The fake man

People talked to him and relied  on him. He knew how to make them feel he listened to them. He was an expert at showing real interest, though people bored him. Very frequently, what people told him was as cryptical for him as Chinese ideograms. He felt himself a fake.

A tree in ancient Panama City

It was just one tree amongst lots of them in an ancient Spanish settlement. It was probably 500 years old. That tree was huge. From lower branches, lianas reached the ground and turned into cylindrical trunks supporting the tree' s heavy branches. That Panamanian tree looked like an extraterrestrial living creature.

The "anti gadgets" man

He didn't like changes. He said he wouldn't have a color television, but he bought one. He told everybody he wouldn't get a VCR. though he eventually bought one. Later, he was against plasma screens and now he had one. At present he says he will never buy an e-book.

That Nobel Prize Winner

He’d been awarded a Nobel Prize. Everybody wanted his presence as a guest in meetings and television shows. Some schools had been named after him. Nevertheless his close relatives and the scarce friends he had knew he was an abject person, an apparent winner who enjoyed hurting people around him.

Motorway to heaven

He’d spent the whole night in a mixture of fear and freedom. Early in the morning he decided to cross the motorway. After a few meters he tried to avoid a grey car, but its bumper hit his head. A second car crashed into his body. My dog passed away.

Those dark eyes...

Eyes are a mystery. I’ll always remember those big dark eyes looking at me wide open. I was fascinated by them. I couldn’t see anything apart from them. Though not close to me, they transmitted loneliness and sad acceptance. The image of that old gorilla has never left my mind.

Mushrooms

They'd been invited to pick up mushrooms. They thought it was plain sailing. The reality was different. The mount was steep and at 1600 meters altitude. Then they had to spot them and next they had to decide if they were edible or poisonous. They'd spent tiring long hours there.

98,181818

One day the racist biased guy disembarked on the Norwegian Utoya island and shot seventy-seven teenagers on summer holidays. After months trying to decide if he was sane or insane, the court sentenced him to serve twenty-one years in prison. Ninety-eight days, eighteen hours, eighteen minutes, eighteen seconds per life.

The sitting man

I never saw him on foot. He ran a souvenirs and inflatable beach mattresses shop near  the beach. Every year he was there, in his striped beach armchair, wearing his white and blue sailor cap. He was older and older but fatter and fatter, just as his inflatable beach mattresses.

I called him "budgie"

I had always known him being there, opposite my bedroom window. Now I was thirty and he was probably forty. Always behind his balcony bars. His parents had never taken him to the street. Having a mentally handicapped child had been a curse for them for who knows which sin.

Honorable People

The Bank had asked for the help of the Government. Eventually public money rescued the bank. Meanwhile, the Bank CEOs had corporate Visa Cards they could use freely. With them they paid for alcoholic drinks, night clubs, lingerie, Thai massages and high standing restaurants. They also used ATMs every day.

Daydreaming

He everyday got up relaxed and ready for work. He liked it and everybody counted on him. His bosses promoted him and regularly raised his salary. In the evening, when he arrived at his island of peace, his wife was already there looking forward to him. Maybe he was dreaming.

Memories

It was the biggest one and always swimming in front of them. After it, there were four others. They were almost motionless, floating in the same place and moving gently their bodies. All of them staring obsessively one of the glass walls of the oblong fishbowl. Do piranhas have memories? 

Onnagata

People had gathered for the opening of the exhibition about Kabuki and Noh  theatre. They noticed the colorful scenes on the pictures. People commented on the garments, the swords and the colours. Others got shocked by how big and manly those women looked. They didn’t know those “women” were “onnagata”.

A happy beach day

They arrived silently at the sunny Mediterranean beach. She laid the towels on the sand while her husband took his sandals off and folded carefully everybody’s  t-shirts. Their two children started building a rudimentary sand castle. The Japanese family sunbathed for three hours and they silently got up and left.

Politicians don't die of Ebola

Both of them left their villages in Spain and decided to relieve people’s physical pain. In Africa they lived twenty-five years giving their lives for nothing but a smile. They caught Ebola, just as their patients had done. Some politicians objected to their coming back to Spain. It was expensive.

