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.

Parking the car

There were few parking spaces on both sides of the road. Suddenly, he saw one. He moved his car backwards. On the  road, he saw the dead body of a cat. He felt a slow bump when one of the rear wheels went over the remains of the dead cat.

No privilege

He didn’t want privileges for being a famous politician who had defended the Public Health System. He had to share the room with an old woman. Her sphincters relaxed and tons of faeces gushed on her bed, flooding the room with an unbearable stink. He wished he had been alone.

Great expectations

He’d been studying hard for a year. There were only three posts and more than 300 people who wanted them. The day of the exam arrived and everything turned out very well. He had done his best. He suffered from optimism, but there were other 300 optimistic people expecting, too.

The fly

All nurses knew that evidence. Whenever they saw a fly in the room of a very ill patient, they knew the patient’s death was a matter of few hours. It was always a nervous fly, attracted by the sweet smell of death, trying to land on the patient’s motionless head.

Room 71

Her doctor made a mistake and the old woman died. She shouldn’t have died that afternoon. At night, at the nurse desk, the bell of room 71 rang once and again. A nurse opened the door of room 71, but the old woman had been taken to the hospital morgue.

Starry night

That was a perfect moment for her: a mild breeze caressing her long black hair, occasionally the cicada’s song, the black starred sky reflecting on the dark water of the reservoir. She was sitting, relaxed, in peace with herself. A small stone broke into pieces that mirror of the sky.

The rain

On the pavement another victim whose husband had thrown out of the window. She lay motionless on a pool of blood under her head. Soon the coroner covered her with a blanket before taking her in the truck. Next morning, the rain washed her blood away from the dirty pavement.

High winds at school

They had never experienced such high winds in the village. Experts said it was because of the climate change. On Tuesday, just after break, a tall 25 year old pine-tree fell over showing its entangled roots and leaving a deep hole just where the base of the tree had been.

The weekend

They had been looking forward to a different weekend. They had imagined themselves lying on a sunny beach while listening to the waves lullaby. They got into their car and two hours later, black clouds, rain and bolts of lightning welcomed them in the seaside resort.

Her mouth

Two paramedics were pushing a wheeled stretcher. When they opened the ambulance I saw the face of an old fragile woman. There was a transparent cannula outside one of her nostrils. Her head stood motionless, covered by a thin film of skin. Her mouth was a wide open black hole.

Hair

He wasn’t a teenager any longer, but he still loved his fair hair. He devoted much time combing it in such a way that all was in perfect order on his head. A straight line separated a part from the other. His small pocket comb was his most precious belonging.

The olympic swimming pool diver

He was on the edge of the swimming pool springboard. In a shining sun, hundreds of eyes stared at him. After seconds of concentration, he eventually jumped high in the air. Suddenly, a wasp bit on his right eyebrow. He was given the worst score in an Olympics diving event. 

The compulsive sufferer

She thought her life was collapsing. At work, everything was against her. In her private life nothing seemed easy. Besides, she felt she was redundant since her children were already adults, so she had nothing to strive for. Definitely, she was fascinated by the idea of disappearing from the world.

The drum player

It was late in the evening. The Easter parade was marching slowly under the resounding large drums. Children with serious faces opened the parade. The rest of the penitents were covered with masks, except a happy young woman who hit her drum rhythmically. She was an innocent down syndrome girl.

Revealing eyes

When she enters the office I always look into her eyes. Those dark eyes have a different meaning to unravel. Some days they look tired, or sad. Today, they revealed a touch of hidden vulnerability, but I saw a spark of happiness. What will her mysterious eyes tell me tomorrow?

The lesson

They were supposed to be studying. Nevertheless, one was reading a novel, another student was talking to his mate, a third one was writing short messages on an irregular piece of paper, two of them were continuously turning their heads back, some were looking at their textbooks pages seeing nothing.

