When Robert
took off the train, he had the feeling that it was going to be a very special
day in his life. He stopped in the platform and stood there for a minute,
letting the cold air touch his face and wake him up. He lit a cigarette before
thinking his next step. He was nervous, and still wondering what was he doing
there, five hundred kilometres far from his house, in a city he had never been,
to meet somebody who had never seen. But he was happy.
It was
going to be his first blind date, something that at the beginning made him feel
kind of stupid, a teen, but after fifteen years of failed marriage and a bunch
more back to bachelor’s life, he could feel again that “something” -name it
illusion - he had already forgotten.
Robert
threw the cigarette and followed the sign pointing the downtown. He was looking
forward to meet that woman, a woman who he hadn’t even seen in a picture before,
but whose dazzling words revealed the wisdom of someone who understands the
meaning of life, and her calmed voice could make him feel good, up to the point
of being able to talk to her for hours. In fact, it had been the only thing
they had done: speak on the telephone. Despite that, he was looking forward to
meet her, touch her, get to know her and, why not, make her love him, as he was
having that unexpected feeling who made him move such a far distance to see a
stranger. In his cloud of thoughts, he checked the time and hurried up, it
started to be late.
Not too far
from Robert, somebody was also checking the time. Behind a steamy cup of coffee
and looking randomly to a newspaper, She was getting impatient. Nobody had ever
made the Death wait, and nobody would. It was impossible to be late for that
appointment. However, She liked to converse at least for a few minutes with
those who were called to accompany her, but if they were late, the time for
conversation dwindled.
When Robert
entered the bar, there were less than five minutes left to be punctual where
they had to be. He looked agitated and stared around with an air of urgency.
The Death stood up and smiled. He went straight to Her, and smiled too. There
wasn’t almost time left.
‘Hello
Robert. It is so nice to meet you. You have to follow me, we have to go
somewhere’.
And he did.
Certainly, he would have followed her wherever She wanted. Even to the end of
his days.
Indeed, it
was a very special day in Robert’s life. The last one of all of them.
