The blog version of Give Blood Magazine, est. 1972

Is it me, or is it my vision?

My photo
My first memory is of losing my glasses. Had they not been found, folded carefully on the top edge of the sea wall, where would we be today?

Monday, February 14, 2005

Cuando las abejas van

(Quisiera escribirlo mi cuento de abejas para Dar Sangre. El cuento de la muchacha en mi clase (necessito aprender su nombre) me la recordía de esta historia. Ella nos dijo de un enjambre en la escaparate de la tienda que vio una vez.)

Hace algunos años, cuando vivimos en San Jose, el padre de nuestro vecina Sue murío, muerto a causa su esposa, la madre, una borracha que caido dormido con cigarillo encendido, la casa destruyó, su hermano mato tambien. Cuando ella se regreso de su trabajo, Steve se lo dijo. Sue dejaba sin unica mirada ni palabra a su esposo y venia a nuestro apartamiento. “Tiene algun hierba? Necessito estar alto.”

“Pero lo peor es que ella se aún vivia,” Sue nos dijo con resentimiento amargado antes. “La puta se levantaba y escapaba mientras los varones se ahogan en su hogar. Ella yo odio!”

Aquella noche la miramos Sue bebío todo botelle de ginebra, su furia aumento cada copa. “Mi padre ayude ponerlos astronautos en espacio,” nos dijo. Habia estado un injeniero de NASA. “Mi padre la amaba vida,” ella lamento, “Amaba a criarla.” Él ha estado el presidente de associacion de guardas de abejas del valle de Santa Clara.

“Pero la perra nunca no hizo nada por nadie,” Sue dijo. “Suya hijo. Suya esposo. Hizo nada excepto beber y fumar. Alcoholica estupida! Por me ella sera siempre muerta tambien.”

No bebimos nuestros bebidos. Estas cosas estaban desmiada triste. Solo se lo escuchamos.

Por fin, despues tres o quatro horas el alcohol la pego Sue y su cuerpo desplomo en nuestro sofa. La cubrimos con blanqueta, apagamos su cigarillo y la luz. Sue empezaba a roncar.

A la mañana el sol se vuelto con luz claro pero sin razón. Sue aún dormía cuando miramos afuera a su apartamiento vecinado. Como todos ha tenido entarimado con corredera de vidrio. Aquella mañana tuvo abejas tambien.

Nunca habia visto un enjambre antes de vez, entonces no lo reconocí de presto. Milles de insectas voliaron en aire acerca el apartamiento del segundo pizo. En eso momento yo sabia que la alma exista y aprendía su fragilidad.

Dentro esta nube dorada el padre de Sue ha ida a ella. Pero nuestro amiga aún dormio, inconciente de eso. “Sue, lo mire, te desperte,” nosotros le pedimos. Sus ojos parpadearon, pero no abrieron. Ella gemió.

Afuera, desde el otro apartamiento, el enjambre se vacilo, oscilando en la luz de la mañana nueva, no mas fuerte. Entonces, veimos los cortinas se abrieron y el esposo de Sue, Steve, pareció, con un rostro confundo, una lata de Budweiser de izquierda, lata del RAID de derecha. Él nunca mostro tan valor in su vida pasada, pero ya se lo vino. Abrió la corredera, ponió su cerveza, y las alejo las invaderes enimigos de su casa. En un momento ellos pasaron.

En la sofá, Sue gemió de nuevo y desperto con lagrimas. “Ojala! Que sueño!”

1 comment:

skaar said...

Here's the translation:

I’d like to write my story about bees for Give Blood. The story of the woman in my class (I have to find out her name) reminded me of this story. She told us about the swarm that was in the front window of a store one time.

Some years ago, when we lived in San Jose, the father of our neighbor Sue died, his death caused by his wife, the mother, a drunk who fell asleep with a lit cigarette, the house destroyed and her brother killed also. When she returned from work, Steve told her about it. Sue left without a look or word at her husband and came to our apartment. “Got any weed? I need to get high.”

“But the worst thing is that she’s still alive,” Sue told us with bitter resentment afterwards. “The bitch got up and escaped while the men suffocated in her home. I hate her!”

That night we watched Sue drink all of a bottle of gin, her fury growing with each glass. “My father helped put astronauts in space,” she told us. He had been an engineer at NASA. “My father loved life,” she cried. “He loved to help it grow.” He had been president of the Santa Clara Valley Beekeepers association.

“But the bitch never did anything for anyone,” Sue said. “Her own son. Her husband. She did nothing except drink and smoke. Stupid alcoholic! For me she will always be dead also.”

We didn’t drink our drinks. These things were too sad. We just listened.

Finally, after three or four hours, the alcohol hit Sue and her body slumped on our sofa. We covered her with a blanket, put out her cigarette and the light. Sue began to snore.

In the morning the sun returned with bright light but no reason. Sue was still sleeping when we looked outside at her neighboring apartment. Like all of them, it had a deck with a sliding glass door. That morning it also had bees.

I hadn’t seen a swarm before this, so I didn’t recognize what it was at first. Thousands of insects flying in the air around the second floor apartment. In that moment I knew that the soul exists, and understood its fragility.
Within this golden cloud Sue’s father had come for her. But our friend still slept, unconscious of this. “Sue, look, get up,” we begged her. Sue’s eyes quivered but didn’t open. She groaned.

Outside, around the other apartment, the swarm wavered, oscillating in the light of the new morning, no longer strong. Then we watched the curtains opened and Sue’s husband Steve appeared, with a confused face, a can of Budweiser in his left hand, a can of RAID in his right. He never had shown any courage in his past life, but now it came to him. He opened the sliding glass door, put down his beer, and drove away the enemy invaders of his house. In a moment they had gone.

On the sofa, Sue groaned again and woke in tears. “Oh, God. What a dream!”

Blog Archive