cuentos de barro - DSpace Universidad Don Bosco

Pero, un día, Macario no regresó del
Lempa. Vendió su carga y sejue dejando
en la montaña a la Tina y al cipote, al
compa y a su hermana. Se jué con la
Cholita, una brusquita de trece años.
Llevaba pisto en puerca y la llevó al
Salvador, onde decían quera alegre con
ganas y galán de vivir.
Allí se lió a puñaladas con un chofer;
y fue a parar a la península204 , con tres
años encima.
* * *
En el tranquil de la celda, en el friyo
de la madrugada, soñaba a veces con
su casa en la montaña; oiba clarito el
“¡Jrum... Jrum... Jrum...!” de la sierra; el
grito de las loras; el crujido de las ramas
y el “tak, tak,” de los chejes llamando a la
puerta de una casita, cerradita y llena
de amor como su corazón arrepentido.
Sentía mesmamente el olor del aserrín
de cedro: un olor que le hacía llorar por
la Tina y el cipote.
Cuando despertaba y se veiya en la
escurana de la cárcel, continuaba
llorando y se arrodillaba para pedir al
Señor su libertad. Dos años le faltaban,
¡dos años!... Cada vez que pasaba por
la carpintería del plantel, se robaba
una puñada de serrín de cedro: y por
la noche se estaba en su celda oliendo,
oliendo...
203. The peasant’s knowledge of the proper name for San Salvador.
204. Cárcel, penitenciaría.
116
But one day Macario did not return
from the Lempa. He sold his shipment
and took off. He left Tina, his child,
his compadre and his sister alone in
the mountain. He left with Cholita, a
thirteen year old floozy. He had tons of
money and he took her to Salvador, 203
where people said it was a happy place
and it was a nice place to live.
There he got into a fight with a driver
and stabbed him. He ended up in jail
for three years.
* * *
In the silence of his cell, in the cold of
the morning, he dreamed sometimes
of his house in the mountain. He clearly
heard the vroom of the chainsaw, the
scream of the parrots, the creak of
the branches and the “tap tap” of the
woodpeckers knocking at the door of a
little house that was locked and full of
love, like his repentant heart. He could
truly smell the aroma of the cedar
sawdust: a smell that made him cry for
Tina and for his child.
When he woke up and he found
himself still in the darkness of the jail,
he continued to cry and he knelt down
to ask the Lord for his freedom. Two
more years to go, two more! Everytime
he walked by the carpenter’s shop of
the prison he stole a handful of cedar
sawdust. At night, he stayed in his cell
sniffing, sniffing…