Guillermina Santa Bárbara Cheers Me Up
Monday, August 14, 2017
On December 24, 1964 my ship the Argentine Merchant Marine Río
Aguapey docked in New Orleans. I was the only passenger and I was being sent
back home to Veracruz after two years of service in the Argentine Navy.
With no family or friends (my shipboard young officer
friends were all quite drunk by the evening) I decided I was going to explore
Bourbon Street. I passed several noisy jazz bars playing Dixieland (not one of
my favourite moments of jazz) and headed to a strip bar. I had never seen a
stripper or a burlesque dancer take her clothes off.
Since I was an unoriginal idiot I purchased a bourbon
(what else?) and sat down to watch. The first dancer showed up on stage and
connected a jukebox. Then she made the motions much like a robot of taking her
clothes off with no expression on her face. Perhaps the only good thing going
for her was that she was not chewing gum.
As the evening progressed (I nursed
the one drink) I became more and more melancholy. A young woman approached me and sat down. She
told me her name was Guillermina Santa
Bárbara. She said she was from Puerto Rico. She had noticed my sad face and
wanted to cheer me up. We talked in Spanish (natch!) and I felt better. Perhaps my Nochebuena was not completely ruined. I have to this day no
idea if she simply was a good soul or was after my money. I was penniless. But
she gave me a 8x10 glossy.
I went back to the Río Aguapey. It was dark and silent. I
went to the bridge to find Captain Guillermo Migliorini drinking coffee. He was
a kind man and asked me how my venture to the city had been. I told him that I
had met a woman who was his namesake. We both smiled at the coincidence.
And I went to bed.
