Willy rang good buzzer and you will hollered around a classic apartment having an enthusiastic overhanging balcony

A couple of minutes later a senior black colored woman sporting a reddish garment more light tresses emerged on next-flooring screen. She appeared confused but then recognized Willy. “ Hola. Hola. ” She anticipate you upstairs.

Their particular name is japanische Dating-Site uns actually Gladis Castaneda, and you can she was a specialist classical pianist inside the Havana while in the the brand new 1950s. She was a little woman inside her eighties or 1990s. She nodded when he said La Reina. Sure, she said, he would stayed in which society, right next-door. Right here, in the tissue, try an individual who realized brand new legendary Superman-proof, in fact, the guy indeed resided.

Superman, Castaneda told you, are extreme, solid, known. “Everyone know him because the King,” she told you. “He had been gay, but you failed to mess with your.” She questioned me to remain. “He was your own peak. However, good. Muscular.” He had facial skin such as for instance hers: ebony, not most. “He had been good man. Nobody had an issue with your.” I asked when the everybody in the area knew just what he performed for a living. “Child, it absolutely was years ago. He kept many years ago.”

Willy questioned in the event that she knew exactly what turned into from your, and you can she said she thinks he died in the Miami. Her opportunity are waning, and you will Willy nodded in my opinion to suggest it was time i go.

Down on the street, we fulfilled a vintage guy tilting from the wall. Their identity is actually Elado. He sent a great cane and you can dressed in a loose environmentally friendly jacket having a beneficial Masonic symbol hanging off a sequence doing his shoulder. Willy advised him we had been shopping for details about the person they called Los angeles Reina.

“ Si, si, ” the existing man told you. “La Reina-everyone realized your. Mulatto. Concerning your top,” the guy nodded within my assistance. “Everybody else respected your. The guy lived here having 2 decades. However, every person know exactly what he did for a living.” He said Superman kept with the You.S. within the 1959. “No body knew his term. Everyone else merely called your Los angeles Reina.”

We inserted her large apartment, and you can Willy told me that which we was creating

Outside of the chapel, roosters crowed. A girl using Rollerblades spoke toward a pay cellular phone. An old people within the a leather-based tennis cover used an excellent cigar on the an effective backless wood settee.

Their tresses try light and nuts

I went courtesy Los Sitios to your Barrio Chino up to i arrived at the 507 Marquis Path. We endured in the pub looking at the entrance so you’re able to an effective martial-arts school: Escuela Cubana de Wushu. They got a yellow and you can reddish act having a silver foo puppy and you will a yellow iron entrance.

The entranceway are discover. Inside front door was a courtyard with a tiny cafe and lots of fixed exercise equipment. The fresh movie theater just after endured where in actuality the school’s outdoor courtyard is starting to become. I tried to consider in which the stage could have been. The fresh new putting on a costume space where Superman open to the new inform you. Brand new balcony where drunken travelers watched brand new performance.

A few days later on i returned to Barrio de- los Sitios in order to fabric for other individuals just who possess recognized Superman. On flat building close to Gladis Castaneda’s, we fulfilled Superman’s real neighbor: a former pizza pie cook entitled Roberto Cabarero, 82 years old, with a seriously discolored and you can stretched muscle mass clothing, drooping brown shorts with the fly wide-open, and black clothes which have holes throughout the foot. His epidermis sagged such a-sea turtle’s.

Cabarero’s apartment, where the guy stayed along with his wife, try small and you may ramshackle, littered with junk. Their spouse sat in the middle of the little family room, rocking back-and-forth within the a wooden settee, speaking loudly within no-one specifically. A radio blared tinny old Language audio, and you may a puppy was available in and you will from the area to help you eat crumbs off of the floor. A security clock sounded throughout our very own meeting. No-one troubled to turn it off.