Story
Suso de Toro
Memory / The Passage of Time
MEMORY
I don’t remember this face. I never had one like this before. What kind of face did I have yesterday? I had black glasses. And black hair, not fair like this. Or curly. It was straight. My face yesterday was very different, thinner. With a larger nose. What a lot of spots, I bet you a thousands dollars I bleed when I shave. At least they won’t be there tomorrow. What kind of face will I have tomorrow? I liked the one I had two days ago, with the green, dreamy eyes women are so fond of. That woman in red who stared at me yesterday in the park, the thing she liked best was the romantic look. If I went walking in the same place today, we might bump into each other again. But even if I somehow plucked up the courage to talk to her, would she recognise me in this vulgar, spotty face the delicate features and seductive eyes of the man she met yesterday? It’s always like this. I’d like to have the same face all the time. A face only for me, that was mine. How I’d love one morning to look in the mirror and see that face with the green eyes. They were green, but with a hint of chestnut. I’d go after the woman in red and say, ‘Remember me?’ And she’d say, ‘Were we introduced?’ and then allow me to walk beside her. Wow! My new hair is a nuisance to comb!
THE PASSAGE OF TIME
He’s got so fat, so ugly. It’s amazing, considering how handsome he used to be. Do you remember how handsome he was? He had the sweetest face and those green. Eyes. Ah, those green eyes! You felt as if you were dying when he gave you a look with those eyes. I think if he’d actually said something to me, gazing at me with those green eyes, I’d have given in. He, ha, don’t let Andrés know! If Andrés finds out, he’ll kill me, ha ha! But he was so good-looking and had the most perfect figure. Upright and slim. Like a movie star. Besides, back then, there weren’t so many tall men, now it’d be normal, but not back then. One look and you wanted to gobble him up, he was a real bon-bon. So he had any woman he wanted. Do you remember that Laurita married to a mining engineer or something? She was crazy about him. And he did what he wanted. With the others as well. What was the name of that dark-haired girl who later married a merchant seaman? No, it was Mónica or something. He could do what he liked with just one look of those eyes. I’d have gobbled him up. And now see what a belly he has. And that double chin, which gives him a puffed-up faced that looks, I don’t know what it looks like. He’s got so damn ugly. The eyes, yes, the eyes are still the same, but he’s different, he looks as if he’s become a little retarded. That’s right, his expression is estrange. Perhaps he’s being treated for his nerves or something. Medicine like that is enough to finish anyone off. And you get fat, really fat, and it’s impossible to lose weight after that. It could just be the years, he’s neglected himself, let himself go. Or lost his interest in women and little by little abandoned himself. Well, maybe not. Do you think he got married? I can’t believe how fat, how ugly he’s become.