The golden thong

People wandered in shock. You could hear cries and groans. Blocks of buildings here and there had fallen on the streets in disorder. White dust had substituted clean air. Under a cracked concrete bean an anonymous girl lay lifeless, though for me it was the girl in the golden thong.

The cockroach

The roach was running in the kitchen. It felt a dark shadow covering its body. Then it understood what it was going to happen. It ran and ran. The shoe sole fell on it. A whitish substance mixed with broken pieces of  the cockroach’s black armor stayed on the floor.

Ramón

Ramón was fourteen. He was proud of being Gypsy. He didn’t like studying, though he was very clever. He heard his teacher had got over a skin cancer. He approached the teacher when the lesson was over and said:

-“Do you pray?” “You should thank God everyday for being alive”

Resistance

She’d been working for the same school for thirty years. Getting up in the morning was a hard trial. Another day of laughter and endless humiliations in the classrooms. And her bosses making her feel useless and stupid. She could barely stand such an aggressive background. Barely..., but she could.

The flower box

At school, Spanish and foreign language teachers shared the office. Three walls were wrapped with books and papers. Beyond the windows there were ten tall trees with twisted branches covered of thick green leaves. The light purple orchid beside the computer looked contemptuously at the trees from behind the windows.

The cigarette

After trying sleeping pills and acupuncture he decided to switch to a cigarette of marihuana. He was not a smoker. He smoked his marihuana cigarette very quickly. Five minutes later he was about to lose his consciousness, sweating and cursing. He felt bad, alone, paralyzed and regretting that bloody cigarette.

Stained mirrors

She had always been obsessed by cleaning. Whenever she looked at herself in a mirror she discovered small stains on it. The older she grew the more stains she could find on mirrors. She had a handkerchief ready to rub mirrors. She never admitted the aging spots of her skin.  

Alvarito

The children in the village were as cruel as all children in the world. In that place, as in all hamlets, there was a village idiot. The children were in the street, laughing at him. One of them took some horseshit from the ground and invited Alvarito to eat it.

Monotony

“I love you, but I’m not just mad about you”, she said. She had known what being mad about a man was. She didn’t want to be a fraud to him, but feeling her heart beating for him again. Indifference, boredom and silences were dying their relationship. She left home.

The Algerian patient

A young Algerian was in bed, unconscious. The young nurse couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. She entered the room, approached to him, raised her arms, the palms towards the patient’s head, and told him: “Come to life, struggle to live”. Then she thought “But he can’t understand Spanish!”

The motionless sleepwalker

She was peacefully sleeping when suddenly she felt completely conscious. She sat up, got up, and started walking without moving her feet. She went through her bedroom wall and entered her son’s bedroom. She covered him with a blanket. Some seconds later she entered her lying body and continued sleeping.

Two tears

He was a renowned Sumi-e painter. However, that day he couldn’t find the exact grey for the bamboo cane he was trying to paint.  He got desperate and started to cry. Two tears dropped on his paintbrush and then he achieved the master touches he had been looking forward to.

That marvellous weekend

Life was hard. They had been longing for that weekend. It was going to be their first weekend in a seaside resort. They bought suitcases and summer clothes. That weekend came and, with it,  a front of clouds full of rain from the Atlantic. Again, on Monday the sun shone.

The last drink

It was happy that summer. It saw a car driven by a sweaty man and flew in through the open car window. It set on his neck, began to walk down and drank his delicious salty sweat. Seconds later, a wasp was smashed between the driver’s back and his seat.

Home sweet home

After a hard day’s work they would meet at their home. Many days she would wait for him to start having supper. Afterwards, they would watch television on the settee. She would lie on the sofa -her head in his lap. That would be peace after a long tiring day.

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.

by Ana Cajal

A special man

Mary had been preparing dinner for him. He loved  risotto with oysters and mushrooms. She also cooked roast beef and some fish, too. “He loves fish”, said to herself. She had also bought wine and cava to celebrate. Then the phone rang. Some minutes later Mary’s eyes were in tears.

by Ana Cajal

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. 

by Vanesa Acin

The self unknown man

He was well considered in his community. Perhaps, even some people might admire him. Nevertheless he hadn’t meditated a single minute in his life. One day he did it. He realized he was but a hot air balloon. He was deeply unemotional. He had always had to make up himself.

