Vertiel’s picnic is a lovers’ tryst in a finca above Marbella, a town on the Costa Brava.
Robert Masters and Carmen Fernandez, a flamenco dancer, are having a farewell picnic because she is leaving for Madrid to dance with an important company. She packs a roasted chicken and a bottle of wine in a basket.
When they arrive, the house is lit by Moonlight. Masters build a fire while Carmen goes to the kitchen to prepare the picnic (“our picnic,” she says). Soon they sit on the floor near the fire to keep warm. Getting up to make love, Masters says, “The bedroom is very cold,” “It won’t be cold for long, she replied. “You, a faldero, should know all about that.”
*A faldero is a man who likes women and is sexually active.
Featured Image: Viertel and his wife Deborah Kerr in Marbella (nd)
See Peter Viertel. Loser Deals. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1995.