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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