Idling

That day nothing special had happened. When he got up the sun was shining. He had talked to the usual people, had followed his daily routine, had been alone when he had wanted to. Sometimes he looked without seeing and he listened without hearing. Next month he would turn ninety.

Happiness behind the bars

He was running hectically to and fro. Suddenly he would stop, look down at the passers-by and sing loudly small fragments. Behind the four year old boy, a greenish neglected open door. He smiled at people as they noticed him and grabbed the rusty balcony bars with his tiny hands.

The girl on the bench

The old city square was full of life. People were walking or talking lively in front of a drink at cafeteria terrace tables. There were some wrought iron benches. Among that crowd there was a beautiful sad young Asian girl sitting alone at the end of one of the benches.

Unbalance

He’d been preparing for long for that testing. The last month had been intense in training. Mind and body responded coordinately. The Iaido testing day arrived. He knew how and what to do. In the test a slight mistake unbalanced his confidence. When he heard the verdict he breathed gratefully.

Bolivian Hell

They call it a prison. Policemen are only at the check in and check out. Inside you have to pay other inmates if you want to eat, to have a place to sleep or just to live. The guardians are convicts belonging to mafias and sharing money with the police.

The value of a life

It was going to be another happy day in her life. She was in the playground with other teenagers when gunmen entered the school. They kidnapped her and other 275 Christian girls. Their future? After living hidden in the jungle, being raped  and sold as sex slaves to cruel Muslims.

SDS (Stupid Dog Syndrome)

At the shop entrance there was a gigantic brown teddy bear standing up. Everybody stopped for a moment there and some used to get into the shop. A dog saw the large teddy bear and started to bark at it full of fear and anger. Maybe it suffered from SDS.

Zero Gravity

Silvia showed her parents -future grandparents- the video of her one kilo future daughter. You could see her peaceful expression, the way she waved her arms and sucked her small thumbs. Sometimes she yawned and stretched her arms and legs. She moved as freely as an astronaut in amniotic weightlessness.

Love is stronger than death

She started to burst into tears on the bus home with no reason. When she saw a body on the sidewalk, she already knew whose hand that was. He heard voices ordering him to kill her. He committed suicide from their eleventh floor as he didn’t want to hurt her.

The white feather

The car front coming from nowhere provoked a sudden clumsy fluttering. Next car’s tyres rolled on the bird. Part of its smashed body and feathers got stuck on the tyre. A second and a third car turned the dove into minced meat, leaving a white feather on the road asphalt.

The interview

I’d been selected for a job interview. I’ve always been among the best experts in my job. After the introduction, the employer asked me five questions I was unable to respond. I was desolated. The employer told me “O.K., you are hired. You’ve passed the exam. Who can’t answer passes”

Obsession

Peter always used to do the same things at the same time. He always dressed the same way, too. He was obsessed with times. However, on a Monday afternoon he seemed disoriented, sitting on a bench in the park of another city. He had lost his wristwatch some days ago.

The Housewife

As every Sunday she had got up early to cook their favorite dishes: lasagna stuffed with vegetables and chocolate cakes. After a hard long morning preparing the meal, all family sat at the large table. Everybody ate silently. When they finished, they stood up quickly and left. Nobody thanked her. 

The Believer

He was leaning on his crutch, standing in the sunshine, begging some coins. His teeth shone white in his North-African tanned face. A Jehovah’s witness handled him a biblical pamphlet. The one-legged man smiled openly and looked at the sky, raising his palms giving Allah thanks for his precious life.

A breach in the black column

They were busily working to and fro in the sunshine. It was a thick column in black, going without anything and returning loaded with food and other stuff. Suddenly, a black shadow and then the black column had a breach, rapidly filled by more ants, after the cyclist went past.

The unborn army

Yes, my father died before meeting my mother at university. I am one of those thousands of unborn guys. A stupid insane man entered his classroom at high school and murdered seven students, my father among them. He never gave me either a present or played both of us together.

An evening at the bumper cars

Lonely Joe was standing at the bumper cars, looking how boys with more money drove them. Three guys started abusing the retarded boy next to Joe. He addressed his inner anger against them recklessly. Then those guys stopped laughing and pushing the retarded guy and started to beat lonely Joe .

