SHORT STORY THE TRAIN
Automatic traslation from the original story in Spanish. Not checked manually
The train did not stop at the station where Marta wanted to get off…
She continued without stopping… the conductor told her that she had taken the wrong train, that it didn’t stop here.
So, she couldn’t do anything but continue…
The station where she got off was called “New Opportunity”.
Marta only had one suitcase, but she left it on the train. She got out with nothing…
As she walked through the station, she thought of her friend… the one who sold her mother’s most beloved thing, which Marta had given her when she died… She also thought of her partner’s friend -her friend too- who had told them so many times that he loved them… All a lie.
Marta takes a deep breath and thinks of Isaac and his dog Daphne. She takes her cell phone and calls them…
“Isaac?”
—Yes Marta, tell me?
—Take Dafne and come to the location that I have sent you to Maps…
—….
“Isaac?”
—Yes… I’m thinking of taking us.
-Nothing. We don’t need anything.
-I love you.
-And I you.
Marta arrives at a meadow and inhales the smell of the roses. Now everything is clean.
The advantage of losing cacti is that roses spring up everywhere in their place. This story is dedicated, with affection -as much as the one they have given us- to those who, for years, claimed to be our friends.
The Train – Micro-stories series – Copyright ©Montserrat Valls and Juan Genovés