No se oye nada. De pronto es idea mía o de pronto sí es algo real. Creo que me estoy quedando sordo.
No me muevo de la cama. Por alguna razón estoy acostado sobre mi lado izquierdo. Jamás duermo de lado sino sobre mi abdomen, mi pecho, o como sea que quieran llamarle. El caso es que no duermo así, entonces es raro. Me quedo quieto, mirando la pared blanca frente a mi.
Mis ojos se abren bastante, por primera vez en el día. No veo nada más sino el muro blanco. No hay ni una mancha, no hay nada allí más que la inmensidad de la pintura blanca. Entonces siento el calor y me quito la sabana de encima. Es entonces que me duele y me doy cuenta de dos cosas: hay algo sobre mi cara y, en efecto, no puedo oír nada.
No me pongo de pie sino que me quedo en la cama, abriendo y cerrando los ojos. Mi mano derecha sube lentamente a mi cara. Me toco el mentón y voy deslizando los dedos por la piel en dirección a mi oído, donde siento la mayor molestia. Debajo del pelo que forma la patilla, siento que la piel está inflamada, muy inflamada. Recuerdo que el día anterior me dolía el oído pero era un dolor que iba y venía, ahora es permanente.
Está muy hinchado y me empieza a doler, como que todo mi cuerpo se da cuenta que estoy de verdad despierto y que el dolor tiene espacio para empezar a sentirse. Me recorre el cuerpo un escalofrío, que incluso me hace doler el pie y me hace sentir muy extraño.
Tomo impulso y me pongo de pie y camino, casi automáticamente, al baño. No es mi casa de siempre, solo me estoy quedando por un tiempo. Pero llego, prendo la luz y trato de mirarme pero es dificil verse los oídos. Me toco de nuevo y me echo agua, pensando que puede que el frío ayude. ¿O será mejor el calor?
No, lo mejor es salir. Media hora después estoy en la sala de espera de un hospital, el único del que sé la existencia en esta ciudad que no es la mía. Me llaman y me hacen esperar aún más en una pequeña sala donde otras personas se quejan o hacen cara de enfermedad. Parece que todos están malos del estómago o algo por el estilo. No es raro en una ciudad de clima cálido, a la que vienen muchos turistas y comen y se meten en cualquier lado sin observar los mínimos niveles de limpieza.
Mientras espero me miro los pies. Siento un poco de mareo o de pronto sea yo mismo que me hago sentir peor. Es raro pero así son las cosas en los hospitales. Son sitios horribles y terribles, llenos de quejidos de niños y caras largas de padres cuyas vacaciones han sido arruinadas pero nada pueden decir o sino sonaría muy cruel.
Tras varios minutos, o tal vez menos o tal vez más, me hace pasar una joven doctora. Se demora más escribiendo en el computador que revisándome como se debe. Prefiero pensar que sabe lo que hace. No hablamos casi, solo me hace unas preguntas básicas y le explico mi dolor y cómo me he sentido en los últimos días. Al parecer no nota nada especial en lo que le cuento porque parece no estar muy interesada. O tal vez sea su cara de "Sí, ya sé de que me habla".
Llena un papel, me dice que pague la consulta y en la farmacia de la esquina compro lo que me recomienda la doctora. Apenas llego al apartamento me tomo las pastillas con agua y me acuesto de nuevo. Siento hambre pero prefiero no comer nada. Me quedo mirando la pared, con mis pensamientos perdidos en la nada.
- "Maldita sea..." - pienso. "¡Que bonito comienzo del año!"
Por un momento olvido el dolor y me doy la vuelta. Mala decisión.
Pensamientos, escritos, cine y más / Thoughts, writings, cinema and more.
martes, 3 de enero de 2017
Oídos sordos
Etiquetas:
apartamento,
baño,
cama,
cuerpo,
doctor,
dolor,
hinchado,
hospital,
inflamado,
lento,
mano,
movimiento,
oídos,
ojos,
oreja,
percepción,
piel,
sordos,
tacto,
vista
martes, 20 de diciembre de 2016
Christmas dinner
As always for that time of the year, Adele
had to out on her best clothes when working. It wasn’t really well seen if the
hostess of a very prestigious restaurant dressed in any kind of clothing. She
had to have some nice dresses for every single type of occasion, as she was the
face of the hotel on the evening people had chosen to come. She represented
everything for them and was the go to person if anything were to happen during
one of the many dinners the hotel hosted all along the year. It was always vey
busy, a successful business.