Statistics data

Since he was a child he had had very good grades at school. He was also good at soccer. Later, he was also a hard-working  student who had studied a demanding university degree. Nights and weekends devoted to studying. Finally, graduation day and, immediately after it, his reward: the unemployment. 

There comes the sun

The schoolgirl had always tried hard to grow some plants in her flower boxes. It was always disappointing, as in three years no seed had sprouted. One morning, after opening her balcony door, for the first time she experienced a state of bliss when she saw a tiny green bud.

Another desperate man

Everyday was a heavy burden. He had to struggle to defend his arguments at work. Nothing was given to him for granted. He always returned home exhausted. One day He burst into tears and confessed: “I only want people to love me, but I don’t know how to get it.”

The girl next door

It doesn’t matter whether I arrive at my apartment building at lunch time or late in the evening. When I climb the last step, I know for certain if my mysterious neighbor is there or not. She always lights one of those incense sticks whose scent goes beyond her door.

The laboratory

Her living was hard. Many days she locked in her toilet and cried feeling herself ill. Nothing seemed to work either at home or at work. She went to a laboratory to have her tears analyzed. She got high levels of loneliness, frustration and anger, but low ones of resignation.

Duty

The samurai surprised other warrior from behind and hugged him. He couldn’t kill him from behind, it wasn’t honorable. He asked him to take his kabuto off. He was a child. The samurai told him to escape. He refused. When the samurai’s sword touched the dirt, the blade was red.

The speech warrior

From seven p.m. to eleven, the crossing of those sidewalks was conquered by a huge black "speech warrior". He was a gigantic immigrant who “owned” that corner. He spoke loudly his incomprehensible language, moved his long arms, laughed, debated angrily and talked to his cell-phone. Everything was in its place.

The duelist

Two duelists were back to back. They had to walk ten steps apart. One of them turned back after his eighth step and fired. His bullet missed the still walking man. This latter continued walking his three steps. He turned, pointed his gun slowly and killed the other defenseless duelist.

A call in the morning

She lifted the receiver and answered. In the nursery her daughter had swallowed something and couldn’t breathe. She got into her Chevy and rushed to the kindergarden. One hundred meters away from it, she crashed into a truck loaded of guilt complex. When the paramedics arrived, she was already dead.

Her dark side

“Oh, no! I’m incapable of drawing a simple tree”, she used to say. But some years ago she discovered a sudden eagerness to paint pictures. She stopped painting when she realized that what she painted turned real after her paintings had been finished. She was afraid of her dark side.

Childhood's end

He was a successful lawyer, smart, handsome, appreciated by everyone. He had state of the art cars, a great apartment, and belonged to exclusive clubs. He took private Spanish lessons. Talking about childhood, he said his hadn’t been easy. His father was blind and his beloved mother was mentally handicapped.

The polemicist

Whenever he used to argue, people made the effort to accept some points of view. His neck veins and arteries grew thicker when explaining ideas. If you dared reject some of his statements, anger invaded him and his heart started to pound. A lethal heart attack concluded his last argument.

Warm memories

Once, the old man was asked about the best moment in his life. Then, he remembered a few Sunday mornings when he was five or six. He rushed to his parents' bed and his father would tell him one of those fairy tales, accompanied by the warmth of his body.

Disappointment

José firmly believed that when his milk teeth fell down he would receive a present. He believed in "el ratoncito Pérez", which got the teeth children had placed under their pillows and left a present instead. When José woke up, there were some peanuts under the pillow. He felt disappointed.

The bench in the park

It was a cold winter morning in the park. Blue sky and a little wind moving the branches of the trees gently. Pigeons, children speaking aloud while playing, senior couples here and there, cyclists, two fellows jogging. And there she was, sitting on the bench, blonde, well dressed,... and alone.

Looking back in anger

One after another one, her friends married their boyfriends. One day, when she was 38, she realized she wasn’t married. Though she was a beautiful woman she only occasionally dated boys. One day she assumed she had nobody to go out with on the weekends. She cried bitterly in anger.

