Wait
All the hours that remained to be lived
Wait
Why are you leaving, Jose Luis Perales.
The whole house looked different, there was a festive atmosphere of unusual happiness.
The large room that had always remained closed and was forbidden for my childhood games was now open and in it was the display of the gifts for the future couple.
That large living room contained very precious family relics, Chinese vases, ivory figurines, a huge radio with shelves that housed the record collection, a mahogany display case with crystal ornaments that were, over many years, acquired one by one by my mother, that room now had its doors open. Everything that was inside the living room had its own story of where they had been acquired, many of them were a kind of reward that my mother received after some fight with my father and that she told almost as if it were a great feat, with great satisfaction. The living room was subordinate to the large fireplace, enormous, with a glass mirror on top that shined clean, illuminated by a crystal chandelier, a purely decorative fireplace that wants to incorporate us into scenarios that we only have access to through the movies.
I enjoyed the large open living room all day long, where I could now play freely and sit on the Louis XV-style furniture, which this time, finally, showed off its original tapestries without the dull covers they are usually covered with.
At that time, I remember very well, we had two "employees" (the euphemism "boys" was always used): Eusebia and Teodosio, she was the cook, recommended by her godmother Elena and she was of an indecipherable age, she could be in her thirties (or fifties?), with a thick build and a strength that she displayed without vanity when she carried the sacks of rice, very kind and kind although I once heard her arguing with Teodosio in Quechua, her mother tongue. They had their bedrooms on the roof, rooms separated by a bathroom.