cuentos de barro - DSpace Universidad Don Bosco

—Por bandidos que son. Les pegué en
la cara y les di de patadas y entonces
me aventaron los malditos...
Polo quería decir algo, quería sacar
ajuera el ñudo que se le bía hecho en la
garganta; pero no salía: era como una
espina de pescado y no salía más que
por los ojos. Ella lo miraba sonriente.
Para animarlo, le dijo:
—¿Qué no me mira que soy «brusca»?
Él no comprendió aquel término
urbano. ¡Ah, si lo hubiera dicho con P,
qué feliz habría sido!
—¡Qué brusca va ser usté!...
Ella respetó aquello que creyó ser una
ilusión de pureza. Él sin duda la tomaba
por niña.
* * *
Se separaron en el crucero de los
caminos. Allá en el plán. Se miraron fijo
un rato, mientras cantaban los pijuyos134 Ella le cogió las manos y se las besó, se le
atrinquetió en el pecho, y ligerito, le dio
un beso en la cara y se alejó renquiando.
63
“Because they’re evil. I slapped them
in the face and kicked them, and then
those assholes threw me out...”
Polo wanted to say something, he
wanted to expell the knot that had
formed in his throat, but it wouldn’t
come out. It was like a fish bone, and
it did not come out other than through
his eyes. Smiling she looked at him, and
to cheer him up she said:
“Don’t you see I am a floozy?”
He did not understand that big city
term. Oh, but had she said the W word,
he would have been happy.
“You ain’t no floozy!”
She respected what seemed to be his
illusion of purity. He, no doubt, was
mistaking her for a virgin.
* * *
They parted over there at the crossroads,
in the plains. They looked at each other
for a moment while the Groove-billed
Anis bird sang. 135 She grabbed his
hands and kissed them. She hugged
him and quickly gave him a kiss on
his face and hobbled away limping.
134. También conocido como garrapatero o pijuy. Probablemente del chorti “tzikbu’ur”
135. This bird gets its name “pijuy” or “pijuyo” in Spanish because its whistle sounds like “pí-huey.”
Wikipedia: “The Groove-billed Ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris, is an odd-looking tropical bird in the cuckoo
family with a long tail and a large, curved beak. It is a resident species throughout most of its range,
from southern Texas and central Mexico through Central America, to northern Colombia and Venezuela,
and coastal Ecuador and Peru. It only retreats from the northern limits of its range in Texas and northern
Mexico during winter.”