A Corpse for Cuamantla Read Online Free PDF Page A

the street. Looking to her right she noticed María's car parked on the hillside, hidden by a large bush. Splotches of the car's bright red color shone through the leaves like irrepressible bougainvillea blossoms. María must have entered the school, Anna thought, during her uncomfortable conversation with Pedro. She headed into the school to talk with María when her cell phone rang. Stepping back outside, she answered, dreading the upcoming conversation.
    "Anna, what happened in Cuamantla?" Art's lack of courtesy corresponded to his distress over the news. She hoped he wasn't about to kill the messenger, but before she could answer he interrupted her.
    "Tell me I misunderstood your message."
    "No, Art it's true. The Municipal President caught me this morning outside Rosa's house. He's scared out of his wits. Says the village officials will blame him in a heartbeat. One of them is after his hide, I don't know why. I think he's worried they'll kill him."
    "Damn village politics. Who's out to get him?"
    "I don't know. He didn't say."
    "I knew this would happen. Stubborn guy doesn't listen to anyone, now he wants me to bail him out. I oughta let him hang himself with his own noose."
    "What do you want me to tell him?"
    "Let me get my thoughts together. This is damn upsetting and I'm in the middle of a conference with a paper to give tomorrow morning that I still haven't written. I don't have time for this. Where's Miguel?" Miguel was Art's student at the University of Tlaxcala, which is how Anna came to be in Cuamantla carrying out her field research under Miguel’s watchful eye.
    "He can't talk now, the parade's starting. Today's the fiesta."
    "Oh yeah, I forgot. Okay. Tell the President I know a couple of people in Ahfee. I'll contact them and get back to you. Maybe I should fly down there."
    "What's Ahfee again?" The term distracted Anna from Art's comment about flying down or she would have raised an immediate objection.
    "A.F.I. Agencia Federal de Investigacion . Anna, you should know that. They're like the FBI in the U.S."
    "Sorry, I forgot. I can't remember the acronyms of every bureaucratic agency down here, especially ones that have nothing to do with my fieldwork."
    "Not important, Annie."
    "Please don't call me Annie, you know I hate that."
    "Sorry Anna, I'm upset. Gotta run, I'll get back to you." Click. The phone went dead. No how are you , no goodbye . A good example of how Art behaved under stress.
    Not my worry, Anna thought, I have enough worries of my own. She'd keep an eye open for the Municipal President and tell him Art was looking into the matter. Maybe Art would change his mind about flying down to Tlaxcala. Someone would have to cover his classes and no doubt he had plenty of deadlines to meet. The thought of his busy schedule comforted her. The last thing she needed was to have Art down here looking over her shoulder, shadowing her every move.
    Noise from the fireworks increased in frequency and volume. A palpable excitement suffused the crowd as reverberations from the rockets rattled through the village. Her camera lens found Miguel again. He was standing at the head of the parade patiently waiting for an unknown signal to begin. A whistle hung around his neck and he twisted the cord nervously. She wondered if he might be looking for her and wove her way through the densely packed collection of villagers until she reached him. He motioned her closer.
    "Okay, I'm here," she grinned, "you can start the parade. "
    Miguel didn't bite, just nodded absently and asked if she'd seen Pedro. "He's supposed to join the parade with his students, but no one can find him. If he doesn't sh ow up in the next minute or two I'm starting without him."
    Just like Pedro, Anna thought, holding up everything in order to make an imperial appearance. "Maybe the sound system broke again and he's inside the school fixing it." She tried giving Pedro the benefit of the doubt even if it he didn’t deserve it. "I saw him ten or