-The road!
He said while laughing euphoric and without losing his rhythm kept pace, that dark line began to look green and high.
-Go! –Thought. -It looks like a forest, at least it seems to me a better place to die than this fucking desert of Burgos.
When the Sun barely touched its nest on the horizon, it reached the first traces of a path that between grasses went to the forest, turned to see the path traveled and raised a hand as if saying goodbye, mocking that desert that had not been able to overcome it, and walked towards those large trees that looked like a wall, the Sun had already been lost in the west and took advantage of its last flashes to orient himself, surprised by the presence of those leafy trees that he had never seen in that region, despite having been working in the area for several years, I thought as I went along.
I thought as I went along.
-A forest in Northern Mexico? Let them poach me if there are forests somewhere on the Texas border! I am beginning to believe that I made the wrong cardinal point and walked south, but even so it is not possible, this forest would have to exist in the Sierra Madre Oriental, maybe on the limits of Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí and if so, I would have had to travel at least 600 kilometers in the 20-odd hours I have been walking, impossible even for the best of horses, besides; Where is the sierra or at least the mountains? Seeing more closely those trees that seemed to accommodate themselves so as not to let him pass, he sketched his usual half-smile, and with his axe in hand he made his way through the undergrowth, tired and hungry, he thought:
"This is more deserted than my stomach.
And he went into that imposing forest, the high crowns and the prevailing gloom did not allow him to see a little piece of heaven, his stomach demanded food and his blisters already laughed out loud, his hand hurt terribly as he walked deeper and deeper into that gloomy and dark landscape, in the distance between the trees he began to perceive a slight hiss that step by step became a hubbub, until he heard the exact tone of the music that the stones play when they are caressed by the waters of a river, he hastened his pace excitedly at the possibility of at least finding water, to quench his thirst in that mysterious lost forest where nothing was heard, neither the song of crickets nor the croaking of frogs, the sound of water running along the bed of a river, It seemed to him the most beautiful classical music played by the best orchestra in the world, which perfectly set the musical background of that adventure, which several times he thought it would be the last of his life, the smell of fresh water burst into his nose and his thirsty eyes moistened with emotion, seeing a small stream passing through the trunks of those large trees about 20 meters away, the running water resembled a dance of silver chains illuminated by the rays of the Moon, who sneaked through the treetops and ran, no longer caring about losing the managed rhythm he had maintained all day, although he never arrived Where he expected he had found water, in his uncontrolled race he stumbled when he tripped over something but skillfully recomposed his step, finally reaching that stream.
He drank and washed his face, soaking the burnt back of his left hand, poured water on his shoulders and chest, which had it not been for the cold of the breeze that moved between the trees, he would have gladly taken a bath right there, carefully took off his boots to give an undeserved bath to his To his mocking blisters, although the water was cold, the caress he gave to his feet seemed thermal, while he lay on a flat stone of the river that looked like a couch, a slight drowsiness began to invade him and he reacted by scrutinizing around him as if looking for a shelter, a cave or something that would protect him from the cold breeze that penetrated more and more, He stood barefoot, searching in the dark without seeing beyond 3 meters, searched the slope of his neck for his cell phone and He turned it on, the weak light that came out of the digital screen, was very useful in that almost total darkness, helping him to illuminate his surroundings and walking slowly he found a large ball on the ground, like a large round stone that something or someone had moved from its place, being alert he moved it a little with his bare foot, Regretting having done so, since he remembered that he was not wearing his safety boots, he moved it with his hand while still illuminating it with the cell phone, As if waiting for some animal or something to come out from under that strange round stone that did not seem so heavy, nothing happened and he took it in his hands, weighed about 5 kilos, carried it with the help of his abdomen and his right arm, studied it, illuminated it.
-Well... If you didn't look like a basketball, I'd swear you're a watermelon; Round but finally watermelon!
He said to himself as if talking to the thing, with it between belly and chest, turned off the cell phone and putting it in the pocket of the overalls, went to the most illuminated part of that area, the bank of the stream where the silver chains continued to execute their beautiful dance, sat on the divan stone and took out of its case the folding knife 07, to carefully cut a crude triangle of that strange greenish ball and sniffed it; If it was a watermelon! Round but at last watermelon, Sketching his usual half-smile he began to slice and devour it.
-Chin! –Thought. "How gladly I would exchange my axe for a spoon, but no way.
And when at last he finished a little more than half of that round watermelon, he placed it on the side of the divan stone and lay down, he found that improvised natural lounge chair so comfortable, that if it had not been for the cold breeze that ran between the trees, he would have fallen asleep right there.
"Fucking Cold! I will have to find a place to spend the night, I gladly stayed to sleep right here on this comfortable stone but I will do something better.
And seeing that the divan stone was surrounded by several stones of various sizes and shapes, he set out to accommodate them as a shelter forming walls, thus building a small fortress that would protect him from the cold of the early morning, the divan stone now remained of wall and taking a piece of trunk that he found there, She wrapped it in her black T-shirt as a pillow, and prepared to rest.
But as he knew that he was out in the open despite his small strength, he would try not to sleep deeply and be alert to any event, he no longer felt the cold caress of the forest breeze and felt so tired that he did not want to make fire, he also considered that it was better not to be seen in that unexpected and unknown place, as I had the feeling of having crossed the border with the United States and he feared meeting the minute-man, who at the beginning of the twenty-first century were groups of unscrupulous hunters, who were dedicated to shooting the undocumented of the southern border area of the United States, so any contact with people from Texas preferred to have him during the day, when it would be easier to explain his presence in those lands, Between thinking, smoking and dozing, he arranged his things inside the shelter, with the axe in his hand and the knife in his waist also Also ready to be used, she closed her eyes trying to rest but not sleeping soundly, when suddenly she heard an angelic voice coming from somewhere in the forest telling her.
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With a quick movement he got down on his knees trying not to make noise and not to throw away his precarious shelter, brandished the axe, peeked out carefully and went out looking in the dark for the author of that mysterious voice searching in the dark for the author of that mysterious voice that seemed to come from everywhere, pulling him out of his sleepy state at a stroke.
-Who is it? Who's there? He asked aloud. -Any body is there?
He asked again in English thinking that some gringo or gringa, walked around, waited in silence for a few minutes without moving, without hearing any sound other than the music of the river, crouched between the stones scrutinizing around him, after a while fatigue began to sing in his ear to lull him and he lay down trying to remain alert, trying with all his strength not to fall asleep, a useless effort, since he did not realize when he fell into the arms of Morpheus.