whew ... !

So I hadn't looked before how you tagged that post and so I wasn't sure what I was reading: Fiction, true story, a mixture of both?

I felt repelled several times in the course of your narrative, not only by the women who blasphemed about the strangers, but also by the first-person narrator, who didn't exactly seem like a paragon of wisdom to me either. (Apologies, it will get better, I promise:)

What am I glad about - and what have I been hoping for all this time - that the end of the story took another turn, because all this time I thought, "Well, there will be a reason why there is all this contempt for each other."

Because, after all, there always is. Fortunately, you gave me great relief when you let Evelyn speak. Very wise words, indeed! What a courageous and self-confident woman. In the beginning you drew a picture of her, I must confess it: I did not befriend. When I saw these thick red lips, I almost said goodbye to the article.

I have heard a similar story of my brother who was on Cuba and who reported to me - quite disgusted - of it that the women and young girls would do there so nearly everything to leave their country or marry however a man with money.

Your story has many facets and I am basically very calm again because you portrayed it so well. Both are to be understood, the shameful behaviour of the women, the insecure courtship display of the men, the hypocrisy, the strategic manoeuvring. The line between victim and perpetrator disappears here.

Well told, then!

Say, did it really happen that way with the microphone? I can't believe it and it still makes me smile!

I also like the "alienness" of the language and the courtesy of translation you gave.

Thanks for this piece. It's hopefully getting acknowledged.