A couple of minutes afterwards an elderly black colored woman wear a red scarf more than light tresses emerged from the next-flooring window. She appeared perplexed however approved Willy. “ Hola. Hola. ” She enjoy united states upstairs.
Their name was Gladis Castaneda, and you will she was a specialist classical pianist within the Havana through the the new 1950s. She are a small lady in her own 80s otherwise 1990’s. She nodded when he mentioned La Reina. Yes, she said, he would stayed in which area, best nearby. Here, on skin, is somebody who know the fresh new legendary Superman-facts, indeed, the guy in fact existed.
Superman, Castaneda told you, are extreme Papua New Guinean alleinstehende Frauen, good, known. “Folks knew your because the Queen,” she said. “He had been gay, you did not wreak havoc on him.” She requested us to sit. “He had been the level. However, good. Muscle.” He’d facial skin for example hers: black, not very. “He was an effective people. Not one person had a problem with him.” I asked when the everyone in the neighborhood understood exactly what he did getting a living. “Young man, it had been many years ago. The guy leftover many years ago.”
Willy requested when the she realized exactly what turned into out-of him, and she said she thinks the guy passed away when you look at the Miami. Their energy is actually waning, and Willy nodded if you ask me to point it was time i wade.
Down on the trail, i came across a classic people leaning up against the wall surface. His title is actually Elado. He transmitted a great cane and used a loose green jacket having an excellent Masonic symbol holding out of a cycle around their shoulder. Willy informed him we had been looking information regarding the man it titled La Reina.
“ Si, si, ” the old guy said. “La Reina-people understood your. Mulatto. Regarding your level,” he nodded in my guidance. “Everyone recognized him. The guy lived right here for 2 decades. However, everyone else realized exactly what he did to have an income.” He said Superman left toward You.S. during the 1959. “No body understood their title. Everyone only named your Los angeles Reina.”
I inserted their particular roomy flat, and you may Willy said everything we was performing
Outside because of the church, roosters crowed. A great girl wearing Rollerblades talked towards the a cover cellular phone. A classic guy inside a fabric golf limit smoked an effective cigar into a great backless solid wood sofa.
Their hair was white and crazy
We moved as a consequence of Los Sitios into Barrio Chino up until we turned up during the 507 Marquis Road. We stood in the pub looking at the entrance to help you an excellent martial-arts college: Escuela Cubana de Wushu. They had a red and yellow act having a gold foo canine and a red-colored iron entrance.
The entranceway is open. Within the top gate are a great courtyard with a small cafe and lots of fixed exercise equipment. The movie theater shortly after endured the spot where the school’s outdoor courtyard is becoming. We made an effort to envision where in fact the phase might have been. The putting on a costume area in which Superman prepared for new show. The fresh new balcony in which drunken people spotted new performance.
A few days later on i returned to Barrio de- los Sitios to help you canvas for others who might have identified Superman. On the apartment building alongside Gladis Castaneda’s, i fulfilled Superman’s genuine neighbor: a former pizza pie cook called Roberto Cabarero, 82 years of age, that have a greatly tarnished and extended muscle clothing, drooping brownish trousers with the travel spacious, and you may black socks that have openings throughout the toes. Their epidermis sagged eg a-sea turtle’s.
Cabarero’s apartment, where he stayed along with his partner, try tiny and you can ramshackle, full of nonsense. Their partner sat in the middle of the tiny home, rocking to and fro when you look at the a wood settee, speaking loudly from the not one person particularly. An invisible blared tinny dated Foreign language music, and you may a puppy came in and from the room in order to consume crumbs from the flooring. A security time clock sounded through the duration of our conference. No-one annoyed to make it off.