Day: March 3, 2014

9

  By

Nove

First, it was a book, a gift from his grandfather. A book that seemed innocent from the look of that girl who learned to read early. Her grandfather, widowed early, taught her how to locate some place names like Warsaw, Volga or the hidden Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea, always with certain evocations that the girl did not identify clearly at the time. Everything just to help the girl to escape for a while from the sticky, sad and defeated environment in the neighborhood where they lived in shacks, next to the Mediterranean.

The date of death of the poet was clear in the biography that began the poem book. It was the same biography that she found later in other books, a too short biography. However, then, at the age of 15 years, and by chance, the teenager knew that the poet was assassinated by a firing squad out of court. She wanted to believe that there should be someone who remembered more details, who remembered that fact, someone able to give clues to possible avengers, someone who could indicate reliable data about the people who were involved in the death, the murder of the poet.

The second element that pushed Núria to be dropped in revenge started with the noise of a zodiac along the beach, close to the shacks. This noise took the teenager to notice the sea, to witness the wild scene that was about to occur. She sees a woman, several meters away, holding something in her hands. The woman seems to be shrunk. The noise of the zodiac’s engine stops and the lantern, the thing that the woman was holding on her hands, sends out a signal: three light blows.

When all the beach was artificially illuminated by floodlights, Núria heard a noise and automatically threw herself to the ground, an instinct that would save her life in other similar situations. The woman falls to the ground pushed by a rope tied to her hips. The teenager looks astonished to a group of green shades coming from the lights, with machine guns, who are mercilessly killing the surprised people that are getting off the zodiac. Those last minutes still remain in Núria’s memories. And the third element: the garrote where his brother was killed.

9

  By

Nove

O primeiro foi un libro, un agasallo de seu avó, que semellaba inocente dende a mirada daquela nena que aprendera a ler ben cedo e á que aquel home, viúvo tamén de forma temperá, ensinara a localizar, con certas evocacións que a nena non identificaba con claridade naquel tempo, topónimos, lugares como Varsovia, o río Volga ou a península de Crimea acochada no Mar Negro. Todo para que a nena fuxise durante un tempo do ambiente derrotado e triste, pegañento, do barrio de barracas onde vivían, ao carón do Mediterráneo.

A data da morte do poeta era clara na biografía que iniciaba o libro de poemas. Era a mesma biografía que encontrara despois noutros libros, unha biografía demasiado breve. Até que, coa idade de 15 anos, un pouco por casualidade, a adolescente soubo que aquel poeta fora asasinado por un pelotón de fusilamento de xeito extraxudicial. Ela estaba certa de que tiña que haber alguén que lembrase máis detalles, que lembrase aquel feito, que alguén debería estar en disposición de dar pistas a posibles vingadores, que puidese indicar datos fidedignos sobre as persoas que estiveron involucradas na morte, no asasinato do poeta.

O segundo elemento que empurrou a Núria a deixarse caer na vinganza empezou co paso lento dunha zodiac pola praia, preto da barraca, e que levou á adolescente a fixarse no mar, a ser testemuña da escena salvaxe que estaba a piques de producirse. Ve unha muller, a varios metros, que sostén algo entre as mans, semella encollida sobre si mesma. O ruído do motor da zodiac acala e a lanterna, era iso o que soportaba a muller entre as súas mans, emite un sinal composto por tres golpes de luz.

Entón Núria escoita un ruído e tírase ao chan de xeito automático, como se fose a chamada dun instinto que moito despois a sacaría doutras situacións semellantes, cando toda a praia se ilumina de súpeto polo artificio de grandes focos. A muller cae ao chan empurrada polo ímpeto dunha corda que leva atada ao van. A adolescente mira abraiada un grupo de sombras verdes que se achegan dende a liña que forman os focos, con metralletas, e que matan sen piedade ás persoas sorprendidas que baixan da zodiac. Aqueles derradeiros minutos da execución arrástranse pola esfera da memoria de Núria. Iso e o terceiro elemento: o garrote vil en que mataron a seu irmán.