cuentos de barro - DSpace Universidad Don Bosco

y el indio, que vivía solo allí, descolgó
la guitarra, como quien apecha la
tristeza sin temor; y liayudó al cielo a dir
pariendo estrellas en la tarde.
* * *
De allá de la carretera, de bien abajo,
venía cargando con ella. La bían
arronjado diun utomóvil. Él bía visto el
empujón y el barquinazo. Iban todos
bolos y ella lloraba a gritos. Cayó en
pinganiyas, y, dando una güeltereta,
sembró la cara en el lodo y se quedó
aletiando. Él la pepenó127 y, como no
había dónde, se la llevó cargando al
rancho; cuesta arriba, cuesta arriba,
sudoso y enlodado. Ella sangriaba y se
quejaba. Por dos veces la bía apiado
para que arrojara.
Arrojaba un piro128 espumoso y
hediondo y diay se desmayaba.
Entró con ella apenas; la puso en la
cama y empezó a lavarle la cara con un
trapo mojado. A la luz del candil vido,
al ir borrando, que tenía la cara chula.
El pelo lo andaba al jaz de la nuca; era
blanca y suavecita, suavecita como
algodón de ceiba. Cuando abrió los
ojos vido que los tenía prietos y brillosos,
como charcos diagua en noche de
relámpagos.
61
and left. Polo the peasant, who lived by
himself there, took down the guitar like
one who accepts sadness without fear,
and he helped the sky to give birth to
the evening stars.
* * *
He had been carrying her from the road
below over there. They had thrown her
out of their automobile. He seen them
hit her and shove her. She cried loudly.
They were all drunk. Her knees first hit
the road and flipping over. Her face was
sown in the mud and she remained
there, her arms fluttering. He picked her
up, and having nowhere else to take
her, he carried her up hill to his shack,
plodding up hill, sweaty and muddy.
She was bleeding and moaning. He
had to set her down twice so she could
throw up.
She vomited foamy and foul dregs, 129
and then fainted.
He was barely able to carry her any
further as they entered the house. Using
a wet cloth he wiped her face. In the
light of the lantern he saw, as he erased
the dirt, that she had a pretty face. Her
hair was short, just to the base of her
neck. She was white and soft, soft, like
the cotton of a ceiba tree. When she
opened her eyes, he saw that they were
black and shiny, like puddles of water in
a night full of lightning.
127. RAE: pepenar. (Del nahua pepena, escoger, recoger). 1. tr. Am. Cen. y Méx. Recoger del suelo,
rebuscar.
128. Salarrué: desperdicio en la fabricación artesanal de alcohol.
129. Letfovers of moonshine.