Lack of ideas

He thought of himself as a writer because he’d written a pair of compositions graded with an “A”. One day his teacher told him to write a short story. Peter took out a sheet of paper and then realized he wouldn’t become a writer. No ideas came to his mind.

Bitter harvest

They had their fields neatly ploughed. They’d used the best seeds. The artichokes were growing well and healthy. One day it snowed. The following morning was even colder and snow turned into ice. Two chilly days had ruined five months’ work. They could only harvest debts, more work and tears.

The kendoist who didn't use to sleep

He had traveled to Madrid and taken part in a long kendo tournament. After that hectic day he hoped he would be able to sleep. He needed to, but again, he spent the whole night with his eyes wide open, completely worn out. Another hard day had begun for him.

The red balloon

Mother and child were walking happily. He was proud of the floating red balloon tied to the string. A tramp came towards them. When he was beside the child, the man approached his cigarette and the balloon exploded with a bang. His mother, absolutely angered, dried the bitter child’s tears.

The first snowflake ever

It was the first time the child could see the snow. He looked up, raised his arms, opened his hands and a light snowflake touched his palm. The child looked happily at it. Soon, the snowflake started to melt. The child’s tears mixed with what once had been a snowflake.

The date

There she was at ten to eight in the morning, dressed in a black coat and carrying her briefcase. We looked at each other, silently. We wished to say hello but neither of us had dared to. Once again I had had a brief date with my daily stranger.

A bank client

Two policemen entered and took him out of the bank. Whenever somebody took out money from the A.T.M. he was there. Sometimes he was wrapped up with cardboard, or he was curled up in his dirty sleeping-bag. Whenever somebody finished operating he asked for “one euro for a coffee, please”.

The sleeper

She was cycling from her house to her work when she fell off her bike and hit her head on the ground. During the following weeks she used to fall asleep after two or three minutes while having lunch, talking to people, driving, reading...  One day she didn’t awake again.

An experienced pianist

He’d played in the same hotel for 52 years. His fingers ached and he was slow. His shabby tuxedo knew all his melodies by heart. He looked at the staves though could hardly see. The scarce customers looked at each other whenever he played a wrong note on the piano. 

Transparent teacher

He was wandering on a Sunday morning. The park was crowded: children cycling, youths jogging and retired people. He recognized a school boy looking at him and saying nothing. Later he met a known foursome. They stared at him and went past. He was another transparent teacher in the street.

An idle sad look at a small lake

The morning was sunny. Chilly winds tried to cut her face. She looked at the frozen pond. It was an icy mirror. She picked up a pebble and threw it at its surface. The stone slid smoothly as far as a crack. There it fell down into the small lake.

Wrath

His life was a wreck. Everything in it didn’t work. Even his marriage was a mirage. He was full of anger. He had the ability to make the others feel that it was their fault though. His feelings of inferiority made him afraid of people. That is how he felt.

The woman who loved her dog so much.

She had a playful dog. It enjoyed playing with her and also with other dogs. She loved it so much! She only lived for it. She wanted it for herself, so it stopped playing with other dogs and with other people. And eventually it became infinitely unhappy, except with her.

The telephone call

She was the perfect mother. She’d always cared for him and backed him up. She was for him and he was the perfect son. She thought she had an ideal relationship. It was her birthday but the telephone didn’t ring. She felt the most helpless person in the world.

The living moments collector

People said he was the best local sculptor. He only worked with blocks of pure transparent ice in a dim wax candle light. His carvings looked living beings, so real that people could hear them moan with tears of pain when the sun started to melt them in the morning.

Powers of endurance

They’d told her to go to flat 159 in one of those buildings. The elevator didn’t work so she started to climb the stairs. Many times she was on the verge of giving up her climbing. After long time and effort she arrived there, but it was the wrong building.