Christmas time was especially hard on the
hotel workers. For example, Adele had to wake up very early in the morning
every single day leading to Christmas. For a week or so, she would have to put
on her best coat to resist the fierceness of the weather and also because she
really needed to get warm as soon as she arrived at the hotel as many things
had to be checked. And in Christmas this was done in the most exact way, as
everything had to be in line with perfection that night, as they always
promised their guests the most lavish dinner ever.
The kitchen staff consisted of several men and
only a few women. There weren’t many women trying to breakout in the business
and she was only closely related to everything they did on the actual
restaurant. Adele was only a hostess and she would never be able to grow much
more than that in her line of work. It all depended on very well paid jobs in
certain events and parties, which he had hosted occasionally but not as
prolifically as the events held on the hotel. There, she knew she was prepared
to resist anything and everything.
In the days leading to the Christmas dinner,
the menu was checked several times and many testing lines were done. It was
Adele’s job to taste everything and determine if she needed to change something
in order to have some more time or make it a more successful menu. Two days
before, she even thought it was going to be necessary to change the dessert
because it wasn’t very well achieved but the person in charge of confectionery
convinced her that he could make it more attractive with some superficial
design.
The day before Christmas he presented his
corrections and he was lucky enough to be congratulated by Adele. The rest of
the dishes were done and they only needed to cook them early on Christmas Eve
in order for everything to be on point for the dinner. Many cases of wine were
ordered from around the world, as well as many other alcoholic beverages. They
also bought lots of cheese for after dinner and had to go to the market to buy
the best and most fresh products in order to cook everything they needed for
the menu.
The night before the party, Adele was not able
to sleep properly. She had gone to bed intentionally early but it didn’t work
out at all. Not only was she worried about the dinner and the results the hotel
was going to get with it but she also doubted her personal capacity to resist
everything she was going to be held against. After all, the dinner was
practically her show and if anything went wrong, it was her skill which had to
come to work in order to fix whatever that needed to be fixed. All those
thoughts did not let her sleep for a minute.
When she arrived in the hotel, she checked
every produce than had arrived and gathered the staff around her in order to
tell them a few things before beginning. Not only the kitchen staff was present
during the speech but also the rest of the hotel employees, as most guest were
going to stay the night after dinner. Adele asked for everyone to do their
best, to make it an experience that none of them could be able to replicate
anywhere else. They needed to make that night one of the most special nights
ever for every single guest.
Rooms began to be cleaned and final details
were being put on all over the hotel as flowers in every floor to make it smell
divine. The kitchen went into full gear from very early in the morning, as they
also had to cook for the rest of the guests in the hotel that were not going to
participate in the dinner. It seemed to be chaos in the kitchens but the chef,
and to a lesser extent Adele, knew how to make it all seem so peaceful, to
always have a certain order that may not be obvious but with which every single
person can work with to achieve the goals.
Adele also had to check every single bedroom
in order to personally see that the other workers had done a good job. She had
to check first the ones where people had the intention to arrive earlier and
then she moved on to the rest, checking for the bed to be perfectly done and
for the furniture not to have a spec of dust. She also checked the bathroom, as
that had always been very popular after dinner. People loved to have a bubble
bath at some point so it was better to be prepared. Anything people wanted
while staying had to become a reality.
As she was checking the top floor, Adele
received word that something had gone wrong with the dessert. Apparently the
ingredients had been on a refrigerator that wasn’t working very well and they
had become useless. Many melted and others were simply not the quality needed
for the dessert. Adele ordered for all of that to be stored away and demanded
the pastry chef and the confectionery guy to come up with something very fast
as her customers couldn’t go without desert.
Dinner was scheduled for nine o’clock at
night. At seven, some of the guests begun to arrive and the desserts were not
really done yet. Adele was very pleased to escort the first couple upstairs and
tell them everything about the dinner, the usage of the bathroom and of the
rest of the hotels features such as the swimming pool, the steam room and the
spa, among others. She was lucky enough to check that room beforehand because
she had discover dirty towels in the bathroom, so she changed that before
anyone noticed.
