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La Luz Es Como El Agua | Light Is Like Water | Part 2

La Luz Es Como El Agua - part 2

Read it in English

    Esta aventura fabulosa fue el resultado de una ligereza mia cuando participaba en un seminario sobre la poesia de los utensilios domésticos. Totó me preguntó cómo era que la luz se encendia con sólo apretar un botón, y yo no tuve el valor de pensarlo dos veces.

    La luz es como el agua - le contesté: uno abre el grifo, y sale.

    De modo que siguieron navegando los miércoles en la noche, aprendiendo el manejo del sextante y la brújula, hasta que los padres regresaban del cine y los encontraban dormidos como ángeles de tierra firme. Meses después, ansiosos de ir más lejos, pidieron un equipo de pesca submarina. Con todo: máscaras, aletas, tanques y escopetas de aire comprimido.

    - Está mal que tengan en el cuarto de servicio un bote de remos que no les sirve para nada - dijo el padre -. Pero está peor que quieran tener además equipos de buceo.

    - ?Y si nos ganamos la gardenia de oro del primer semestre? - dijo Joel.

    - No - dijo la madre, assustada -. Ya no más.

    El padre le reprochó su intransigencia.

    - Es que estos niños no ganan ni un clavo por cumplir con su dever - dijo ella -, por un caprico son capaces de ganarse hasta la silla del maestro.

    Los padres no dijeron al fin ni que sí ni que no. Pero Totó y Joel, que habían sido los últimos en los dos años anteriores, se ganaron en julio las dos gardenias de oro y el reconocimiento público del rector. Esa misma tarde, sin que hubieran vuelto a pedirlos, encontraron el el dormitorio los equipos de buzos en su empaque original. De modo que, el miércoles siguiente, mientras los padres veían El último tango en París, llenaron el apartamento hasta la altura de dos brazas, bucearon como tiburones mansos por debajo de los muebles y las camas, y rescataron del fondo de la luz las cosas que durante años se habían perdido en la oscuridad.

    En la premiación final los hermanos fueron aclamados como ejemplo para la escuela, y les dieron diplomas de excelencia. Esta vez no tuvieron que pedir nada, porque los padres les preguntaron qué querían. Ellos fueron tan razonables, que sólo quisieron una fiesta en casa para agasajar a los compañeros de curso.

    El papá a solas con su mujer, estaba radiante.

    - Es una prueba de madurez - dijo.

    - Dios te oiga - dijo la madre.

    El miércoles siguiente, mientras los padres veían La Batalla de Argel, la gente que pasó por la Castellana vio una cascada de luz que caía por un viejo edificio escondido entre los árboles. Salí por los balcones, se derramaba a raudales por la fachada, y se encauzó por la gran avenida en un torrente dorado que iluminó la ciudad hasta el Guadarrama.



Light is like water - part 2

 

    This fabulous adventure was the result of my carelessness when I participated in a seminar on the poetry of household utensils. Totó asked me how the light came on with just pressing a button, and I didn't have the value of thinking about it sometimes.

    The light is like the water - the answer: one opens the faucet, and it comes out.

    So that they continued sailing the miles at night, learning the handling of the sextant and the compass, until the parents returned from the cinema and found them asleep like angels on firm ground. Months later, eager to go further afield, they picked up a spearfishing outfit. Including everything: masks, fins, tanks and compressed air rifles.

    - It's bad that there's a rowing boat in the service room that doesn't serve them any purpose - says the father -. But it's worse that they don't even have additional pet equipment.

    - ¿And if we win the golden garden of the first semester? - I say Joel.

    - No - I say to the mother, scared -. No more.

    The father reproached her intransigence.

    - They are children who are not hungry for a clavo for fulfilling their duty - I say to her -, for a whim they are capable of winning up to the maestro's chair.

    The parents didn't say yes or no after all. But Totó and Joel, who had been the last in previous years, gained, in July, two golden gardens and the public recognition of the director. That same afternoon, without them having to go back to ask for them, they found the horn equipment in the bedroom in its original packaging. So that, the next few months, while the parents saw The last tango in Paris, they filled the apartment up to the height of two arms, bubbling like tame sharks for the loss of furniture and beds, and rescued from the bottom of the light of the things that for years they had been lost in the dark. In the final award, the brothers were acclaimed as an example for the school, and they received diplomas of excellence. This time they didn't have to ask for anything, because the parents asked what they wanted. They were so reasonable, I just wanted a party at home to entertain their course mates.

    The daddy alone with his wife, he was radiant.

    - It's a test of maturity - He said.

    - May God hear you - Said the mother.

    The next few months, while the parents watched La Batalla de Algiers, people who passed by La Castellana saw a cascade of light that fell through a old building hidden between the trees. It went out onto the balconies, poured down the facade, and got lost along the grand avenue in a golden torrent that illuminated the city up to Guadarrama.


Read part 1 | Read part 3

   

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