Then I would try to remember what I was thinking when it happened. First he thought about whether he had bought everything or if there was something he had forgotten.. Then he went down the list. He didn't want to make a mistake because it was the second time he went to the supermarket that day and he didn't want to have to do it again.. It's not that he thought it likely that the police would stop him, But he didn't like tempting fate either.. Just in case. He thought, I would remember that, that he had left the washing machine on and that as soon as he got home, I would have to hang the clothes. Had you removed the spin?, it was said. It wasn't that serious either.. In principle, I didn't think it would take so long, although the checkout line was a little slow. For some reason, They had left a single cashier in charge of charging all customers, which was undoubtedly delaying the service. Almost immediately, He thought that finally some sun had come out and then he began to imagine what a shame he couldn't go out into the field., and for a moment he saw himself walking among the pines and, suddenly, he had already forgotten where he was, what made me later forget (or I thought I had forgotten, memory things are like that) What the hell was I thinking when it happened?.
At first, He didn't even realize they were addressing him.. The words became clear in his mind little by little.. First, understood a single syllable. Later, some complete sentence. What was he talking about? In the end, as he came back from those thoughts that he would later forget and that he would no longer remember when he reviewed the scene, was understanding the meaning of the message. The man complained that people did not respect the safety distance, that's for sure. The guy was pushing a half-full car.. He wore a mask on his face and his hands were wearing latex gloves.. Jeans, plain red sweater, the milky face from the lack of sun, but weathered by age, He had the look of someone who feels he is the center of the world. It was there, when you looked into his eyes, when he understood. The man's complaint was not directed at a general context, as i had thought. I was talking about him. In fact, was addressing him directly. The awareness of this brought him abruptly back to reality..
First he tried to apologize. Mire, I was distracted for a moment, it was not my intention. Yeah, Yeah, the guy said. And then he started with if he wasn't aware of what was happening, what if I wasn't careful, What if everyone did the same thing... Trying not to lose your cool, He wanted to make the man see that he also knew the rules and that he respected them., but it had been a simple oversight, that he was thinking about something else and had gotten distracted. That happens to anyone, told him. And the other one that doesn't happen to anyone, What were the marks on the ground for?, What if I hadn't seen them?, What if it was believed that they had been used as decoration?, to make beautiful. So, he was warming up, Not so much because of what the man was telling him., nor by the demand to maintain the appropriate distance between them (that he respected to the letter every day because there was no one who cared so much, not just get infected, but infect others), but because, suddenly, he realized that whatever he said, nothing was going to change her aggressive attitude towards him.
And how could he have convinced himself of the innocence and chance of his approach?, of the absurdity and gratuitousness of that discussion whose tone was unnecessarily elevated to those who did not want to be convinced in any way.? Why, looking at those burning eyes, He understood that it was not about admonishing him for not having kept the happy distance.. It was about reprimanding him for the intimate pleasure of humiliating him in public.. That man did not want reparations, because it was completely impossible to repair what had already been done, in this case. I didn't want an apology either.. I had given it to him and he had not wanted to accept it.. He hesitated, even, that I had even listened to her. And of course, which I was in no way willing to do, so they killed him, was to put a little common sense in all that. Had he never been distracted?? Did you know for a fact that you never, never, at no time, for a split second he had approached another person inappropriately, by mistake? But that wasn't the important thing, of course not. The important thing was to exercise the power I believed I had over him.. Relying on all the maudlin arguments that television had offered him and that he had learned by heart, loaded with an absurd sense of right that was nothing more than the expression of his own foolishness, the guy reveled in the pleasure of believing himself above him. That's why he didn't stop insulting him until he left the store.. After a while, He no longer remembered what the reason for the dispute was.. I just pointed my finger at him and told him he was rude. (rude?, because?), Yes, the country was not going anywhere with people like him., what had he believed. He felt that, if he hadn't made the effort to calm his temper, the thing would have ended badly.
But the worst of all, What really made him feel outraged was that none of the customers around him said anything.. It was more than likely that many of them had not witnessed the scene that gave rise to the fight., but, even so, they could have interceded, it was said. Not to defend him, Of course. For simple ethics. And the reader may now think that perhaps the protagonist of this story was wrong.. How did he know the other customers were on his side?? pure intuition. I saw it in their disgusted faces., in that repressed gesture from which you wish to intervene. But, above all, He knew it because of what that woman said to him when it was all over.. “People are very crazy.”
It only compensated him that when that madman left the supermarket (still shouting), stepped in a puddle and slipped, falling to the ground as long and big as it was and throwing the purchase into the air that, finally, was scattered on the ground. And what satisfied him most was that no one helped the guy in that situation.. divine justice, it was said. Yeah, that would have been nice, if it weren't for the fact that in reality it has only been a relief that the author of this story offers you to feel, for a moment, more comforted with the world. No, The uncle left so casually and our protagonist went home ruminating about a thousand forms of revenge that he could never accomplish.. GERARDO LEON
