Val Plays the Fool to Hide the Villain

There are many ways to evade guilt. One is to embrace it not as a reality but as a hyperbole. This is what Val has done. It was impossible for him to deny his actions or to take back his words. These were so toxic that even Val feared to handle them again. A better mind would have found it difficult to maneuver this minefield. Val was literally paralyzed for 4 days, unable to move in one direction or the other. He tells us that he was so occupied picking the tile for his kitchen floor that his own name did not ring in his ears though it was on everybody's lips (if not on their blogs). Nobody at Babalú knew what to do. Some told him to ignore the accusation. Others advised him not to ignore it. And others, very few, were actually disturbed by Val's conduct but in the supercharged atmosphere of their deliberations they chose to maintain a discreet silence for fear the many would turn on them at a time when a scapegoat was severely wanted.

When Henry announced last night in a deleted post that Val would be answering his accusers next morning even he did not know what shape Val's long-awaited answer would take. Who would have supposed, even Henry, that Val would be so cold-hearted as to mock -- yes, mock -- Killcastro's anguish and his family's danger. What he did not do, however, was deny that he was a chivato (government snitch). In fact, he did not even dare to use that word or address his specific actions on Killcastro's blog. Instead, he chose to present himself as a Castroite James Bond, which no mortal on earth could ever imagine him to be. Even as Fu Manchu Val would be a hard sell.

By making fun of his own incompetance, (mis)casting himself as a double-nought spy, of all things, Val hoped to defray the real imputations against him. Not, of course, that he is a trained spy and international playboy, but, rather, that he is a warped and vindictive man who saw the opportunity to destroy someone who cast a long shadow over him and took it.