Red ink gladiator

He was a gladiator who had devoted his life to fight bad expressions, bad grammar and misspelt words. Every evening his sword got covered in red ink after marking compositions and writing suggestions. Always different enemies using similar strategies. Nevertheless, he knew it was a fight he would never win.

Brilliant Ideas

He was an acclaimed writer, though his sharp wit hurt the totalitarian ideas of some people. When the doorbell rang he answered the door. A stranger entered and shot him in the forehead. The walls of the room got filled with talent, brilliant ideas and wise thoughts from his brain.

The opera singer

Everyday at fourteen fifty he walked energetically along the sidewalk singing opera fragments loudly. He was  probably going home from work. People used to look at him as if he were insane. He had a powerful, clear, baritone voice. Always a different  fragment, from Pagliacci, Il Trovatore or Madame Butterfly.

Strong beliefs

Gil made the mistake of saying he didn’t share the ideas of the leader. Gil was taken to prison and found guilty of treason. The day of the execution, the commander of the firing squad offered him a cigarette. Then Gil responded. “No, thanks. I’m trying to give up smoking”

The Christmas present

Joseph was behind his father’s coffin, walking solemnly towards his grave. He’d been a good father for him, except for one shadow. When he was six, he asked the Three Wise Men for a Play Station. When the great day arrived, all he had was a globe to study geography.

Annoyance

That was another one of those episodes of long lasting silence. She, with that serious expression on her face. He, trying to guess the reason for that. She, sitting on the sofa watching television. He, commenting a scene and receiving no reply. And, from time to time, evidences of reconciliation.

A connoisseur

He received a call to wish him Happy New Year. He had lived by himself for many years. He wouldn’t open a bottle of  cava as he only liked French Champagne. He would drink a glass of cider to celebrate the New Year on his own at his small apartment.

A snowman on el Moncayo

They had never made a snowman together. The journey took one hour as far as the ancient mountain of the region. The temperature gradually decreased. When they arrived, there was only a thin snow layer. All they could make was a forty centimetre snowman, all having much fun. Mission accomplished.

Deadly love

Ferdinand was a lonely sad fellow. He everyday saw Miranda going to school. He was in love with her, though she ignored it. He stopped his van and kidnaped her so that she had the opportunity to get to know him. A week later, a policeman found a dead girl.

The climbing Santa

Johnny’s father entered one of those “Everything at one euro” Chinese stores. He bought a climbing Santa the size of a sheet of paper surrounded by small light bulbs. The small red Santa got stuck at the bottom left corner of a window on an industrial district decaying dirty wall.

Slothful existence

He got up late in the morning. He washed himself, had a decaf coffee for breakfast and switched on his television set in the living room. Later, he had lunch. Afterwards, he lay on the sofa watching television and sleeping alternatively. It was a typical day in his exciting existence.

The canister

Mercedes was ninety-three. That day she felt very bad. A doctor came and sent her to hospital. She knew something was going wrong. A senior doctor entered and told her daughter: “Don’t worry, she will not feel pain”. Ten minutes later, a morphine canister was empty, just as Mercedes’ life.

The amateur cyclist

He kept his bicycle in an old dark storage-room. When he saw the blue sky a grin appeared on his face in glee. He went on cycling on the green urban cycling-path, feeling the freezing wind on his face and fingers. He had felt alive for an hour once again.

Silent night

Within four hours it would be Christmas Day. Just a few thoughtful walking shadows here and there walking lonely, not knowing what else to do. Just walking and feeling cold on their faces. All of them struggling to delay their arrival at home. Silent night, sad night, night of tears.

The puddle

A foursome surrounded him and walked to the patch of trees near their school. Fear made him bite one of the threatening boys. The leader took a rope and, some minutes later, Ricky was hanging from the branch of a pine-tree. On the ground,  a small puddle of warm urine.

The birth of a nation

All countries voted “Yes” for the creation of the new country in the U.N. People everywhere felt excited and happy for that important step. The day after, thousands of people left their countries towards the new one. Then, Assholeland became one the most crowded countries in the world.

Hunger

He’d had his last meal two weeks ago that cold wet November. Hunger was tearing his stomach. He felt dizzy and sleepy at the same time. Luckily, he came across a ten euro note and entered a restaurant. He ate a steak but eventually he couldn’t help throwing it up.

