Las Cartas que No se Enviaron
(The Letters That Were Never Sent)
Durante veinte años, Isabel Medina habia guardado las cartas en una caja de laton que escondia debajo de la cama.
For twenty years, Isabel Medina had kept the letters in a tin box that she hid under the bed.
Eran treinta y dos cartas dirigidas a Rafael Ortega, el hombre al que habia amado en secreto desde que ambos trabajaban en la misma editorial de Salamanca.
There were thirty-two letters addressed to Rafael Ortega, the man she had loved in secret ever since they had both worked at the same publishing house in Salamanca.
Nunca se las habia entregado.
She had never given them to him.
Cada carta habia sido escrita con la conviccion de que aquella seria la ultima, de que al día siguiente reuniria el valor necesario para hablar.
Each letter had been written with the conviction that it would be the last, that the following day she would summon the necessary courage to speak.
Pero el valor nunca llego, y las palabras se fueron acumulando como hojas secas en un rincón olvidado.
But the courage never came, and the words kept piling up like dry leaves in a forgotten corner.
Una mañana de noviembre, Isabel recibio una llamada de Lucia, una antigua compañera de la editorial.
One November morning, Isabel received a call from Lucia, a former colleague from the publishing house.
Le dijo que Rafael habia vuelto a Salamanca después de años viviendo en Argentina.
She told her that Rafael had returned to Salamanca after years living in Argentina.
Estaba enfermo, aunque nadie sabia exactamente de que.
He was ill, although nobody knew exactly what with.
Se habia instalado en su antiguo piso de la calle Libreros, solo, sin familia. <<Alguien deberia visitarlo>>, sugirio Lucia con un tono que dejaba claro que ese alguien no seria ella.
He had settled into his old flat on Calle Libreros, alone, without family. <<Someone should visit him,>> Lucia suggested in a tone that made it clear that someone would not be her.
Isabel paso tres dias decidiendo si iria.
Isabel spent three days deciding whether she would go.
Saco la caja de laton y releyo todas las cartas, una por una, sentada en el suelo de su dormitorio con las piernas cruzadas como una adolescente.
She took out the tin box and reread all the letters, one by one, sitting on the floor of her bedroom with her legs crossed like a teenager.
Las primeras eran torpes y entusiastas, llenas de metaforas excesivas.
The first ones were clumsy and enthusiastic, full of excessive metaphors.
Las ultimas, escritas cuando Rafael ya se habia marchado a Buenos Aires, tenian la precision dolorosa de quien ha aprendido a nombrar exactamente lo que ha perdido.
The last ones, written when Rafael had already left for Buenos Aires, had the painful precision of someone who has learned to name exactly what they have lost.
En ninguna de ellas habia mentido.
In none of them had she lied.
Esa era la razón por la que nunca las habia enviado.
That was the reason she had never sent them.
Al cuarto día, fue.
On the fourth day, she went.
Llevo consigo la caja, aunque no sabia por que.
She took the box with her, although she did not know why.
Rafael le abrio la puerta en bata, mas delgado de lo que ella recordaba, con el pelo completamente blanco.
Rafael opened the door for her in a dressing gown, thinner than she remembered, with completely white hair.
La miro como si la hubiera estado esperando. <<Pasa>>, dijo, sin sorpresa, sin preguntas.
He looked at her as if he had been expecting her. <<Come in,>> he said, without surprise, without questions.
Se sentaron en la cocina y el preparo café con las manos temblorosas mientras Isabel buscaba las palabras que habia ensayado miles de veces en su cabeza y que ahora, frente a el, se negaban a salir.
They sat in the kitchen and he made coffee with trembling hands while Isabel searched for the words she had rehearsed thousands of times in her head and which now, in front of him, refused to come out.
Fue Rafael quien hablo primero. <<Siempre supe que me querias>>, dijo, mirando el café. <<Tus ojos te delataban.
It was Rafael who spoke first. <<I always knew you loved me,>> he said, looking at the coffee. <<Your eyes gave you away.
Se me dijo muchas veces que deberia haberte dicho algo, pero yo también era un cobarde.>> Isabel sintio que se le cerraba la garganta.
I was told many times that I should have said something to you, but I too was a coward.>> Isabel felt her throat tighten.
Puso la caja de laton sobre la mesa. <<Son cartas>>, susurro. <<Cartas que te escribi y que nunca envie.>> Rafael las miro con una ternura que a Isabel le partio el corazón, porque comprendio que aquel gesto contenia todo el peso de un futuro que podria haber sido.
She placed the tin box on the table. <<They are letters,>> she whispered. <<Letters I wrote to you and never sent.>> Rafael looked at them with a tenderness that broke Isabel's heart, because she understood that gesture contained all the weight of a future that could have been.
Rafael extendio la mano y tomo la de ella.
Rafael reached out his hand and took hers.
Su piel estaba fria. <<Leemelas>>, pidio. <<Quiero oirlas con tu voz.>> Isabel abrio la primera carta con dedos torpes y empezo a leer en voz alta.
His skin was cold. <<Read them to me,>> he asked. <<I want to hear them in your voice.>> Isabel opened the first letter with clumsy fingers and began to read aloud.
A mitad de la segunda página, la voz se le quebro.
Halfway through the second page, her voice broke.
Rafael le apretaba la mano con una fuerza sorprendente para alguien tan frágil.
Rafael was squeezing her hand with surprising strength for someone so fragile.
Cuando Isabel levanto la vista, vio que el también lloraba, y supo que aquellas cartas, escritas en la soledad de tantas noches, por fin habian llegado a su destino.
When Isabel looked up, she saw that he too was crying, and she knew that those letters, written in the solitude of so many nights, had finally reached their destination.
Key Vocabulary
la editorial publishing house
la conviccion conviction, belief
acumularse to accumulate, to pile up
la ternura tenderness
cobarde coward, cowardly
ensayar to rehearse, to practise
delatar to betray, to give away
la soledad solitude, loneliness
quebrarse to break, to crack
el destino destination, destiny