The Day of the Moon by Graciela Limón

he was convinced that what those tongues were spreading from house to house, from hut to hut, from stable to mine shaft, from the
llano
up to the canyons, and even to the caves, was true. Those gossips said that Isadora was now Jerónimo Santiago’s woman, that she slept with him, that she showed herself by his side, holding his arm.
    Don Flavio finally confronted Isadora. She did not even try to deny what the rumors were saying. She admitted that she was Jerónimo’s concubine and that she was pregnant with his child. After that, she left. She disappeared, taking Samuel with her, but Flavio knew that she had fled to the caves up in the sierra.
    Shortly after Isadora’s flight, Flavio collapsed. He was assaulted by a recurrent high fever, vomiting and delirium. His illness lasted days, and when he emerged from it, his spirit was paralyzed. He was unable to think or to move. He would not leave his room because he was ashamed and humiliated by his daughter’s actions. When food was brought, he refused to open his door. When someoneknocked, he kept silent. He neither bathed nor shaved, and when each day turned to night, he kept vigil during the dark night until the first rays of light penetrated the gloom of his lair.
    Flavio did not know how many days had passed before his mind cleared. When he was finally lucid, he began to hatch his plan. He determined that not only would El Rarámuri pay, but his father, his mother, brothers, uncles, aunts, the whole tribe would suffer with tears and anguish. Flavio took his time, thinking, calculating day and night.
    First, he decided, he would allow time to pass. Flavio knew that the tribe would expect him to get rid of El Rarámuri and the rest of his family, run each one of those devils off Hacienda Miraflores. But he would do the opposite; he would do nothing because that would confuse them. He would wait until they thought nothing was going to happen, and
then
he would strike. After that he would fold his arms and watch as they sunk into grief and starvation.
    It took Flavio a longer time to devise the next phase of his strategy because it involved El Rarámuri and Celestino. His first impulse was to have both son and father eliminated. Flavio knew that it would be simple, that his authority would not be challenged, especially in light of the offense he had suffered. He decided, however, that killing them was not enough, that it was too easy, too kind, too quick. Flavio thought of castrating Jerónimo, leaving him to limp through life, neither man nor woman. But the idea of his lingering presence sickened Flavio.
    When it came to what to do with Celestino, Flavio’s stomach tightened. What would cause him to suffer the same pain that he, Flavio, was enduring? In what manner could he create the same amount of torture for Celestino, a torment that would last as long as he lived? When the answer came to him, he reproached himself for not having seen it from the beginning. Both punishments were linked: By killing the son, the father would then be left behind to suffer the same loss and outrage that he, Flavio, was experiencing. With this calculation, Don Flavio saw that his plan was set. But he resolved to practice patience. He thought of Isadora’s pregnancy,deciding to wait a year before putting his plan into action, even though each hour was torturous for him.
    After finalizing the details of the plan to his satisfaction, Flavio bathed, shaved, dressed and emerged from his bedroom. As he walked through the passages and corridors of the hacienda, he was aware of staring, startled servant eyes. He had looked in the mirror and realized that he had lost weight, that his face had aged, paled and become wrinkled. Flavio understood that when the eyes of the Rarámuri servants looked at him, they were filled with a mix of curiosity and fear; they were waiting for his fury to be unleashed. But he did nothing, taking satisfaction in knowing that this