Written at Civitella, May/June 2008

DEJA VU

1

The young couple is visiting the Amusement Park. She wants to get into the Space Vehicle, a dark roller coaster that goes through the interstellar void at tremendous speed. He does not want to, he´s afraid. They quarrel and she goes in on her own. Humiliated, he feels that this woman turns his life into a permanent fright, and wishes intensely for her to leave him. When the woman returns, he looks at her with anger and remains speechless. She says, surprised, that she has the absurd feeling of having experienced that moment already, in all its facets. From then on, inexplicably, her keenness for the adrenalin of adventure is substituted by a costly liking for stone jewelry. They get on much better.

2

The cave is deep and sombre, said to be the habitation of the dead. He wants to get in. She is frightened. They quarrel and he goes down on his own. He is still a long way from the bottom when he realizes that too much time has elapsed and that perhaps dangerous animals are prowling around the cave´s entrance. He returns to find the woman, but he wishes intensely to replace her by another woman. When he gets out, he looks at her with anger, and remains speechless. She says, surprised, that she has the absurd feeling of having experienced that moment already, and that she is no longer frightened. She descends with him to the very entrails of the cave. From then on, inexplicably, she stops adorning herself with multicoloured stones, and becomes keen on riding pterodactyls in the night. They get on much better.

(Translated from the Spanish by Daniel Waissbein.)