Mothers and Dogs by Fabio Morábito

Author:Fabio Morábito [Morábito, Fabio]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2023-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

at the regional bus stop

From the taxi that stopped on the highway at the regional bus stop, a man emerged wearing a corduroy jacket. When the taxi pulled away he saw a man with a Gladstone, a doctor’s bag, across the road waiting for the bus traveling from the valley to the mountains. The heat was intense. The man in the corduroy jacket carried a little black umbrella, which he opened to protect himself from the sun. The other put his bag on the ground, sat on it turning his back to the sun, and covered his head with a handkerchief. They looked at each other briefly. They were alone, separated by the asphalt road, waiting for buses going in opposite directions.

The one in the corduroy jacket, sheltered by his umbrella, lit a cigarette. Minutes later, at the far end of the straightaway, the bus heading to the mountains appeared, the one the man with the Gladstone was waiting for, but he couldn’t see it because he was sitting with his back to the valley. The bus was approaching the stop, and despite the noise of the engine, the one with the Gladstone didn’t seem to notice it. The guy in the corduroy jacket cried, “Hey, your bus!”

But the other didn’t flinch.

“Hey!” the one with the corduroy jacket repeated more loudly. The bus drove by and the man with the Gladstone, seeing it pass right beside him, got up and ran to catch it, only to watch it disappear around the curve. He remained motionless for a few seconds, then he turned his head toward the man with the corduroy jacket, who shook his head in a clear gesture of reproach. Responding to this gesture, the man with the Gladstone raised a finger to his ear and after that to his mouth and, crossing both fingers, closed them, to indicate that he was unable to hear or speak. Then he sat on his bag, this time facing the plain, and covered his head with the handkerchief again. Twenty minutes later another bus heading to the mountains appeared at the far end of the straightaway. It was coming closer, but the deaf man gave no sign of moving. The one in the corduroy jacket saw the handkerchief on the ground and realized that the man had fallen asleep. He shouted to get his attention, but then remembered that he was deaf. He looked for an appropriate-size rock, picked it up, and threw it, but missed. The bus slowed down a few meters from the stop and, not receiving any signal from the man with the Gladstone to stop, it accelerated again and was lost from sight behind the curve. The one with the corduroy jacket looked for a bigger rock, found one, and this time hit the other man’s leg. The deaf man leapt to his feet; he looked at the one in the corduroy jacket, who had stooped over to grab another rock, and he also stooped down, using his bag for cover.

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