Triunfo Arciniegas / Aguas profundas

Triunfo Arciniegas

AGUAS PROFUNDAS

Dicen cosas siniestras del hombre que lee en la mesa del fondo mientras se enfría el café. Dicen que vive en aguas profundas. Que las mujeres desaparecen en sus entrañas. Me pregunto cómo lo saben si el hombre no determina a nadie. Fuma con la brasa dentro de la boca y se rasca sin pudor donde sea, viene y se va sin avisar, cuando le da la gana, como si el resto del mundo no existiera. Huele a eucalipto. Apenas percibo el olor, uno o dos minutos antes de su entrada, preparo el café tal como le gusta, cargado y sin azúcar, aunque apenas lo prueba. Nunca agradece el servicio. No me importan sus modales ni su biografía porque deja generosas propinas. En realidad, no hay altanería en sus gestos, como podría pensarse. Sus suaves ademanes pretenden el olvido. El olor se desvanece en dos o tres horas. Arrojo el café al lavaplatos, cuelgo aparte el pocillo y luego barro las escamas alrededor de la silla.

DEEP WATER

By Triunfo Arciniegas

Translated by Verónica Arciniegas

with the collaboration of Anabel Torres

 

They say sinister things about the man reading at the table in the back while his coffee cools down. They say he lives in deep water. That women disappear into his entrails. He smokes with the embers inside his mouth and scratches himself unabashedly anywhere, he comes and goes without saying hello, when he pleases, as if the rest of the world did not exist. He smells like eucalyptus. As soon as I perceive his smell, one or two minutes before he comes in, I make coffee the way he likes it, strong and bitter, but he hardly tastes it. He never thanks me for the service. I do not mind his manners or his life history because he leaves generous tips. In fact, contrary to what one might think, there is no arrogance in his gestures. His gentle manners beg to go unnoticed. His smell fades in two to three hours. I throw the coffee into the sink and the tobacco ashes into the garbage, set his cup aside and then sweep the scales around his chair.

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