With all the formalities taken care of at the airport, Reuben went on board the aircraft. Having several hours of the journey ahead, he found it hard to relax. His thoughts went back to his mother. He was at Oxford at the time of her death. His mother was a beautiful soul, who was tortured & humiliated by her husband. When Evita died & Peron was exiled, Mr. Creighton used all of the accumulated wealth to maintain the lifestyle he had created for himself. His only son Reuben was not entitled to any of those comforts nor his mother. Both of them lived in Maple mansion, but they lacked what one would call a homely atmosphere. Creighton was a dictator in his own right, and this was his country — his mansion.
When the plane finally landed, Reuben came back from his past to his present. He was in Buenos Aires for just the weekend. He had an important case on Monday in London & he would have to leave early in the evening tomorrow. He took a taxi to Maple mansion. As the cab drove into the driveway of his house, he thought of all the miserable time he had spent there as a child. He'd sell the house & settle down in London, Reuben had enough of Argentina.
It was still a handsome house, a Georgian edifice with columns, once a monument to those who had built it & now a sad reminder of a declining family. His old maid Irene greeted him, as she opened the door for him. Irene was more of his family than his father had ever been. The interior of the house was depressing, all the riches & not a penny spent on the house. Creighton Le Borg was a reclusive old man, hell-bent on giving away his money, not to charity but to every deadened practice–legal & illegal known to Argentine culture. They had nothing in common except the name...Le Borg.
Irene informed him about Mr. George Andrew, who was waiting for him in the study. Reuben told Irene he'd meet Mr. Andrew right after he freshened up & had a change of clothes. Andrew was his father's old friend & lawyer. He knew what this was about, the will. As he changed, he thought, other than the house, there weren't many of assets his father would've left him. He descended the stairs & went into the study. It was 6 o'clock in the evening, another 24 hours and he'd be away from this place for good.
George was an ageing man with gray hair & a belly far more significant than would suit his five feet four inches frame. After the initial greeting & grieving, George got down to business, Reuben would get the house & a yearly sum of a hundred thousand pesos which were sent to Maple Mansion would now be wired to him at London.
Reuben was confused, the Le Borg family had once been wealthy but long before Reuben, or so he thought. He had gone to law school by waiting on tables, for Mr. Creighton was always short on cash. Reuben asked George, "How come my father left me so much money? I thought he had spent it all. What kind of joke is this?" George looked at him with a surprised then grave expression on his face. He said, "Reuben, your father didn't leave you this huge sum of money. Your Uncle had a trust made in which all the Le Borg money was to be given to you on your 25th birthday. Since you are just 23 years of age, you were entitled to a hundred thousand pesos for your upbringing & tuition. This money was given to your father."
Shocked Reuben further asked, "What Uncle? I don't have an uncle. What are you trying to do? Joking with me like this!" George explained. "Your father didn't want you to know about your Uncle. I didn't know your Uncle personally, but I have heard that he was a rebel & a traitor to our beloved country. That might be the reason your father kept this piece of information from you." With this said, George drowned the last of his tea & left Reuben to sink in all this new information.
Reuben went straight to the Kitchen and found Irene at the stove cooking something. Reuben asked her about his Uncle. Irene looked at Reuben with surprise. In twenty years this was the first time she heard Charles name being mentioned in the Le Borg household. With a stern look on her face, she asked him, "Are you sure you want to know all of this?" "Good lord, yes! Of course Irene, you've lived all your childhood & adult life in this mansion & I trust you to be honest with me. Please tell me what and who was my Uncle?"
"Well, it all started several years before you were born, this animosity your father had. Your Uncle was two years older than your father. He was a kind man, a man with a vision. Your father tried so hard to come out of his shadows that he even got himself into trouble. I think it was twice that your father was arrested for picking up fights. Mr. Creighton was the wild one, who hated Mr. Charles for all his goodness. He ran away & married your mother assuming she was rich. But as always, he was disillusioned. Your mother came from a respectable family like your father's family, but certainly not rich. A fact learnt much too late to his liking." Irene placed before Reuben his dinner of soup, steak & mashed potatoes.
Reuben didn't have much of an appetite, yet he played with his food as Irene went on, "Your mother was a dear soul. Your father lived off whatever assets your mother owned until they finished. After that, he became restless and penniless. He tried to come back to the mansion, but the old Mr. Le Borg would hear nothing of it. Your Uncle was too kind a man to let his only brother live homeless, especially when his wife was to give birth. You were born in this very mansion & your Uncle doted on you, so did your grandfather.
Creighton was now an alcoholic who had several mistresses all over Buenos Aires and was always short on cash. Your grandfather was dying, and he could not see your father destroy the family name in the way he was. That’s why he left all of his assets to your Uncle, for he knew he'd always take care of you & your family.
