Chapter 14.

Showing off

Showing off: deliberate or pretentious display of one’s

abilities or accomplishments. He likes showing off his
courage.

- Get a move on; we have to leave! – Damián said with

bossy voice.

He made it badly because it wasn’t the wake up voice, no,

it wasn’t. I turned over and kept on sleeping.

- Now! – He shouted from the room’s door.

It still wasn’t the wake up voice but sounded like the

yellow guard “Stop” and the fear made me wake up
involuntary. I opened my eyes with difficulty and looked
at him. He was standing at the corridor, looking seriously
at me; I almost felt his arms dragging me to get me up.

I could think that all the night before was a trap; that,
as I had thought for a fleeting moment, the man was not
reliable; that I would give my days a gloomy end. I could,
but the laziness only let me drag to the bathroom to wash
my face. Passing by him I felt the hurry on my nape, but I
neither paid attention.

- Why are you walking so slowly? I told you we left at

twelve o’clock, it’s 11:30 a.m., we have only half an
hour, I do not understand it, I don’t understand it,
and she doesn’t hurry up, and she is so laid-back,
and it’s past 11:30 – Damián repeated with more
desperation than anger.

- Fuck off – I answered showing off my eloquence and I

closed the door.

In the mirror I looked tired, exhausted. The yellow didn’t

suit me; even I noticed some years that I had token off my
birthdays until then with total impunity.

- Bloody uniform – I said dodging the issue.

It really didn’t suit me, but my bad poor condition wasn’t

its fault, I had spent all night dreaming of something
that was rounding in my head and I wasn’t able to
remember.

I woke up as I could and went out with the strength enough

to face my destiny.

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 - It’s 11:53 – Damián told me hinting that it was too
late.

- Ok, well, it isn’t twelve o’clock yet, is it? Then,

go ahead – I said half resigned half threatening.

He looked at me with the yellow guard’s face and took the

bag he had prepared with such interest the night before;
opened the door and signalled me to go out. He closed the
door while talking to himself about the late it was, the
incredible it was that I didn’t wake up before, the
irresponsible of my behaviour and a litany of reproaches
that for few seconds turned his yellow uniform in a shirt,
a polka-dot skirt, and a mourning scarf. Yes, of course,
he had become a telling off old lady.

- What are you doing standing there? Start walking, for

goodness! – He said hysterical.

- You’d better go first, you didn’t tell me where we

are going – I answered ironically.

The telling off old lady wrinkling his statuesque figure

made me smile for first time in that day. I understood it
was not a trap what Damián prepared, it was a victim of
his martial discipline.

The outgoing nature of the tone of my answer took him of

his strict time structure and at the end he went back to
the yellow guard who could smile.

- We are going to the sea – He said with sweet voice,

trying to apologize for his former attitude.

- What do you mean with “the sea”? – I asked surprised.

- We have to go to the sea – He insisted – We will

follow the river.

I actually tried not to think again that his intelligence

was at the level we supposed for the yellow guard; but
following the river to the sea didn’t seem to be a
brilliant plan.

- That’s the way I dreamt it – He added to show me it

was the way it had to be.

I could tell him that dreams weren’t the reflection of the

reality; we had to extract the meaning of the hundreds of
metaphors they hid; but I didn’t, because I had just woken

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up and I didn’t feel like doing it, and because I didn’t
know what he exactly had dreamt of and as I had just woken
up I didn’t feel like hearing about it.

I had never seen the sea; I had never dreamt about it, I
went down the stairs thinking about the mysterious it
concealed that would be my salvation. The sea.

- Sit up straight! Christ! – Damián ordered grabbing me

by the arm and prick his finger with a probably bad
bended staple.