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JUNE 2012 -
SEXY X2
MAGAZINE -
45
ine immigrant, from a very different
culture and, with a little cunning,
she could make him speak and
she would be able to cry uncon-
trollably with a moving true story
from real life.
Unwittingly, and moved only by
her pathological search for tears,
Ethel did what many do in the
city. She was looking at that man
as if he were a circus attraction,
something different and novel with
which she could amuse herself for
a while. Eventually, she would find
out that he was a human being
like any of those who were born in
her city, as any of her friends and
relatives.
She was slowly gaining the con-
fidence of man. He said that his
name was Oscar, and told her
that he had come from a land
where life was almost impossi-
ble. He also told her that he was
coming from a country where he
could not get a job; where crime,
a product of political corruption,
made it increasingly difficult to
go out without being assaulted
and stripped of whatever meager
possessions they have. He spoke
about his wife who had died in
the hospital without being properly
treated due to the shortage of
medicines. He told her about his
seven- year-old son whom he had
left under the care of his mother,
the boy’s grandmother, to emigrate
from his country in search of an
opportunity to get a good job and
better life for himself and his fam-
ily. As the man spoke, Ethel’s eyes
were filled with tears in a different
way from the many times that she
had cried while reading a book.
This time tears were calm, serene
and sad. Each drop had its own
weight, much greater than her
previous tears. It was as if each
tear were full of the memories this
man was disclosing, as if those
reported images could load them
with the pain, the hope, and the
uncertainty of those postcards
which that immigrant was carrying
with him in his memory.
She also knew he was living in a
rented room not far from there. A
room so small that, according to
him, it was impossible to dream
since there was only room for him-
self or his dream. If he dreamed,
both of them would not fit at the
same time in that tiny space.