A Special Wedding 4

I couldn’t sleep much. I spent the whole night very aroused, thinking about what awaited me the next day.

When I woke up, I found some clothes and a note next to my bed: To the dining room at eight.

It was seven fifteen in the morning. I took a hot bath and then studied the clothes they had left on the bed for me:

A pair of rough cotton underpants and a shirt of the same material, a henequen pair of trousers, and some huaraches made of a very coarse material.

The fabric was not only rough, it was stiff. I put on the underpants, trying to figure out which was the front and which was the back. The legs of the underpants came slightly below my knees. Then I put on the shirt and finished by putting on the trousers, which I tied with a cotton cord, tightening it hard so they wouldn’t fall down. The huaraches made me walk very slowly, and they made noise when I walked because they dragged along the floor.

When I got to the dining room, I felt my blood boil with embarrassment. Patricio was not alone; with him was a red-haired man with long tangled hair.

He was tall and strongly built. With a full beard and mustache. He was older than Patricio, but obviously younger than I was. Patricio did not introduce him to me. I knew he was his uncle because that was how he addressed him; later I learned his name was Iñigo.

I said nothing. I stood still and turned to look at Patricio, waiting for him to explain.

“Ah look, uncle,” said Patricio, coming up to me, “this is the descendant of one of the slaves I told you about,” he said, taking me by the arm and placing me in front of Iñigo.

Iñigo studied me from head to toe as if he had a dog or a horse in front of him.

“Serve breakfast,” he said, sitting down at the head of the table. Patricio pointed toward the kitchen. There were some women preparing breakfast. I felt a little ashamed for them to see me dressed like that, because the day before they had served me breakfast.

Without turning to look at me, they handed me two plates of fruit, which I took in my hands and carried to the table. I’m an academic, I’ve been to events, and I know that waiters serve from one side and clear from the other. I tried to do it as well as possible, the way I had seen it done.

I picked up the coffee pot and asked Iñigo first, “Would you like coffee, sir?”

“Yes,” replied Iñigo without looking at me, placing the napkin on his lap and taking the fruit with his fork. I did the same with Patricio.

“You are going to call us Master Iñigo and Master Patricio,” he told me while I was pouring the coffee.

“Understood, Master Patricio,” I answered without saying anything more.

When they finished the fruit, I got confused about which side I was supposed to serve from and simply exchanged the fruit plate for the scrambled eggs. I placed some tortillas in the center...