This novel consists of a prologue and seven chapters. You can find them in this same blog.

CHAPTER III: Knowing her workplace

The Fluid Dynamics class of the following Tuesday could not be carried out, because there was a demonstration of students, who were claiming for the increase in the cost of university bus fares, and had begun to obstruct the transit of buses with stones on the avenue adjacent to the university. It didn’t take long for the police to arrive and the battle began. The students threw stones at them and the police responded by firing tear gas.

Of course our protagonists were together, with Isaura worried because after class she had to go to work, and she couldn’t leave through the only access door to the university, blocked by the aforementioned confrontation. So it occurred to Erasmo that there must be an exit at the back of the university.

They had to walk quite a bit to reach an exit, which was on the edge of the university, at the foot of some small hills. It is that this university has a very, very large area. From there they walked to the avenue and took a bus. But this bus passed a little near the gate of the university, where the battle had not yet ended, and a stone thrown by the students fell on the bus where the two turtledoves were sitting. Isaura was scared and immediately grabbed Erasmo’s hand and he thought or rather wished that they would continue throwing more stones at the bus, to see if Isaura would grab his other hand or who knows, suddenly put her head on his shoulder. But none of that happened. The bus managed to move forward and moved away from the danger zone. Of course, Erasmo consoled her and told her not to be scared.

The bus continued its march; They got off a block and a half from Isaura’s workplace. Erasmo walked her to the door of her workplace and told her that he was going to pick her up when she left, which Isaura willingly accepted. So we have Erasmo, at 4:30 in the afternoon, standing near the door, ready to receive her. Isaura left smiling, as usual, and at her suggestion they headed to a park that was four blocks away, the Parque de la Reserva.

It was a Tuesday, in winter, and the park was empty. The Lima winter (this novel takes place in the city of Lima, Peru) is characterized by having a white or gray sky, covered with a thick layer of clouds and a total absence of sun. But for Erasmo, and for Isaura as well, the day was a rosy day, as the beautiful song by Manolo Otero says, “La vida rosa”, which was in fashion at that time, and was heard in all the radio stations in the city (the reader can listen to it at any time on youtube).

They had the huge park to themselves, there was no one else, except a man who was far away from them. They walked and walked and finally sat down on a bench. They talked about a thousand things and then decided that it was time to leave. They went out onto the avenue and walked to the bus stop where Isaura would take the bus to his house, six blocks from the park. With his left hand Erasmo took Isaura’s right arm and they walked the six blocks like this. But Erasmus soon realized that the fingers of his left hand were touching Isaura’s right breast. She didn’t seem to care. Finally they reached the whereabouts, they said goodbye and Isaura took her bus. Alone, Erasmus looked at her left hand and felt something special in her fingers; it seemed to him that he was still holding onto Isaura. He couldn’t believe that those fingers had brushed against Isaura’s breast. That feeling lasted a long time. Erasmo would gladly have accompanied her to her house, but he had classes at night.

The next day, Wednesday, as night fell, Erasmo accompanied Edwin to the computer center, where he had to leave a program. Edwin went in for a while and Erasmo stayed outside, waiting for him, looking through a wire fence at the cars passing by on the avenue. The day was dying and you could even see a beautiful twilight in the sky. He was there for a while, thinking that he was completely bewitched by her; that his life no longer belonged to him. It now belonged to a pretty girl, the only girl in the class. He shuddered a little because he sensed that he was facing something big.

Edwin left and they went to study for an exam in the library of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, which was on the fourth floor. And guess who they found going up the stairs: nothing more and nothing less than Isaura. As usual, she laughing, she told them, if any of them could accompany her because she was going to go to the doctor and she was a little scared to go alone. How much Erasmo would have wanted to go, but he had already committed to Edwin to study for that exam. With great regret they let her go and Edwin, noticing the owl she was carrying on her chest, commented, without Isaura listening: “touch me the owl and something else”. They entered the library and surprisingly they only studied for half an hour. It was not necessary more because the two already knew enough about the subject. Erasmus thought “I would have accompanied her”.

REFERENCES: None