“I’m Your Horse In The Night”

3 Pages 783 Words

Luisa Valenzuela’s, “I’m Your Horse In the Night”, is a short story that can be interpreted in many different ways. Many questions arose in my mind while reading this story, like, was her fantasy a dream or was it a reality? Luisa Valenzuela wrote this short story in such a way that the reader must think deeply about what is being said.
The woman referred to as Chiquita heard the doorbell. It rang in such a way that she knew it was the man referred to as Beto. They embraced and remained silent. Chiquita remembered him always being silent, never one to express his feelings in words. Questions enter her mind about his whereabouts in Argentina. She hadn’t heard from him in months. She did not know if he was alive, or whether he had been captured, or was in hiding.
With him he brought a bottle of cachaca, an alcoholic beverage, and a Gal Costa record. Chiquita and Beto begin listening to the music and slowly drink the alcohol. No words were said; just sweet caressing and deep looks into each other’s eyes. They begin to make love while the music sings, “I’m your horse in the night”.
Chiquita awoke to a phone call claiming that Beto was dead. Realizing that Beto must have left while she was sleeping, she said it could not have been him. The caller hung up and shortly after the police arrive. Demanding to know where Beto was the police ransack the house. While watching her life unfold before her, Chiquita realized that they wouldn’t find anything for it was only a dream, and they couldn’t take that away.
The story concluded with a short paragraph. Chiquita saying her last words to Beto, as if she were over him, and no longer going to fantasize. “Beto, you know now, if it’s true that they killed you, or wherever you may be. Beto, I’m your horse in the night and you can inhabit me whenever you wish, even if I’m behind bars. Beto, now that I’m in jail I know that I dreamed you that night; it...