“Whatever. You just keep telling yourself that.” He zipped up his bag and stretched his arms up to the ceiling. “I’m ready. Let’s go or we’ll be late.”
“Yep, let’s go,” agreed Daniel deep in thought. “We’ve got bigger things to think about right now.”
As they were walking out the door, Daniel stopped.
“One sec,” he said. “I haven’t got my phone.”
Grabbing it from the table, he saw a notification on his screen. Text message, unknown number. Surprised, he read it:
Hey dipstick, it’s Sofia. U remember me, rite? I had a gr8 time the other day, we should do it again soon... Gd luck in the game, I can’t go 2day... Take care, kid. xxx
The bewitching look Sofia had given him the other night on the terrace sprang to mind. He surprised himself by smiling at reading her calling him ‘kid’. He left the flat without saying a word; he didn’t feel like explaining why a simple text message had just made his day.
The players were waiting in the middle of the court for the referee to blow his whistle to begin the game. Daniel didn’t take his eye off the ball, he was anxious to start. Amongst the crowd was the first team’s coach and he knew it. Who wasn’t there was Sofia. Despite the message, Daniel had harboured a certain hope that she’d be there in the crowd. He slid his gaze towards Ivan, the star of the rival team. He looked at him closely. Was he trying to intimidate him? At least, he didn’t seem like he was the friend he once was. Then he remembered the last time he saw him, when he bumped into him at the opening of Ricardo’s bar. He’d sounded like he had been threatening him. Had he really? Daniel prepared himself for an unfriendly game.
The game started at a frenetic pace. It wasn’t the type of game that Eric Miller had planned, but Daniel felt comfortable, he’d started on top form. In spite of the hard game the rival team were playing, the scoreboard soon separated them. Daniel defended like a gladiator and attacked like a ballerina. It was like playing on the school playground. Those who knew them best could see it in their faces: calm like someone who knows they are going to succeed yet pleased like someone who knows they’ve exceeded all expectations.
As the scores on the board got wider apart, the rival team played dirtier. The decibels increased when Miguel suffered an elbow to the chin just when he was free to take a shot. The referee blew the whistle for a foul but it wasn’t much use. The players got into an absurd fight while the fans let loose, verbally accompanying the court battle. Just then, Daniel saw Ivan appear pushing his way through the other players. His rival punched him straight above the eye and knocked him down.
Eric jumped up from his seat and made his way onto the court.
“Have you gone mad?”
Kiko, who just then was resting on the bench, had to hold him back to stop him from doing anything stupid. Meanwhile, the referee sent Ivan off.
“Have you shagged her yet then?” Ivan shouted, totally berserk, while he was dragged off the court by his teammates. Still dazed, Daniel squirmed on the floor. He couldn’t stop the blood gushing down his face. With his good eye, he could see how the fans booed his aggressor off the court as he stormed off defiantly towards the dressing rooms.
Daniel was helped up and in the break they stapled closed the gash. He would be able to finish the game. While he put up with the pain of the staple passing through his skin, he couldn’t stop thinking about the violent reaction of his old teammate.
The game resumed and Daniel went back on with a bandage around his head. After the altercation, the game became a lot calmer. But in real life, just like in a game of poker, the most insignificant detail in the most unexpected moment can change it all completely.
Sometimes we are punished for no reason, simply because it’s meant to be. Whether by accident or on purpose, there’s nothing that can change the path of our destiny.
The game was in play when, in the crowd, a man got up to go and buy a drink because his wife was thirsty. As he moved between the seats, he had to stop as a phone of another fan in the same row rang and his path was blocked. It took a few seconds for the man speaking on the phone to realise. Then the man who wanted to get a drink could get past. Meanwhile, Daniel was listening to Eric Miller’s orders during a timeout. A few seconds later, the man got to the kiosk.
In the queue, a couple were arguing because she had just found out that he had been cheating on her with another woman, all while the timeout came to an end. The man whose wife was thirsty had to wait while the couple argued and in the end he managed to order two drinks. But clearly, today wasn’t the day to be in a hurry as the server at the kiosk had run out of coins and had to open a new packet. By the time the server had given over the change to the man, Daniel was back on court defending.
While Daniel was defending, a fan was waving a flag as the rival team had just missed a three-pointer and he accidently bumped into the man with the drinks, who just at the moment was returning to his seat. The bump caused the drinks to spill onto a girl who was sitting in the second row, in front of the guy with the flag. The girl, who hadn’t been paying attention, jumped up and gave a shout of surprise. This in turn startled an eleven-year-old boy who was watching the game with a ball in his hands as Miguel caught the rebound after a failed shot from the other team. The boy let go of his ball which bounced onto the court as Miguel, after bouncing the actual ball, passed it to Daniel. At the same time, the boy’s ball continued slowly bouncing across the court and Daniel ran to counterattack towards the basket.
A lot of things can happen in the space of just three minutes. If Miguel hadn’t bounced the ball after catching the failed shot from the other team, or the girl on the second row had scared the little boy with the ball one second later. If the man had had the exact change to buy his drinks and the barman hadn’t had to open a new pack of coins. If the couple hadn’t argued because he hadn’t cheated on her or if no one had called the guy whose phone rang. If the man’s wife hadn’t been thirsty at that precise moment, Daniel would have finished the play with a simple two points.
But such is life, where an innocent action can lead to a series of accidents without anyone in control, that ball didn’t roll past Daniel, but stopped at his feet just as he shot the ball through the basket.
Daniel tripped on the ball and fell to the ground out of control.
Before the astonished gaze of everyone present, Daniel remained stretched out, unmoving on the wooden floor.
14
The clock struck three a.m. in Madrid’s La Paz hospital. At these hours, the only sound in the corridors was the irregular humming of the ceiling strip lights.