Unrequited lust

The previous day they had had an argument. Now, they were sitting on the sofa watching T.V. She got up to have a shower. When she returned she was only wearing her colored housecoat. They kept on watching commercials. They felt appealed to each other, but they made no moves.

The director

I pay my five interns and three employees differently. They know I will renew their contracts only if they are “motivated”. “Motivation” means working twelve hours and accepting hunger salaries. My workers do their best. When I call them to my office, I say their production isn’t worth their salary.

The girl who longed for a family

She was a beautiful interesting young woman. She wanted to build a family and have children. Nevertheless, once again, she’d met a boy. They had had fun for some time. Whenever she asked for a more serious bond, her partners got insecure, left her alone, desolated, and feeling herself guilty.

Shit island

The monkey lived on a shit island. There were shit palm-trees with the shape of a shit. The coconuts were made of shit and were shit stinking. “Monkey”  was used to those coconuts and loved their smell and taste. One day, he got the enlightenment and escaped from the island.

Far in the distance

In thirty minutes he would be dealing with teenagers in a classroom. It was eight on a cold autumn Monday. He hardly listened to the radio news about how disastrous the country’s economy was. Suddenly he got shocked by the beautiful snowed mountain top. The first snow of the year.

The snail shell guy

Everybody said he was lively, ongoing, a socialite. He had a different concept about himself. He talked to lots of people and had fun, but he appreciated silence, feeling himself out of the sights and words of the world. He wished he were a snail, always protected by its shell.

True wizard

Manolo was always there for us. He was a genuine computer literate. His knowledge was awesome, not only with respect to computers but also to cell-phones. Whenever his coworkers asked for his assistance, he always helped with a smile. He was both a good guy and a humble wise man.

1

Good Samaritan

When the toddler released her mother’s hand, she left towards the road and crashed into a van. It didn’t stop. Another vehicle slowly went over her bloody body. Some pedestrians avoided the blood stained road and kept on walking. A few minutes later a homeless stopped and asked for help.

Homage

She didn’t like her own name. Her husband was deeply in love with her. She gave birth to a girl. They didn’t get an agreement on the new born’s name. So he secretly left towards the town hall to inscribe her as “Gregoria”. It was a homage for his wife.

Sensei

In the kendo dojo he mastered the techniques and knew how to teach them. When a kendoka fought against him, the trainee always had the feeling of beating him at the end of the fight. That sensei beat himself to show his mastery and strength. He was the best ever.

Feelings

Before being born he felt nothing. Being a baby he had to be fed, washed and put to bed. Eighty five years later he had to be fed, assisted, washed and taken to bed with the help of sleeping pills. Some time later, after his death, he felt nothing again.

The test

The board of examiners was sitting in front. He saluted them and his sword according to the protocol. Then, he started his “kata”. Once he finished he sat on a seat of the stands. He then realized it had been his body which had done the test, not his mind. 

The death row

The “units” crossed the barrier. They were taken into a room. They were slit ruthlessly, the floor full of fresh blood. They carried the bodies out of the room. Then, they were placed carefully in a row in the large oven. “I’d like a roast chicken, please” said a customer.

The Japanese interpreter

160 people were listening to him. Nobody could understand a single word, except the interpreter. She admired him, his teachings and his effort coming to Spain two or three times per year. Tears of emotion and love blurred her sight when she publicly acknowledged how much those kendoka appreciated him.

A life

He got married, had two daughters, and worked hard. After lunch, he had a cigarette and a cup of ice-cream. Afterwards, he got asleep in the sofa, while his wife watched South American soap operas. In the evening, they usually went for a walk. And so, until he passed away.

Burning love

She remembered that time they were making love. Both of them burning with desire, wishing to melt in the other’s body. Her hands slid slowly along his back, while his softly caressed her pearled skin. They were rhythmically sinking in a sea of desire, when their baby said: “Mom, piss!”

The swimmer

It was irrelevant whether it was cold or hot, winter or summer. His palms were always wet with sweat. He knew people didn’t want to shake hands or be touched by his hands. His pockets were full of tissues to dry his hands. He was only happy in the swimming-pool.