She didn’t join everyone to their room as, at
eight o’clock, many more people started to arrive and she certainly didn’t have
any time to waste. She used that moment to go back to the kitchen and see what
they had come up with for dessert. As expected, they weren’t having many ideas.
The people in charge were not as imaginative as they needed to be and they were
really relaying on clichés to make a proper dessert. But the same old pastries
and ice cream were not nearly goo enough for Christmas dinner. It would be an
insult to the guests!
Adele decided to come up herself with a new
dessert. She knew they didn’t have much time, so she decided to reuse some of
the ingredients they had from past parties. She decided to reuse the chocolate
balls that melted when hot chocolate was poured on top of them. She decided to
change the liquid chocolate for caramel and told the staff to come up with some
sort of truffle at the center of the ball, in order for people to have a nice
surprise when having their last dish. She put everyone to work and told them
they had minutes to come up with a tasting plate.
She decided to visit the lobby as they
prepared, in order to let in the first guests. It was decided they should wait
at the lounge bar, as she preferred to know first if the dessert was a go or
no. She returned to the kitchen briefly to taste her idea and approved it when
she realized it was good enough. Half of the kitchen staff had to help do all
the desert plates needed for the evening. Adele left them again in order to
open the restaurant and let everyone inside. The music had been carefully
chosen as well as the design of the menus.
The dinner started with applause when the
guests saw their first plate, which was absolutely gorgeous. Then came the
other dishes and finally the dessert. People didn’t say much about it but, when
coming out of the restaurant, they praised the idea for being “simple but
effective”. As some guests headed towards their beds and other towards the bar,
Adele went to the kitchens and declared the night a complete success. She wasn’t
going to sleep much that night either but at least she wasn’t going to be
worried.
lunes, 19 de diciembre de 2016
Rosa del viento
Cuando empezaron a usar al valle y luego al
cañón como pista aérea de carreras, todavía el pueblo no existía. Venían
volando de más lejos, de una pista de tierra que quedaba a muchos kilómetros de
allí. Con el pueblo construido, los aficionados habían construido un aeródromo
más confortable y cerca de los lugares que les gustaba frecuentar. De hecho, se
podía decir que el pueblo había nacido gracias a la afición de la gente de la
zona por volar. Los aerodeslizadores que usaban eran de los más avanzados en el
mundo.
Uno de ellos, el capitán Cooke, fue el
fundador del pueblo cuando se estrelló aparatosamente a la entrada del valle.
Venía de atravesar todo el cañón y luego el valle pero no se había fijado en
los cambios del viento y eso causó que se estrellara estrepitosamente contra el
suelo. Allí mismo donde cayó, y donde se puede decir que sobrevivió de puro
milagro, fue donde fundó el pequeño pueblo de Rosa del Viento. Era en honor a
la clave del vuelo, lo que debía siempre tenerse en cuenta para ser un piloto
de verdad exitoso.
Cooke construyó allí una casita modesta y
luego se mudó la mujer que se convertiría en su esposa. De hecho, jamás se
casaron formalmente pero eso jamás les importó demasiado. Para cuando tuvieron
el primer hijo, el caserío ya contaba con unas 10 personas, todas relacionadas
de una y otra manera con el vuelo o al menos con todo lo que tenía que ver con
el valle y el cañón, pues también había una gran cantidad de científicos que
venían de las grandes ciudades para ganar conocimiento acerca de las especies
que habitaban la zona.
Estaban a un par de cientos de kilómetros de
una ciudad grande, de todo lo que significara una verdadera conexión con el
mundo. Lo único que los conectaba a ellos era volar. Sus aerodeslizadores
podían llegar a Monte Oca, el pueblo con hospital más cercano, en apenas diez
minutos con el viento a favor. Eso era bastante bueno si necesitaban con
urgencia una medicina o si era urgente llevar un enfermo a la clínica. El
problema era que las aeronaves que poseían casi nunca tenían dos asientos pero
se las arreglaban como podían.
