Free What Men Don't Understand by Nuria Solano Page B

turned and saw, fixed on her, a look of cold yellow eyes, just a foot from her face. On the railing. Greenish scales. Long claws. She walked back trying to control her terror and not make sudden movements. Leaving the kitchen she yelled with all her might and ran in search of Benito. Down the stairs panting, arrived to the building entrance, but he wasn't there. She went to the indoor garden. There he was, digging to plant a small rosebush. When the janitor saw her, he stood up, but in doing so he complained and looked at his forearm. He had a little blood.
    "Damn rosebush!" Benito protested. He was going to take a better look at the wound, but Inma was there, pressing.
    "Benito!" She was suddenly breathless. She couldn't explain it. She shook his shoulder and pointed to the gallery. The janitor looked in that direction with uncertainty. On the railing there was nothing, but something green was beginning to move right where the brick wall started. Some kind of giant lizard, maybe an iguana, moved by the vertical wall as easily as if it were a plain.
    "I've had it on my face!" Inma protested. "What's that?"
    "Looks like on of those exotic lizards. It must had escaped from somewhere."
    "Does anyone in the building have lizards?" Inma said startled.
    "Not to my knowledge. But it may come from the buildings..., next door."
    Benito looked at Inma. He stared at her, and was coming to her with an indefinable grin. Inma stepped back. The janitor moved his hands towards her and took another step. Inma screamed. Suddenly the man stopped. His eyes seemed to look nowhere now. He was sweating heavily, and his skin was turning yellowish. With his full height, he hit the ground. Inma's eyes widened almost out of their sockets. There was the janitor on the floor, shaking and foaming at the mouth. She ran to the building gate.
    "Sibi! Sibi!", she cried while pressing the intercom button. No one answered.

    When the ambulance arrived Inma appeared to be in a trance. She was barely able to respond to the questions that nurses asked her while trying to revive Benito, uselessly. Then Ado, Benito's wife, arrived with Sibi. The two were carrying grocery bags.
    "What happened!?" They said in unison. Although Ado didn't wait for a response and rushed to embrace her husband, who lay on the ground, cold, with a bluish skin tone.
    "It was horrible!", Inma said to embrace Sibi. "I called you, but you were not here. No one."
    Ado screamed and they went with her. The nurses covered Benito's corps with golden shiny foil. They said they had to wait for the judge to arrive. Inma saw a nurse whispering to his colleague. She approached surreptitiously.
    "Take it from me. I was in Africa in Doctors Without Borders. These are the symptoms of a poisonous bite. A scorpion, a snake ... ". When he saw Inma approaching he stopped talking.
    Two hours later, Benito's mother and sister were crying too next to Ado. The body was already in the hospital, prepared for autopsy.
    Inma returned home. She declined Sibi's offer to accompany her. She wanted to make some phone calls. Her mother's voicemail answered. She'd be on the beach, but she was so distracted that she might hear the message several days later. Inma tried her sister Gloria, who replied, but seemed not to hear.
    “Inma, the signal is bad, I can't hear you. It seems that there is almost no coverage here. Wait ... No, nothing. Hey, I don't know if you hear me. We are visiting some incredible sites. I'll call you tonight or tomorrow, when we get somewhere with coverage. Big kiss.
    Inma hung up and immediately it came a long, fateful cry, like a child who knows it has been abandoned. She called Hugo without thinking. She heard the phone was picked up, but no one replyed.
    "Hello? Hugo? I'm Inma. Do you hear me?"
    There was some street background noise. She recognized Hugo's voice, kind of far, but he didn't seem to talk to her. Suddenly the call ended. Somebody must have hung up on her. Inma dialed again a little