Monstrous II

"I should accept that I am different," thinks the Wolf man, while he howls, looking at the sun, at noon.

Compensation for a Loss

On a sunny fall afternoon, she stole me three kisses, two hugs and one “I love you”. Then, in a few days, she got control of my heart, my soul and even my thoughts. When the robbery was completed, she took her booty away and left me alone, powerless as a swindled man. Fortunately, I have found some relief for so much misery. Since then, night after night, I compensate for my loss with the memory of her body, which appears free and lively in my most perverted dreams.

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The Forbidden One

She has been reputed as dangerous since the earliest times. The man who first dared to touch her was severely punished, even though it is undeniable that he had been seduced by her. Some years later and relying on a law so far unknown, she did not restrain herself from beating with violence the thinking head of an English scientist. At an unfair trial she was charged with poisoning a white little princess and with arousing disagreement among the beautiful Greek goddesses. She was condemned to die of an arrow blow and executed by a skillful crossbow shooter in a Swiss canton. A toast was organized in the village to celebrate her execution. Her cold body was served in a golden jug, tasting to cider.

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The Arranged Dreams

Under the purplish winter moon, they would unknowingly dream of each other. They enjoyed their company till dawn, giving full rein to their private ardent appetites in the distance. They happened to meet one afternoon and, overlooking the reasons that set them apart, they were able to confess those mutual dreams, freely and without shyness. Since then, they meet every night to love each other passionately at the arranged time, each one in their bed.

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Drinks

Every morning they quarrel over anything. If she prepares tea, he wants coffee. When she serves coffee, he finds it too sweet, cold or scarce, or wants some milk to be added, or prefers to be offered some mate.

However, she has decided not to argue any more from now on. She will obediently follow all her husband’s wishes for breakfast. 

After all, any of the drinks will be useful to hide the flavor of the poison.

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The Fatal Oblivion

The stage lights went off and an extended applause interrupted the silence in the theater. The young magician had just disappeared from the scene to the astonishment of the public, achieving an inexplicable illusion that had never been performed before. That was the last show of the illusionist, who never managed to remember the second part of the trick.

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The end of the wait

I had waited years for her. I knew that, sooner or later, she would yield to the temptation to come and fetch me.

Finally, she appeared on a rainy day, standing at my door. She had a sad look, but her skin was still white and beautiful, just like in my dreams. I felt her cold arms around my body and found her very thin, perhaps too much for a stocky man like me.

My old heart shook intensely but then its beats slowly soothed. I let myself be carried away by her caresses and I started to forget about the rain, the elapsed years and her awful skinniness.

At that moment, as my eyes shed their last tears, she lifted her scythe in the air.

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The walkers

I love strolling along Florida street. It is nice to watch in silence the swift passers-by of all colors, listen to street performers, and let myself be tempted by roadside vendors. But what I enjoy the most is the casual encounters, among the crowd, with those lifeless beings that wander in the downtown area, invisible to other walkers and so similar to me.

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The solitary boss

At the office where I work, we used to have a boss who was too reserved. He was a quiet man who liked to keep aloof inside his small office at the corner, with the door forever closed. He was the first one to get to work and the last one to leave. I never heard him utter a single word, either a reproach or a praise, and he had ordered his assistant to filter all incoming calls. He gradually secluded himself within his small universe crowded with disorderly folders and thick books so imperceptibly that we even forgot he was there. Finally, on an afternoon when we had to abandon the building due to a fire alarm, we had our single chance to see the old loner. The firemen had just found him, taciturn and stinky, among dense spider webs.

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Agreeable abracadabra

I adored Ana’s mamma affectionately. Adolescent aura, an authentic Argentinean, anxious, apt to be alarmed. Adorable animal, able actress, astounding artist. She astutely allured adult Adams, with an active attitude, as if in ambush. Amicable angel, amorous archduchess. She aroused adventurous approaches. Advocate of affection, agile abdomen of almond, adorable aquamarine. Ardent, assuring amazon, angular ankles like arrows, abundant appeals, absorbing, adhesive arms, asphyxiating. Admirable aphrodisiac alcohol, awakening appetite, addictive. Astute acrobat. Avid reader of Allende, Arlt and Alfonsina. Her accords of Abba, Aznar and Maná were like allegros. Alas, why are you not around any more? Tired of so many As, she abandoned me without any adieux or advice, after an affluent adversary – an attorney under the name of Ernesto.

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Blind Man’s Bluff

I like walking through the empty city at night. It is a pleasure to go around without anybody bumping into me, without racing cars or loud noises that get on my nerves. I feel like the king of the silent metropolis, anarchic, uninhabited, imperturbable.

As I walk along the dusky streets, I try to guess the hidden way, hardly illuminated by the faint light in the corner and the end of my burning cigarette. It reminds me of those unforgettable moments of my childhood, when I played the blind man’s bluff with the kids in the neighborhood and they laughed at my inability to find them in the dark. Poor fool, good-for-nothing, they told me, taking advantage of the fact that I was the youngest and most naive in the group.

They were right to some extent, because while they made progress and managed to buy the luxurious mansions that decorate the avenue, I still live in the old little house that used to be my mother’s. That must be the reason why I like visiting them once in a while, to play with their things, as they sleep.

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The Visitors

I have discovered that my sister’s dolls come to life at dawn. With subtle movements, they leave the miniature house in the adjoining bedroom and enter mine, half naked, to squeeze into the drawer with my articulated heroes. I keep quiet not to disturb them and, with my eyes closed, I listen to the sound of twisting plastic as it gallops against the wooden box. Half an hour later, they leave with a smile and their hair unkempt, their flexible bodies exhausted after having accomplished their mission. The occurrence takes place unfailingly night after night, but tonight it is due to be different. Peeping through the door of my bedroom, the cheerful plastic face of the giant doll I gave my sister as a birthday present looks at the heavy padlock that I have placed on my drawer and winks me an eye. Everybody is sleeping, except us.

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The Companion

My roommate has strange habits. When the day breaks, he gets up grudgingly to close the blinds. He adores the darkness and silence of nights to sit and watch shooting stars with emotion. He prefers to hide in the closet whenever I receive guests – I don’t know whether he does it as a gesture of politeness, out of shyness, or because he is afraid that the guest may be one of those individuals who, he tells me, seek to catch him. I know the risk, but I protect his secret knowingly. Since that stormy night when he settled at home, he has become my best companion, an extraordinary pal. I see to him and feed him as if he were a harmless baby, and in the afternoons I prepare him a bath so that he can play, for a long while, with the soapy sponge among his tentacles.

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