El pasado mes de noviembre estuve impartiendo en la Universidad de Orivesi (Finlandia) un taller sobre personajes literarios.
Uno de los ejercicios consistía en leer el primer capitulo de mi novela "La isla de la última verdad" e inventarles vidas anteriores o posteriores a cualesquiera de los personajes que formaran parte de ese fragmento.
La alumna Tuuli Hostikka escribió un texto realmente curioso, que ha tenido la amabilidad de cederme para su publicación en este blog:
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The Truth
My
mom’s coffin is in the ground. I cry silently. With my mom died the truth about
my father. Like with my father died some kind of truth about me. Now I’m an orphan.
I
saw my mother’s body when coffin was still open. Body did look like her, but it
was just empty shell of a human. Home, when residents had gone. I can’t see any
point of standing next to her grave, but there are lots of people wearing black
behind me, and I don’t want to turn around. I hear Martin sniveling and getting
closer to my back. I can smell Amy´s perfume before her soft hand pets my cheek
and Martins hand touches my elbow at same time.
-
Honey, Amy whispers and steps next to me.
-Are
you okay?
-
Don’t know, I answer to her and I really don’t know if I am or if I am not okay.
I
think Martin can see it from my face and he takes my hand to his hand and he leads
me through crowd. Amy follows us and her high heels are making loud noises.
People’s heads are turning and I can see dozens of eyes looking at me. I can recognize only some of them. They all have certain
look in their faces. There is pity in their eyes and some kind of sick joy in
their hearts.
Martin
leads me in a pub nearby cemetery. When Martin opens the door, little bell
start jingling above it. Pub is small and dark. There is only five tables, one
in every corner and one middle of the floor. Counter opposite of door is very
high and there is a bowl full of dusty peanuts on it. Waitress in a pub looks
like dead herself, but sells us tree beers. Immediately
when she gives Martins change back she vanishes at kitchens side. In a pub
there is also one of my mom’s other old friend. I think his name was Ian and
something about castles. He is staring in his pint and there is pool of tears
on a table next to big envelope. When he sees us, he is trying to smile, but
fails, and his facial expression turns to sneer. We go and sit to his table in
a corner. There are no chairs, only long benches go around large wooden table.
There is so cold, that I don’t want to take my jacket off. Amy puts her hand to
Ian´s leg and tries to comfort him. For a moment we all are quiet. There is no
music in a bar, so you can only hear pints clanking towards the table. Then
Martin talks to me:
-
Do you know how your parents met?
For
a moment I forget to breathe, because I get so excited. I have waited so long
to hear the truth. Could it be that these three my mother’s friends would know something?
And why they are telling it me now? Even when my mom knew she was dying she
didn’t tell who my father was.
Ian
lifts his head and now he looks like he is smiling a little.
-
It is actually pretty funny story. I was there too. It was Martins party, and
everyone was there. What were we even celebrating Martin?
Martin
shakes his head and says that he don’t remember either. He says that night was
too weir itself.
-
We were celebrating your promotion from Assistant Dean to Dean!
Amy
gets intervene to the conversation. She looks like she is also exited from the
story now.
-
There were very strange atmosphere in our house that night. It started when
your father showed up.
I
try to ask who he was, but Martin hush me right away when I open my mouth. Amy
continues the story.
-
We had many candles in a coffee table and those were blown off all the time.
Even ceiling light was blinking.
-It
was like ghost were fighting, Martin laughs.
I
stare at pub´s floor while listening. It’s made of little black and white
squares and it looks like a chessboard.
-
Anyway, Ian start talking, your mom came with her husband John. John was wasted
and cried all evening. He locked himself to downstairs bathroom and everyone
had to go to upstairs to use toilet. And, Amy you don’t know this yet, but some
of the male guests peed in your flowerpots.
-
What? I wondered why those flowers died after the parties. I really did blame
some ghosts.
All
three of them start laughing. I don’t want to ruin their moment, but I really
want to already hear something about my dad. And my mom too, I really miss her
already. My eyes move from floor to tabletop. There is some scratches and old cigarettemarks
on it. Someone has scraped there letter P and M and little heart in the middle
of letters. I am pushing top of my little finger`s nail in letter P and
thinking how that couple met and what did they look like. Ian looks at me and I thing he notices that I
don’t have such fun time as they do.
-
Yes, your mother. Oh, she was a beauty back then, like you are now, Penelope.
You look just like your mother. But you are tall and thin, like your father
was. Anyway, back to the story. Your mother nearly cried also when they came.
She was so frustrated to John. But the moment she saw your dad, Dr. Prendel, I
mean Mathew, she started smiling. I was so jealous. I had loved your mother
since high school. And then I understood that Effy stood right next to me and
she had seen the same vision as me. Effy was in love to your mother`s husband
and that’s why she pandered your mom and your dad together right away. In that
point when, your mother and father were getting know each other’s, I did took
some random women with me and left from the party. I was heartbroken.
-
Ha, that “random women” were my cousin and she was heartbroken also after that
night. because of you. I didn’t know that bastard who took my cousins heart was
my own friend. I blamed that weird guy, Mathew’s friend, Bob or whatever.
I
really don’t feel like listening old peoples fighting about old matters. I
notice deer´s head on a bright red wall behind the counter. Deer´s glass eyes
are staring to the door so hard that it seems to be important guest who it is
waiting for. Amy notices that I’m not listening their party stories, and she
looks ashamed.
-
There is still information left about your father. He was also something else
but a regular tall man in party with your mom. He was shipwrecked captain of
yacht called Queen.
-
He was a sailor? I have wondered why I always loved the sea.
I
feel wistful and solid at the same time. It’s like someone is giving me
something important I had lost and didn’t even know it did exist.
-
Yes your father loved the sea, but there is something else. No-one knows what
happened to him in that shipwreck in coast of Africa, but it was something
terrible. You father was weird sometimes. Martin continues his wife’s matter,
and he looks like he is thinking hard.
Suddenly
Ian looks sad again. He takes a big envelope from the table to his hand.
-You
mother loved your father. That’s why she didn’t tell him that he is going to be
a father. He would have died so sad if he had known. Being a father was only
thing he ever really wanted. And for you she didn’t tell about him, because she
left you this.
Ian
takes bundle of papers out from the envelope.
-
Here is everything about your dad, about the shipwreck. Your mother just didn’t
want that you start hating him because of the truth. She knew that truth is
most important to you, but it is always just black and white. Truth is flat; it
doesn’t count feelings in it. She wanted that you could imagine a father just
like you would have wanted him to be. She wanted you to have good childhood,
and worry later. I think now it is time to worry. You can read this, it is
yours.
I
take bundle of papers from Ian´s hand and put it back to envelope. Truth can
still wait. It is important that truth exist. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter.
Eduardo Ibáñez es el primero por la izquierda. 
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