Para cuando Cooke completo cuatro hijos, dos
niñas y dos niños, el pueblo contaba ya con casi doscientas personas, muchas
atraídas por el particular clima de la zona y por la tranquilidad. Además
seguían siendo mayoría fanáticos del vuelo. Tanto así, que empezaron a
organizar el torneo anual de Rosa del Viento, una carrera a través del valle y
el cañón que daba un gran premio en metálico a quien ganara. El dinero era casi
siempre proporcionado por todo en el pueblo, ganado en principio con publicidad
y el incipiente turismo.
Para cuando Cooke murió, en un grave accidente
en el cañón, el pueblo contaba más de mil almas y el torneo de Rosa del Viento
era sencillamente el más conocido en el continente, y seguramente uno de los
más reconocidos del mundo. Una estatua de Cooke fue erigida frente a su hogar,
y luego fue puesta en un nuevo parque que sería el centro geográfico del
pueblo. No había turista que se perdiera ese punto de atractivo, así como las
expediciones y caminatas por toda la zona que era altamente atractiva para el
turismo de aventura.
Pero, sin lugar a dudas, el pueblo siempre se
llenaba al tope cuando se celebraba el torneo aéreo. La gente moría por ver a
los pilotos volando bajo por el cañón, aunque a los locales ahora les daba un
poco de fastidio ver esa parte pues así habían perdido a su más grande piloto.
En todo caso, la gente iba en grandes cantidades y gastaba mucho dinero en
hoteles, comida y turismo en general. Por eso el torneo pudo mejorar,
haciéndose más seguro y con mejor tecnología visual para que la gente que lo
viera en televisión se sintiera dentro del aeroplano.
Los cambios fueron un éxito y colaboraron a la
construcción de una mejor infraestructura en el pueblo, que siempre había
luchado contra los elementos para poder abastecerse de agua, de electricidad e
incluso de gas natural. Todo eso se convirtió en una realidad, casi treinta
años después de la muerte de Cooke. Sus hijos todavía vivían en el pueblo pero
no así sus nietos que se habían dispersado por el mundo. El punto es que Rosa
del Viento se convirtió en punto de parada obligatorio para todos los que
quisieran vivir una verdadera aventura.
Las expediciones por el valle eran las mejores
para familias o incluso personas mayores. La gente acampaba en terrenos
abiertos y aprendían de la vida de antes, cuando había que hacer una fogata y
cocinar lo primero que se pudiera cazar para aplacar el hambre. Obviamente, ya
no había que sacrificar ratas ni nada parecido para vivir confortablemente. Los
grupos de llevaban casi siempre comida enlatada y repelentes contra varios
animales, aunque era casi imposible que no hubiera algún encuentro indeseado,
especialmente siendo una zona árida.
El valle era hermoso y verde en algunos
parches aislados. La tierra era roja y salvaje y por eso era tan adorada por
los visitantes. Los hacía sentirse, según lo que la mayoría decía, en otro
planeta. Les encantaba el aroma dulce del viento y las caras siempre amables de
los habitantes de la zona. Nunca se sentía que fueran expresiones forzadas,
poco sinceras. Era solo que así eran y a todo el mundo le fascinaba. Por eso el
turismo no hacía sino aumentar, como el número de hoteles y negocios.
Cuando el pueblo llegó a los dos mil
habitantes, se hizo una fiesta por todo lo alto y se celebró una edición
especial del torneo de Rosa del Viento. La celebración se planeó con muchos
meses de antelación y había preparativos de toda clase, desde un recorrido
innovador para el torneo como nuevas plantas solares para la ciudad que eran
las que abastecían todo de energía. Sin embargo, la tragedia volvió a asomar su
fea cabeza cuando tres pilotos murieron en el torneo. El accidente fue el peor,
de lejos, en la historia de la competencia y de la región.
El pueblo casi no se recupera. Durante un año
no hubo competencias aéreas y no era porque no quisieran sino porque el turismo
tuvo un bajó increíble. Tan mal estuvo que muchos de los nuevos comercios
tuvieron que cerrar e incluso se limitaron los tures que se hacían por el valle
y por el cañón, pues la gente ahora le tenía mucho miedo a todo y no quería
arriesgarse yendo muy lejos o caminando cerca de la zona donde había sido el
accidente. Sin embargo, muchos terminaban yendo porque, al fin y al cabo, la
gente es así y siempre lo será.
