The Guest
Published in Issue #13 Translated from Spanish by Andrea G. Labinger subscribe to unlock the full storyIntuition or luck? The opportunity was in his hands and he knew how to seize it.
The fact is that he guessed someone like my grandfather could only react as he did.
In a God-fearing man, one respectful of Mosaic Law, the sense of tradition prevails even above feelings.
He may not have been rich, but every year when the Pesach festivities rolled around, he would conduct his Seder surrounded by his family like a king.
Elegant in his dark suit, with a gold chain draped across his chest, he sits in an armchair at the head of the table as if it were a throne, his head resting on a cushion designed especially for that day, a cushion on which the Star of David, delicately embroidered, stands out against a blue velvet background.
At the other end of the table, wearing an expression that betrays the fatigue resulting from the turmoil of several days’ preparation, sits his wife, wearing a soft, black silk dress. She has chosen the correct place, opposite her husband and close to the door, because throughout the course of the evening she will make many visits to the kitchen, hurriedly transporting bowls and trays laden with steaming mounds of delicacies. Comings and goings that will leave damp little tracks on the skin of her décolleté and accentuate the tense furrows beneath the rice powder with which her daughter has tried to conceal the intense redness of her mother’s cheeks. The three older sons will occupy their customary seats, accompanied by their...
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