Happy talk turns cautious

After the buzz, the initial elation, the calling-around and jubilation, we have entered the subdued stage -- that place in the minefield of emotions when excitement gives way to skepticism and a wait-and-see attitude. Like so many other Cuban -Americans in Miami, from UM professors to filmmakers to the man on the street, I (and others) have tempered our reactions to Fidel Castro's illness. We may be in this for the long haul.
Speculation runs rampant: He's dead already, some say. No, no, claim others, this is a trick.
A friend reported that she had heard from a friend of a friend that a betting pool on Fidel's time and date of death had been started in some office. Another asked me if I knew whether there were any offices or programs in place for exiles to reclaim the properties they had lost. Those who know I've long pined for a house on the beach suggested I start looking at Cuba.
"Bet it'll be cheap," John and Terry told me.
Such talk provides plenty of entertainment but has little to do with fact. Reality, I suspect, will be much harsher: Civil War. Mass exodus. Raul Castro's increasing clamp down on dissidents. For all the talk of liberation after Fidel, I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.