a short story....

A few months ago somebody asked me to write this short story… so here it goes… and by the way, I want to thank to all the people that inspire me and get me to write again. It is such a liberating exercise.

It was lunchtime; I came a bit late to the dinner hall. When I crossed the door I scanned the room to check for a free welcoming place for me and I saw this sweet Japanese woman who was doing the same course as me. I targeted the chair in her left side and went to pick some of the magnificent veggie food to later sit in her table.

I said hi and she responded nodding her head. I asked her if I could sit there and she –again- nodded with a sweet smile. I felt welcomed, although there was a funny and at the same time awkward atmosphere around the situation. I attributed it to my Latin-American vibe confronted with her Japanese vibe.

We were both enjoying our meal and those precious free minutes out of the stressful yoga course we were attending. I felt it was my chance to know more about this mysterious and graceful Japanese woman. So I start a small chat. I brought up some questions about things. She always nodded. Always.

After a while, I could hear the dialogue inside my mind: is she really understanding my English? She seems not very interested in my questions. What does that Mona Lisa smile really mean? Should I shout up and just eat? 

But I didn’t loose my faith, I wanted her to engage into some conversation. I find always interesting to meet people from different cultures. I always realize I have this idea of them being totally different to me and later I realize we are humans with more things in common, sometimes just with a different color on our passports.

After almost a half hour of this pin-pon game without challenger my repertory of questions was falling into scarcity. I sort of perceived she was getting a bit annoyed by my curiosity and insistence. But she was all the time giving me this compassionate look. I couldn’t decode the message at all. 

Finally, she laugh. Fine! I made her laugh, I felt so proud of myself. Then she turned towards me and pointed with her gracefull, long and white right index finger the sticker she was wearing over her jacket which said in capital letters:

S I L E N C E

:D