Willy rang a beneficial buzzer and hollered to a classic flat with a keen overhanging balcony

Willy rang a beneficial buzzer and hollered to a classic flat with a keen overhanging balcony

A short while later on a senior black lady wear a reddish scarf over light locks came up regarding the second-flooring window. She looked confused however accepted Willy. “ Hola. Hola. ” She enjoy all of us upstairs.

Their term was Gladis Castaneda, and she was a professional traditional pianist within the Havana during the fresh new 1950s. She was a tiny woman within her eighties otherwise 90s. She nodded when he stated La Reina. Yes, she said, he would stayed in so it area, correct next-door. Right here, from the flesh, is actually an individual who know the newest legendary Superman-proof, in fact, that the people in reality lived.

Superman, Castaneda said, was high, solid, acknowledged. “Someone knew him since the Queen,” she said. “He had been gay, however did not mess with him.” She questioned us to sit. “He had been your own top. However, strong. Muscle.” He had epidermis eg hers: black, however most. “He had been a good man. No body had a problem with him.” I asked in the event that everybody in the people know just what the guy performed to possess an income. “Child, it was years ago. He left many years ago.”

Willy requested if the she realized exactly what became regarding your, and you can she told you she believes he died in Miami. Their particular opportunity are waning, and you can Willy nodded to me to indicate the time had come i wade.

Upon the trail, i fulfilled a vintage people leaning from the wall surface. Their label was Elado. He carried a beneficial cane and dressed in a free green sweater which have an excellent Masonic icon holding out-of a chain around his neck. Willy informed him we were looking information regarding the person they called Los angeles Reina.

“ Si, si, ” the outdated people told you. “Los angeles Reina-folks know your. Mulatto. Concerning your level,” he nodded inside my direction. “People known your. The guy stayed here to possess twenty years. Obviously, everyone else understood just what he did for a living.” The guy said Superman remaining on the U.S echte Kambodscha Frauen fГјr die Ehe. when you look at the 1959. “Not one person knew his label. Folks merely titled him La Reina.”

We joined her spacious apartment, and you will Willy explained whatever you had been performing

Down the street because of the church, roosters crowed. An excellent girl wear Rollerblades spoke to your a cover cellular telephone. An old man when you look at the a fabric tennis cap used good cigar towards a great backless solid wood chair.

His locks try light and you will insane

I strolled by way of Los Sitios on the Barrio Chino up until i showed up from the 507 Marquis Street. We endured in the pub looking at the entry so you’re able to an effective martial-arts college: Escuela Cubana de- Wushu. They got a yellow and you can red act having a silver foo canine and you can a yellow metal entrance.

The entranceway was discover. Within the front gate are a good courtyard with a little cafe and lots of stationary exercise equipment. The latest theater immediately after stood where school’s outside courtyard is actually. We attempted to envision where the phase could have been. The newest dressing room in which Superman ready to accept this new show. The brand new balcony where drunken travelers saw the results.

A short time later i returned to Barrio de- los Sitios to canvas for others whom might have known Superman. In the flat strengthening next to Gladis Castaneda’s, i fulfilled Superman’s real neighbor: an old pizza cook called Roberto Cabarero, 82 yrs old, having a highly stained and you can expanded muscle tissue shirt, sagging brownish shorts for the fly wide open, and you can black clothes that have holes about foot. Their epidermis sagged such a sea turtle’s.

Cabarero’s apartment, where the guy stayed with his spouse, try smaller and you may ramshackle, plagued by rubbish. His spouse seated in the tiny family room, rocking back and forth when you look at the a wood sofa, talking loudly at the nobody specifically. A wireless blared tinny old Foreign-language sounds, and you will your pet dog came in and outside of the area to help you consume crumbs off the floors. An alarm clock sounded through the duration of the appointment. No body troubled to turn it well.