We give you three short stories by mexican author Andrés Baldíos to give you a moment of peace. You may find yourself in one of these situations that seem to overwhelm you, but there is always a solution. We give you three tokens of love for difficult times.
WHERE ONE EATS, TWO EAT
Moving is always a nightmare. And even more so if it is your first apartment, your first home (the one you chose, not exactly the one you grew up in). Moving into your first home is throwing yourself into the trance of reality, the initiation into survival. What a nightmare! And even more so when it is a couple of newlyweds who risk the novelty of the difficult race of life. Relatives have encouraged them that it is the beginning of the rest of their lives, but they know perfectly well, each from their individuality, that life is more than words, and marriage is more than roles to fulfill.
The couple had only been married for a couple of months. One of them had gotten a job as a teacher in a city different from his and his partner’s. Both chose to live in that city, because they had to go where the job offer demanded availability. As soon as they settled into the narrow apartment (a space of two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchenette) they knew that the plot of their lives would not be easy at all. Even so, their mutual affection and trust gave them the assurance of a rather interesting continuity; difficult, as in all great cases, but ultimately wonderful.
Everything is new in the first few days. Later, routine sets in and comes to stay, always accompanied by its most ironic weakness: that there is no day that is repeated. As in every beginning, there is little money, and a huge list of sacrifices to make, but it was all a matter of adapting and opening up to the circumstances.
It was a cloudy day. The now teacher was leaving work and headed home. During the bus ride, he saw the buildings behind him until he reached the ones he already recognized and located in his directions. They had already been settled in their new lives for a couple of weeks, but it was still difficult for him to recognize some corners; he still had to familiarize himself with many of the streets and corners that formed his directions, his first directions of independent life. Before arriving at the apartment (his new home, to be precise), he bought a cheese and meat pie with the only money he had left before the fortnight (there was still a full day left until the fortnight).
As soon as he opened the door to the apartment, his partner was already waiting for him with one of those smiles that cannot be described. He smiled back with all the love he had, despite his tiredness, because there is always enough strength to give oneself to those we love the most. They went to the kitchen. He took the cake out of his backpack and placed it on the plastic table. I bought this for you, he said, and his partner accepted sweetly. He will eat later, he will see what to do, the important thing is to look after his partner first, to protect her; there is always time to give oneself.
He left the backpack aside. And about to take off his jacket, he saw how his partner placed a couple of small plates on the table and the cake cut in half. He looked at her surprised. His partner smiled at him again. Eat with me, he said. But… the cake is for you, I bought it for you, he said in a worried tone. But his partner looked at him deeply, smiled again and repeated: Eat with me. At that moment, the apartment reverberated with an inexplicable warmth: because we are in this together, they explained the circumstances.
Their gazes jumped again and again from the bites of cake to each other’s faces, holding back tears of happiness. They both ate in silence, their chests rumbling. They had so much to say to each other…
THE MAGIC OF WILL
An aunt was walking with her nephew on a narrow journey of miles and hours in some of those plowed fields on the country roads.
“Aunt, I can’t go on any longer, I’m about to fall”, said the little boy who, naturally, after a couple of hours of walking and so much sun was as exhausted as a donkey carrying six bags of potatoes.
“Oh my boy, if it were up to me we would fly, but I can’t even do you the favor of carrying you”, said the aunt, who, in fact, was carrying several bags of groceries.
With no other options, they continued walking. And walking.
Minutes and steps later, the aunt came across a stick in the middle of a deteriorated pasture. She handed it to her nephew and said, “look, this is a horse, he can carry you.”
The little boy took the stick and placed it between his legs. And he began to ride and ride. He went back and forth, jumping and skipping, from here to there, from there to here, running and trotting as if he had never believed his own tiredness, with an extraordinary smile emerging from his figure.
When they arrived at their destination, the little boy said to his aunt, “Ugh! Auntie, if it weren’t for this horse, there’s no way he would have made it.”
THE PROCESS OF MIRACLES
It was the eve of the day of the Three Kings and they had no money to buy presents. The economic complications had increased and the parents had no other option than to prepare a strong explanation to their children, who had already placed their letter under the tree with that ritual of happiness of every year.
That night, the children slept with untouchable illusions, absent in the discretion of their dreams so as not to make noise to the magical guests, while the parents cried silently in their respective rooms, hugging each other, silencing any expression and secretly planning the revelation of the non-existent fantasy.
They already expected the faces of their children atrophied by that incomparable sadness of children, portraying a breakup that would bring possible consequences of bitterness. Horror to imagine such painful situations, and even more horror to have to live it. They were such painful circumstances that the parents felt like dying.
But that same night, just when the father decided to go down for a glass of water, a few hours before dawn to give the terrible explanation to his children, someone knocked on the door with restraint. The father, surprised, cautiously opened it. It was an associate of the small company where the father worked as a partner who was carrying an envelope in his hand. He apologized for the hour and explained that it was the cash that a couple of businesses had owed him. He also explained that he had just left to visit some people nearby and that he decided to quickly stop by to make the delivery. The father, stunned and radiant, accepted the envelope. He thanked the associate with tears in his eyes and they shook hands. The associate left and wished him a happy new year. The mother was going down the stairs when the father burst into tears of joy and showed her the cash. The mother, her spirits lifted, ran to put on her coat while the father started the car. They kissed like in a scene from a romantic movie and went out to buy gifts that same night. Fortunately for them, the stores were open all night exclusively for this time of year.
The joy of the next morning is indescribable for everyone.
Later, the children would grow up and know the truth: that everything inside and outside this world, in one way or another, exists. They would be the next to prove this truth to their own children, and to the next children, because the Three Wise Men exist, and they are those with the desire to continue this beautiful tradition of absolutely real magic.