever met was an optimist. Every down-and-outer expects the worst. It's a new world, Arkady, why not plan big?'

'You would share your Cuban gold mine with a man you'd never met before?'

'But I've met your type before. You're the man at the end of the pier, who's either going to jump in the water or change his life.' O'Brien's eyes glowed with ... what? Arkady wondered. The showmanship of a salesman or the zeal of a priest, all his efforts bent to one moment of plausibility for this thoroughly ridiculous proposition.» Change it. Give yourself a chance.'

'How?'

'As a partner.'

'A partner? This gets better all the time.'

'But partnership demands trust,' O'Brien said.» You understand what trust is, don't you, Arkady?'

'Yes.'

'But you won't show it. For two days I've been waiting for you to be as open with George and me as we have been with you. Please don't piss on my back and tell me it's raining. Don't tell me about an old map. Sergeant Luna told us about the picture of the Havana Yacht Club. We know about it. A picture of a dead Russian at the Havana Yacht Club is exactly what we don't need now.'

'John would feel better if he had it,' Walls said.

'If I had it I wouldn't have to worry about it. And I'd know that you had extended your trust to us the way we have with you. Can you do that, Arkady, and trust me with that picture?' O'Brien put out his hand.

Arkady felt the envelope with the photograph sticking to his back.» I don't know about business partnerships, I've always worked directly for the state. But what about this? If I accept your proposition and work for a year and have a villa and boat and a satisfying social life, at that point I will give you the photograph. Until then it's safe because we will be, as you say, partners.'

'Are you hearing this?' Walls asked.» The mother is bargaining.'

'Resisting.' John O'Brien let his hand drop. He looked his age, suddenly a little spent, silver hair sticking to temples that were wet like sweat on the edge of greasepaint, like an actor who passionately acted a play for a dull, deaf audience.» Because you're Russian, Arkady, I'll make allowances. This is a new way of thinking for you, being part of a plan.'

'Remind me, what part would I be?' Arkady asked.

'Security. George told you, in case any Mafia does show up.'

'I'd have to think about this. I'm not sure I'm that tough.'

'That's okay,' Walls said.» People think you are.'

'Appearances go a long way,' O'Brien said.» I'll tell you why the Capri is my favorite casino. You know, the Mafia hired an actor, George Raft, to front for the Capri. Raft acted a gangster so many times people thought he was. He thought he was. Comes the night of the Revolution crowds start looting casinos. One mob heads for the Capri. Who goes out on the steps but Raft himself and says in his gangster voice, 'No punks are busting up my casino.' And they went away. He chased them. America's last stand.'

Chapter Nineteen

The bodega was a warehouse with the dimmest light in Havana, and the fact that the lines were short and Ofelia was going to do the mule's work of carrying a sack of Vietnamese rice and a tin of cooking oil did nothing to improve her mother's mood.

'You either come home late or you don't come home at all. Who is this man?'

'He's not a man,' Ofelia said.

'He's not a man?' Her mother amplified her wonderment to include as many people as possible in the conversation.

'Not a man like that.'

'Like the musicians? Great husbands. Where is the last one, massaging Swedes in Cayo Largo?'

'I came home last night. Everything is okay.'

'Everything is wonderful. Here I am with the world's greatest work of fiction.' She slapped her ration book.» What could be belter? To know why you come home so late?'

'It's a police matter.'

'With a Russian! Hija, maybe you haven't heard, the Russian boat has sailed. Gone. How did you even find one? I'd love to see this stranded Lothario.'

'Mama,' Ofelia begged.

'Oh, you're in your uniform, you're embarrassed to be seen with me. I can wait in line all day so you can run around and make the world safe for...' She indicated a beard.

'We're almost there.' Ofelia fixed her eye on the counter.

'We're almost nowhere. This is nowhere, hija. Remember that boy you knew in school, the one with the fish tank?'

'Aquarium.'