Minutes Do Count

She wasn't ready. Neither of them.

They rehearsed individually since childhood. They went mad, they cross-dressed and exchanged basic roles. Mothers ruled the streets, fathers ruled the households. She dressed up like her father, wearing ties, suites and a dark moustache. He dressed up like his mother, wearing high heels, earrings and lipstick. They assumed their place and stole the other's life, making it their own. Their lives parted ways years later, but none of them was ready. The playhouse turned into a huge house made of stone. The toys were objects left for the poor ones in a faraway continent. Life multiplied in terms of periods of maturity, going-to-hell, love and sex. Meantime, them as many others, got stuck in the middle of cross-dressing on the playground to imitate life. The clock never stopped ticking.

Rites

There she was, pointing at him with her finger.

Sounds were fading; the light was getting brighter and her mouth, her lips moved at a snail pace. He saw her from a certain height, looking her in the eyes. He tried to touch her hand; she refused and laid her hand down to rest. She wasn’t pointing any more. Her eyes were closing, her head moving softly to the right. He sat down next to her, and kissed her. It was as if she came back to life for seconds. Light wasn’t as bright as her look, and she pointed again, one last time. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Time stopped. Bleeding enemies forgave each other in the anteroom of death. The clock continued ticking, and she was taken away. He still hears the never-fading sounds of a brighter light.

Eleventh

The sun bathed the edge of the untidy bed. The night before, the sheets revolted against the tyranny of their bodies in their eleventh attempt to make love. He touched her back, drawing the path to eroticism and stimulation through the spine. She didn’t shiver, she didn’t say a word. She drowned her face under the pillows. They longed for the war to end as soon as possible, but hope rose higher and both of them fell on the mattress. The sun came up to show two bodies facing different angles, with an empty space in between.

Words don’t mean that much.