At your grandfather’s funeral, your father came drunk & that’s when Charles had him thrown out. Imagine that, a son cursing his own father of being a cunning man. He even accused your Uncle of depriving him of his rightful share of old Mr. Le Borg’s money.
Why Mr. Charles tolerated, your father is still a mystery to me. How can a man be so blinded by love? Your father, however, had everything but respect for Mr. Charles. He took it as an insult, the fact that he was thrown out of the funeral. Also, he was at the mercy of the very man he hated for petty cash.
Since Mr. Charles was a prominent leader of the opposition, Eva & Peron tried to keep a close watch on him. He was, in fact, so strong that they feared he would instigate the Argentine people into a revolution against Peron. Peron could not afford that. He, being a shrewd man, used your father's animosity to his advantage. Your father became a spy for Peron. As a reward, he was promised an appointment to the post of Chief of the Personita Foundation.
During this period, Eva was getting rid of all her enemies, as she was very vindictive. Creighton was what she had needed. Creighton was now a spy & he gave constant information of what Charles was up to, to Eva personally. At a crucial meeting held by the opposition in secret, Eva had every leader arrested on the Charges of ‘trying to assassinate the President, i.e. Peron.’ That was all a lie. The opposition never believed in violence, maybe that was their only weakness.
It was because of your father that the venue of this secret meeting was disclosed to Eva. She was very cruel to all these leaders. They were imprisoned for two years before they ever had their first court hearing. All a charade I tell you. Your Uncle was ill-treated & kept in very dreadful conditions, I know of this as once secretly your mother & I went to meet him. He was a handsome man, even though he was now frail & suffering, yet he still had that fire in his eyes.
Mr. Creighton was now a hero & your Uncle a traitor according to all the newspapers. It had to be that way for Eva personally had all control over the print media. Mr. Charles was ill & he died of throat cancer far before the date of the hearing. All the papers had the news of his death as the end of an evil schemer, but the people knew better. The masses were on Charles side & mourned his death, but their fear for Eva & Peron restrained them from showing any emotion.
In his will, your Uncle left everything to you, he told us this when we went to visit him at the prison. The Le Borg bloodline was thinning to a sad & inevitable halt. Its only hope was for you to continue the Le Borg legacy in the right direction. That’s the only reason both your mother & I stayed in this mansion. She stayed till her death & I shall wait till mine. Mr. Charles was like a brother I never had. Your mother had forced your father to bury him at Le Borg graveyard. Your father would never have agreed to this had your mother not threatened to expose him for the thief he was to Eva. Imagine that your father stole from you & the people who gave him a position to be feared!!
He took your money from you & spent it on gambling, women & alcohol. Your mother didn't tell you anything about this as in you, she saw so much of your Uncle's genes rather than your fathers. She feared Creighton would get rid of you as well. He never loved anybody but himself. I'm sorry you had to know all of this. I wish you had known your Uncle; he indeed was a great man. All his life your father was anything but his brother. He was so adamant that he ended up destroying the one man who had a pure love for him. Sure your father was a hero- in the papers, but in the hearts of the old Argentine people, your Uncle was the real hero. Sure your father was powerful & feared till his death, but it was your Uncle who was loved." With this, Irene wiped off the tears from her eyes & wished Reuben good night & left.
Reuben spent countless hours turning in his bed. He was contemplating what he had learned right now. Somehow Irene's version was far more believable to him than George's. Reuben knew his father was a reclusive old man. Reuben realized that he was much like Uncle; he too believed Peron had done little good for Argentine. He didn't want to live in the country where a man who had created such a disaster in the economy was exiled, only to be called back & given power seventeen years later.
With the break of dawn, Reuben left for the family graveyard. As he walked through the gates of the Le Borg graveyard at one end of Buenos Aries, his heartfelt numb. All around him were gravestones, with his ancestors beneath them. All of them were somehow responsible for his being in this world (well at least some of them). Some day he too would join them, six feet under the ground.
That April Monday of 1973, Reuben saw himself standing in front of his father’s grave for the better half of the day. Reminiscence of his past and all that the man named Creighton meant came to him with a gush of pain. All that was left of the man who had caused so much pain to his mother, Uncle, grandfather & himself, was now just a gravestone with his birth & death date on it. So many years of hatred. All his life Creighton made a conscious effort to not walk the path followed by his brother Charles. Yet he paid the ultimate homage to his brother by following him in death. Creighton was overweight, a diabetic, yet a heavy pipe smoker had a bad heart that survived three attacks & a host of lesser ailments that had tormented him for 10 years. What is noteworthy here is that Creighton died of throat cancer, the very same disease that killed his brother.
As he made a start from the graveyard, Reuben noticed that while Charles' grave was in bright sunshine, his father was almost permanently in shadow…and he was sure that there was divine justice.
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