15 February 2011

BORDERLESS MOTHERS

Photo: Laura Wills D.


By: Sylvia Davila MM
Bogotá

There are all kind of mothers but what makes them recognizable is that deep determination and borderless love when their children need them.


For those that do not know who is Luciano, Luciano is a fish that lives happily in Maria’s room. When he sees her, he swims around his tank. Along with Suko, the dog, and Paco, her boyfriend, Luciano is a happy fish in the hands of a caring girl. Well, he used to be, until Maria went on vacations and left Luciano under the care of her very busy mother, Cecilia.

Eight days after her departure, Maria called her mother. A chat here, a chat there and finally the question dropped: “Mom, have you fed Luciano?” Cecilia lost her breath, turned pale, screamed, and rushed to Maria’s room expecting to find a dead fish. Cause: starvation. In fact, in its tanks, Luciano was still holding his fading strength. Guilt eating her, Cecilia runs back to the phone, confesses her unforgivable oblivion and describes Luciano’s condition. Alarmed, Maria shouts: “Mom, take him to the Vet, NOW!”. And… Cecilia, with that unpredictable and surprising mother’s ability to react, replies: OK!

Next, she dashes to the kitchen, returns and stands before poor dear Luciano, holding a sieve. Out of respect for Luciano, I will not recall the flying sieve, the splasshhhes, the oh-my-gods, the stay-stiiiills, the somebody-help-meeee that took place for twenty minutes until lucid Luciano understood that his fate would be much better in the plastic bag. Although she did consider a hospital and a clinic, Cecilia decided to take Luciano to the pet shop where she had bought it. She took the plastic bag, got into the car and sat Luciano as co-pilot. She rushed across the city but then, I don’t know why under those situations Murphy’s Law is always at hand: A few yards away from her destiny, a traffic light turned red, she uses the brake, the car stops, the bag falls, and there goes Luciano shot out from his seat.

Luciano might be the only fish on Earth that knows the real feeling of an amusement park. He rolled on the seat, jumped over the brake, got lost in the darkness of the back seat, and appeared again on Cecilia's shoes. Background music was provided by the car horns behind her. I don’t know, it might have been love for Maria, or compassion for Luciano, or despair with the the horns, but Cecilia found courage and with her numerous jingling bracelets, she got a hold of him in a single try. Luciano and his nervous breakdown went back to the bag.

In the pet shop he was fed and cared for, calming him downs was not so easy. He knew he had to go back home the same way and with the same driver. 
After all, Maria came back from her vacations and Luciano swims again in his tank. But he is hurt… Now, when Maria enters the room he doesn’t swim around his tank. And…when Cecilia shows up, he just turns upside down and plays dead. /SILVIA DAVILA MORALES/ PHOTO: Laura Wills (c)

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