La única manera de mejorarlo todo, hace un año
aproximadamente, vino de la mano de un grupo de jóvenes exploradores que habían
decidido visitar zonas remotas del mundo para
ver si podían descubrir nuevas especies de plantas y animales. Ya habían
estado en un par de densas selvas lejanas y, según dijeron a la gente del
pueblo, estaban felices de poder visitar un lugar seco donde la lluvia no fuera
constante y pudiesen trabajar a un mejor ritmo. Descubrieron pronto que el
calor y la aridez tenían sus inconvenientes pero lo supieron soportar bien.
El foco de su expedición era el cañón sobre el
que pasaban antes los aviones durante el torneo. Era raro pero nadie nunca lo
había explorado mucho, pues acceder a pie era mucho más difícil que entrar
volando, y eso que eso tampoco era demasiado sencillo. El grupo de jóvenes se
quedó allí por casi un mes entero, acompañados de algunos residentes del pueblo
que iban y venían. Un buen día, uno de ellos anunció que la expedición
terminaba y que harían un anuncio. En la plaza de Cooke, el je de la expedición
anunció que habían descubierto quince especies nuevas.
El interés de parte de conservacionistas y biólogos
hizo que el pueblo reviviera. Tanto era el flujo de gente, que reactivaron de
nuevo el torneo y las grandes masas del pasado volvieron varias veces más,
aunque no en tan gran número, a contemplar a los arriesgados pilotos que ahora volaban
sobre las cabezas de campistas novatos o de exploradores empedernidos. Todos
podían apreciar con facilidad la belleza del acto del vuelo, ayudado por el sitio
donde tenía lugar.
Etiquetas:
accidente,
aeroplanos,
aire,
animales,
cañón,
crecimiento,
desarrollo,
dificultades,
dinero,
expedición,
explorar,
nacimiento,
naturaleza,
negocios,
pueblo,
torneo,
turismo,
valle,
viento,
volar
sábado, 17 de diciembre de 2016
Friends & Secrets
It was very problematic for Sean to admit
that his life had improved dramatically since he had joined the gym. He didn’t
want to tell anyone about it and only went there once a day, six days a week.
Of course, sometime people would ask him where he was and what he was doing,
but he had created the illusion that he was attending cooking lessons at a
school that happened to be in the neighboring building of the gym. The smell of
warm and fresh croissants was almost constant and made almost impossible to focus
on one's obliques.
Sean had never been the kind of guy that went
to the gym and cared about his body. Earlier in his life he openly mocked those
who took too much care of their bodies and looks. To be fair, he still mocked
only that he refrained himself from saying anything out loud because he would
really look like a hypocrite if he said something. The difference was the he
didn’t exercise because he wanted to look better but because he wanted to feel
better, which were too different things. Most of the people there were just
show offs that already had a great body.
Since he was a little boy, he had loved eating
candy. His favorites were salted caramel and chocolate. His life wasn’t
complete when he was at school if he didn’t have a piece of chocolate with his
lunch. It was kind of a ritual, a weird tradition that he had with himself. He
kept that for years, until very recently. Actually, some of his friends had
begun wondering what had happened to the chocolates he always ate and also
about the ones that he kept all over the house in case he wanted something
sweet to enhance his day.
All of those chocolates had disappeared and no
one really understood why. Some were not idiots and had realized Sean had lost
some weight and, weirdly enough, he looked as if he had grown taller and bigger
but not in a bad way. They asked him about it and he only answered he didn’t
really knew why and that he partially blamed work and the classes because of
the tension he went through every single day. Stress could be a powerful force
and could certainly be blamed for many things, so it was a nice save that not
everyone bought.
One of those who hadn’t bought into the story
was Billy. He had noticed something really strange one day they were at Sean’s
apartment watching a movie. At one point, they were having popcorn and Sean
asked if they wanted more. Of course, everyone said yes. To be funny, Sean
raised his hands in the air and exaggerated a positive response. It was then
when Billy saw it: Sean’s shirt had been raised and instead of a normal belly,
he saw a body in the process of getting really ripped. He knew his friend had
never been like that.