Charlie

Charlie was eleven. One day he got up while his science teacher was teaching and began to walk amongst the desks. The teacher asked him to sit down. Charlie went on walking and miming as he really believed he had the power of becoming invisible to people when he wanted.

A writing skills teacher

He always did his best, teaching his students what to do and how to start when they were asked to write a composition. Back at home, he sat at his desk and, as always, he threw the blank sheet of paper into the wastepaper bin after an hour of frustration.

The candidate

Eventually, the smiling candidate became elected president of the country. Soon, experts warned him of a coming financial crisis. He said they were alarming people. Meanwhile, he continued smiling. Millions of people lost their jobs and the trade unions organized a general strike. And yet, the president kept on smiling.

A respectable Moroccan seller

Two foreigners had been haggling for some cheap clay pieces  at his stall. The shop-keeper wrapped the pieces with newspapers. The foreigners put them in their car trunk. They were about to leave when he ran to give them a fifty euro note they had dropped carelessly amongst his pottery.

A stupid electrocution

He was a renowned sword swallower. One day he swallowed a fluorescent bar the length of a sword. There was a blackout in the hall and he lit the lamp in his stomach. People saw the light through his skin and clapped. He bowed. Then, the lamp broke into pieces.

A ten dirham coin

He was standing motionless in the middle of a narrow street in Fez Medina. He was like a dark skinny wooden statue asking for some alms, wearing a worn out djellaba. His mahogany face shone in the sun crossed by deep wrinkles. A foreigner gave him a ten dirham coin.

Two friends

They were on the beach in the shining sun. Mariano had fair hair while Evgueni had brown hair. They were being friends for half an hour. The children were laughing together, splashing together, speaking loudly together, throwing wet sand together. Mariano could only speak Spanish and Evgueni only spoke Russian.

The pub terrace musician

It was supper time and people were eating at hotels and restaurants. He was about sixty, long white hair and black glasses. He was singing rock and roll old songs. White plastic chairs in an empty beach pub terrace were his audience. Nevertheless, he struggled to get a good performance.

The strong man

He could pull from a big truck, throw a dish-washer metres away. He was able to raise heavy stones and grab a bull by its neck and put him on the ground. He was asked the diet he followed. He said he followed a strict diet: eating lots of everything.

The sofa

Joaõ’d arrived at the beach with his friends. They all had made arrangements to spend San Juan’s Night having a good time. People prepared the fires. Joaõ jumped full of energy, but he crashed against the arm of a burning sofa. He burned  to death. Nobody dared to do anything.

Animal warmth

She lived alone in her tiny apartment. When she returned home from work, no noisy children were waiting for her. Everything was quiet...except her cute playful puppy. It was the only living being that died for her caresses. After its cancer, it had to be sacrificed. She got disconsolate.

A nail house

They had lived there for ages. That house had been the result of thousands of hours of effort and of millions of  yuans. The government wanted to expropriate him for a few yuans. He refused the offer. Now he lives in a nail house in the middle of a motorway.

The barbecue

His life did not change after the motorbike accident. He kept on running his beach pub. One day he was preparing a hamburger at his barbecue when the telephone rang. While he was talking, he smelled burnt meat. It was the fingers of his paralyzed arm. He hang up.

Freedom

The master and his disciple were discussing about the meaning of freedom. The disciple argued: “The highest expression of freedom is having the ability to choose at every moment what to do.” Then, the master asked him: “What if one decides to become a slave for the rest of his days?”

Envy

The two brothers stood in front of their father. He told his younger son: “I decided how to split my legacy: you will get forty; your brother sixty”. The son, full of envy, replied:  “I do not care how much to get, provided it is not less than my brother.”

Long live the Samurai! Long live my friend!

That fun small man turned into a gigantic real samurai when he wore his kendo armour. Four years after his liver operation he spent  again some fun days in Zaragoza revisiting his friends. He refused to take his bogu back to Japan. Three months later Yoda Yasunori sensei had died.

The birthday

She had turned 54 at night. She dressed in a short black dress with a black silvery belt around her. In five minutes she would be driving to school for another tiring day. The phone rang. Her son wanted to be the first one to say “Happy birthday”. Her face shone.