SAILING

That night, during the early morning hours, he realized that he had fallen asleep on the made-up bed. The light of a candle placed on the bureau, which carried the image of Saint John the Baptist, dimly illuminated the chamber while the wax languished almost at the level of the glass. In the same way, on the foot of the bed lay a half-closed book that he had left “half”, before surrendering to his dreams. His eyesight no longer allowed him to read late at night, while his bodily fatigue from so many years of work prevented him from standing up comfortably at night.

Still, I read what I could. Like all bad merchants, he was a sentimentalist, which allowed him to keep countless old watch pieces for decades, from when his father and his father's father were still alive. Similarly, he had some convenient gadgets that he used to repair specimens at his market stall. However, year after year, due to “modernization”, he witnessed clients lose interest in his services; Gradually, the conjunction of adjectives like “digital” or “intelligent” placed before nouns like “watch” and “phone” began to shock him.

He frowned every time his grandchildren tried to teach him how to use technology. His rejection of the news prevented him from keeping up with the latest news, and as one of those few who still bought the newspaper, he constantly chafed when he noticed that the spelling filters weren't as rigorous as before. When he finished reading them, he used the pages that he found least interesting or the ones he considered insulting, depending on his political ideology, and covered valuable and delicate objects that he had inherited. He hid them like a treasure inside some boxes that he hid inside the lower drawers of the cabinet with cabinets, the one that remained intact in a house older than him. Especially, he thought about those trifles during his subsequent journey to the kitchen. Like a jungle journey, she felt vulnerable to the darkness of the corridor, which always remained this way, since there were no bulbs in the rooms.

Upon arrival, he poured himself a glass of water and placed the candle in the center of the living room table. He sat in silence for a few minutes and leaning back, he remembered the time he visited his son in his apartment in the capital, when he had to stretch his legs to eat due to the height of the bar. There, he thought about how the architecture of the new spaces has displaced the old people: “they are no longer designed for the family,” he said aloud, knowing that no one else was listening to his words. When he returned to his room, he unmade the bed and lay down. Prostrated, he extinguished the candle and placed, perhaps without realizing it, the image of the saint facing the wall. After this, he crossed himself and sighed with his eyes open, and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes until he fell completely asleep, unaware that this had been the last night of his life.