The worth of a puncture

“Notoril” was the only cure for her illness. Her husband rushed to the pharmacy with the prescription. The laboratories would send the medicine immediately. A courier left the labs towards the chemist’s. On the road his motorbike had a puncture. When the medicine arrived nobody needed it. It was returned.

Motionless

He remained in the middle of nowhere wearing dusty shabby clothes. He was cold. Gusty chilly winds whipped his face. A raven started to peck his eye but he couldn’t get rid of it. Later, a fox tore his feet with extreme cruelty. He had turned into a useless scarecrow.

Darkness

There was only complete darkness around him. He felt hot and began to pant. He tried to raise his hands and felt a hard lid ten centimeters above his lying body. He understood he was in a coffin, buried and ready to die in a few hours, full of desperation.

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.

Deadly notebook

Goya was walking home from school when she saw a book on the ground. She used it as her diary that night. She wrote the names of some schoolmates who used to bully her. The next morning she found those boys had not gone to school because they had died. 

The schoolboy

He was at breaktime feeling his hurting loneliness amongst those noisy boys. Then he picked up a stone from the playground. He threw it high into the air. Three seconds later he heard a loud cry and saw a boy bleeding on the head. He felt guilty, alone and wicked.

Children's games

Tommy climbed up the ruined house and saw him asleep on the ground floor. Tommy seized a large brick from the wall and threw it down on him, listening to the deafening noise. Some blood splashed onto the floor. Eventually Tommy hurried down to watch the smashed little black kitten.

Thanksgiving moment

The sun was shining and the water was warm and calm. There was the exact wind for a good windsurf. Everything was going perfectly and that day he had not fallen into the water. The shark came from under the board, its jaws wide open. It thanked god for its food.

An irresistible woman

She had won the beauty contest and was crying of happiness. She thought she was a winner with the world at her feet. She had such an irresistible body that many people envied her. Nevertheless, two minutes after her coronation, a warm quiet long stinking fart announced her irresistible diarrhea.

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.

Genetics rules

Being only 28 years old, he was a general, had a Ph.D in Computers, and in Physics. He could speak five languages at least. He offered guidance to troops, house builders, food factories and high speed train engineers. Nevertheless, he couldn't control the weather, unlike his father. A Supreme Leader.

Waiting for fate

The girl said she was going to come back. The boy promised to wait. He sat on the dock and waited. One day while he was waiting he noticed another girl sitting and looking out to sea. “Are you waiting, too?” he asked. “Not anymore”, she said. They both smiled.

The Uncomprehended General

He rode invincible on his horse conquering country after country. He wanted to be known as the European monarchs terminator. He’d bring more freedom  to people. People would love him and he’d be the emperor. His dreams collapsed in Europe’s edges, Russia and Spain. Those peoples have always detested invaders.

Intelligent War

The two Confederations sent their armies to the battlefield. The most powerful two intelligent war machines met on top of the hill. The North Confederation soldier scanned and analyzed the power of destruction of the other soldier. After forty seconds, it understood they wouldn’t succeed. The North Confederation gave up.

The Student

The boy who lived in the countryside came home from university. He wanted to give his parents a big surprise. At the door, he found his family cold and cheerless. To support him with his studies, his parents sold all their cattle and led a very poor and simple life.

The Happiest Day in My Life

This happened when I was 10. Coming home, I saw mum embracing a man, crying. I was angry, I thought he made her sad. Surprisingly, they clasped me. "Honey, this is your dad returning from the front," mum cried, but those were happy tears. We have had much laughter afterwards. 

The Kiss

It's my worst nightmare come true. Looking into those grey, cloudy eyes. That horrible hairy chin. Almost bald on the head with a few very grey, straggly hairs. Round, shiny nose as greasy as a chip pan. Its horrible, wrinkly lips smacking together . . .I have to kiss my grandfather.