THE JERONIMOS CLUB

CHAPTER I

His name was Fernando Moya, but we nicknamed him the "Monkey" because of his long arms, his big ears and because he walked with a stooped gait. He lived with his parents in an attic in Santa María. His father was a baker, obese, grumpy and a drunkard.

      Emilio Pomares had a charcoal shop in Fúcar street and for that reason we called him, simply, "Carbonero". He almost always wore a beret that he never took off, not even to sleep. (That's what his father used to tell us). Emilio, aged eleven, was in love with Elena, the milkman's daughter; a pale, melancholic girl with big, dark eyes. The dairy was on the other side of the street, but Emilio shunned the girl because he was very shy and was ashamed of being dirty with coal five days a week while she dazzled with her milky whiteness.

     Casimiro Jalón, the "Poisoner", although he went to school, helped his parents in their chocolate shop in León Street. We gave him the nickname "Poisoner" because one day he offered us a chocolate and croutons at his house and all the guests suffered intestinal disorders.

     The Cantudo brothers, Rafael and Mario, were twins and lived in Prado Street. They belonged to a wealthy family and were always very well dressed. Sometimes they would fist each other and when they got tired they would throw their arms around each other's shoulders and nothing happened there. We didn't dare to separate them because if we tried they would join in and attack us with the fury of two wildcats.

   Pepe Bonilla, chubby, quiet and submissive, belonged to that class of introverted boys who can never be alone, who attend meetings furtively and are always behind, proud to carry someone else's rucksack or books. He loved plants and said that whoever loves nature can't be bad. Sometimes he would ask Cantudo I, who was studying botany, for advice. Bonilla had pots in his room, in the courtyard of his house and in his father's cellar in Lope de Vega. If we wanted to see the little lamb suddenly turn into a tiger, all we had to do was kick a tree or break a simple twig. When, in our forays through the Retiro, someone, with his hand in his fly, would get into the bushes, poor Bonilla would beg:

      - No, please, not in the plants!

    Julio Rueda, "Neck Stomper", was a robust, clumsy and noble boy who had the habit of threatening, saying: "I'll stomp on your neck! His parents had a newspaper kiosk in Atocha and Julio delivered newspapers to their homes. In the afternoons he would go to a public school for two hours to study.

    Juanito Balaguer, our exceptional goalkeeper, was smart and somewhat scruffy. He lived with two spinster aunts in Santa Polonia Street. His father was an emigrant and worked as a miner in Belgium. One Sunday morning, Juanito appeared in the open field where we were playing, dressed in a brand new grey pinstripe suit, tie and shoes. We were so astonished that the Cantudo brothers, on the verge of a fist fight, stood there with their mouths open, staring at the newcomer in astonishment.

      - Hey, hey, look at the duke! -exclaimed Fernando Moya ironically.

      - Where did you get that disguise? - mocked the "Poisoner".

      - If I don't see it, I don't believe it," said Emilio Pomares admiringly.

      - Less teasing, friends, - defended Balaguer, very serious - my aunts insisted... I didn't want to upset them.

      - Well - I said, feeling conciliatory - : You won't be able to play, you'd get dirty. For once you're a spectator, nothing will happen to you.

     Balaguer took his hands out of his pockets.

     - I'm not playing? Me as a spectator? - he took off his jacket and threw it on the floor. Here's a pole! - he shouted, and taking off his trousers, tie and shoes, he made a lump and put it on the ground, a few metres away from the jacket. And here is the other post!