Many times before they had taken trips all
together. Billy knew his friends bodies, not because he had an obsession with them
or anything but because he had seen them in their trunks and bikinis. He knew
what they look like. So the new appearance of Sean’s body was a very big
surprise for him. Now that he was thinking about it, he remembered that Sean
had not attended their last trip to the beach. He had told them that he didn’t
feel quite right but when they came back he looked exactly the same, like a
normal healthy person.
Billy decided to follow Sean one day. He
worked for his father so he asked him for a day off from the office in order to
attend some personal business. His father never asked many questions and agreed
almost immediately. They following day, he woke up really early and decided to
follow Sean by bike. He decided not to take the car as he suspected Sean would
know it was him if he saw it. The first time he saw Sean that day was at seven
o’clock, time he left at for work. He stayed in his office until midday, when
he came out to lunch.
It was then when he saw the first red flag:
Sean had never been the type to eat big pieces of meat or a large portion of
anything. He knew how to choose what his body was capable of consuming.
However, he had never been the type to refrain himself from eating something
delicious, even if hat something was not especially good for you. Billy
remembered fondly the time the two of them had eaten a big plate full of spicy
hot wings by themselves, no beverages or carrot sticks with ranch sauce. That
had been a fun day.
But now, he noticed that Sean had bought a
salad for lunch, a salad that didn’t even had a piece of chicken or bacon or
anything. And the worst part of it all was that he really seemed to be enjoying
himself while eating it. Sean stopped looked from a distance and thought that
maybe he was been too judgmental and a tad exaggerated. Maybe it wasn’t such a
bad idea after all if Sean was taking care of himself. He was trying to feel
better or maybe it was that he wanted to look hotter or even that he was dating
and he wanted to look great for that person.
That all went to the mental garbage when Billy
saw Sean pulling a bottle of water from his backpack and drinking from it. That
was just ridiculous. One thing was to take care of his body and all of that but
drinking plain water with a lunch that consisted mostly on a bunch of leaves
only a turtle would eat, was just insane. Billy thought that there was
something really wrong with his friend because he had never seen him like this.
Something had to be wrong, that was clear. But what could it be or why could it
be?
After waiting for several hours in a café
across the street, Billy followed Sean again and the next destination, to no
surprise, was the gym. Granted, it was not the type of gym that had many
windows and looked more like a giant fish tank than like a human building, but
nevertheless it was a strange thing. Billy decided to go in, as he would see
nothing from outside. Of course, he had to pretend he was interesting in
joining because otherwise he wouldn’t have been allowed entrance. A trainer
showed him round but he didn’t really listened.
He only saw Sean many minutes later, working
out on a huge machine that seemed to be used to help exercise the abdominal area.
He had no trainer besides him and seemed to be focusing a lot on what he was
doing. For Billy, the sight was really strange but not because it was his
friend but because he had never seen someone so focused to do something like
that. For a moment, he even thought it was quite admirable that Sean had
decided to take on such a challenge, but moments later he felt betrayed again,
as a friend.
He decided to confront Sean. He ditched the
trainer telling him he would join after walking around alone and then walked,
almost ran, straight to where Sean was. As expected, Sean was quite taken aback
when he saw his friend standing there. But then he decided to finish his
exercise and then finally stand up, sweating more than he would have wanted to
in that moment. The two friends looked at each other and didn’t say a word, not
until someone dropped a weight somewhere, slamming his foot. They both laughed,
which eased the tension.
Sean explained to his friend that he had
always had self-esteem problems, going back to his high school days. He had
always felt fat and ugly and he recently had realized he could actually do
something about it. He had begun exercising over a year ago but the change in
food had been done very recently. He didn’t call it a diet because he ate as
always on weekends and he couldn’t say he was going vegan or vegetarian because
his favorite meals consisted of pork chops in a pineapple sauce. Anyway, he was
trying something to help him achieve his goal.
He told Billy he was sorry for lying but Billy
interrupted him saying he was a bad friend for never having really talk about
their past in a much more open way. If they had, he would have known his buddy’s
struggles and could even have helped him. He told Sean he was sorry and then
hugged him, which was a first for the two as they had always been the kind of
buds that only shake hands. It was a new beginning to their friendship, a much
needed one.
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