Ricardo was slouching on a plastic chair. The ground felt like it was moving beneath his feet. It was like time had stopped. He would stay sitting there with his mind blank until, like every night, sleep would overtake him.
He doesn’t deserve this. My brother doesn’t deserve to be in there, he said to himself putting his face in his hands. He is a much better person than me, why him? All this has to make sense, there has to be a reason why. I just can’t see it!
His tears seeped through his fingers. His cries became softer, giving way to a startling silence. The instant his conscious mind mixed with his dream world −that moment of the day when he could still feel a little happy− the touch of a hand on his shoulder surprised him.
“Come on, Ricky, you’re still here?” It was Jaime Vergara, the neurologist and an old childhood friend of Ricardo’s. “Your family will be expecting you home.”
Ricardo sighed deeply, and with the attitude of someone who has lost all motivation to carry on living.
“My family is in there, dying,” he replied.
“Things at home not getting better?” Jaime sat beside him. “If there’s anything I can do...”
The only thing you can do is cure Daniel.
“No, things aren’t going well at home.” Ricardo spoke between ragged sighs, as if each word that came out of his mouth hurt his heart. “It’s a rare day that Tere
sa and I don’t argue. But do you know what?” He turned and looked at the doctor on the verge of madness. “I don’t give a shit. Day by day, my life is coming apart at the seams along with his”, he pointed to the door of the room in front. He started to cry.
They say that night and darkness bring with them the worst thoughts and omens. For everyone’s sake, it’s better to wait until morning light brings hope and good news. These words were going around Dr Vergara’s head while he sat with his old friend in silence, on a stage where the shadows on the wall were the only ones that danced.
Inside the room, the atmosphere wasn’t any more optimistic than out in the corridor. Standing in front of the large window, Sofia held back her tears while watching the lights of the night. What was she waiting for? A miracle maybe, a change, an answer. A few months ago she had no contact with the boy who was now stretched out to her right, and now her life consisted of watching how he didn’t move, hearing what he didn’t say and saying what he didn’t hear. She thought of how much of a bastard destiny was, that sometimes it made you play everything on one card and the only reward was absolute misery. She couldn’t help wishing she hadn’t bumped into him at the loft bar, and she cursed herself for thinking like that.
Laid out on the bed and surrounded by machines, cables and electronic devices, Daniel slept, pale, as if he were dead. He’d been in an assisted coma for weeks. His life (or what was left of it) depended on a series of cables that imprisoned him. An incessant shrill beeping was the only proof that his vitals were stable.
On the other side of the room, hidden behind a curtain, was another bed. Sofia had no interest in who was sleeping there. She only managed to read the nametag that hung at the foot of the bed. Daniel’s roommate’s surname was Hirenstein.
Sofia didn’t turn when she heard the door open. She knew who it would be.
“Hey, listen. The moment there is any sign of recovery, you’ll be the first to know.”
While he spoke, Jaime came closer to her. Then he rested his hands on Sofia’s shoulders fondly. Those were the nicest few seconds of her day.
“Ricky has finally gone home. You should do the same.”
Sofia carried on looking out into the horizon of Madrid and asked:
“Is there any hope? Honestly.”
“The truth? Not much.”
On hearing the answer, so feared yet so expected, Sofia’s body stiffened. She struggled not to cry in front of Jaime. In the end, she couldn’t hold it in. She turned and buried her head into the doctor’s chest.
“It’s not fair, Jaime, it’s not fair! This is bullshit!”
She burst into tears. Jaime’s arms hugged her close, as if she were but a child. As Sofia sought her comfort, two feet away Daniel fought his own personal battle inside.
He was fighting for his life.
15
Four years earlier, Daniel was visiting Gandía for the first time. Despite being a typical holiday destination, that wasn’t why Daniel was there. His team were on a pre-season tour and Gandía was one of the towns where they were playing.
It was a Saturday in August and the players had been invited to a beach party where drinks flowed freely. Daniel was tired and in a bad mood as they had lost the game due to a mistake he’d made. He didn’t feel like listening to some amateur DJ mixing that summer’s hits. He just wanted to stay in his room at the hotel, have some dinner in peace and watch TV in his underwear while scoffing a box of the most sugary biscuits available from the supermarket. But the universe had other plans for him. The whole team would be going to the party, and he was morally obliged to go with them.
After Kiko had spent more than half an hour in the bathroom, Daniel, Miguel and Kiko left the apartment and headed towards the beach. In spite of his prayers, there was no sudden tsunami to flatten the coastline and ruin the party. There was no going back, they were going to have a good time. They would have to weave through those crowded backstreets full of hormonal teenagers and families who stop at every shop window without ever buying anything. On the coastal path they had to stop several times for loved-up couples to take photos just at the moment they wanted to pass. He was accidentally pushed by a pair of ladies who, so wrapped up in their own conversation, didn’t realise that a change in pace in these kind of circumstances could result in a fatal collision. Daniel was irritable and couldn’t put up with all of that for a second longer. He wanted his calorific biscuits.
Although the beach stretched out a long way, the event organisers had only cordoned off a small area in the sand for the party. Very intelligent. The crowd was bigger than expected. On top of it all, the weatherman had assured listeners that temperatures would drop that night, leading Daniel to put on a cotton sweater over a white t-shirt. He was wrong. That night was just as warm as the others and Daniel had no choice other than to carry his sweater around, unless he wanted to be all sweaty.
Most of the partygoers, delighted with the DJ’s calamitous remixes, turned into little animals; ready to jump, dance and above all, drink. Daniel had to take desperate measures: elbows out. As he advanced towards the beach hut bar, elbowing his way through, he thought again of his soft bed, freshly washed pyjamas and his chocolate biscuits.
“Why do they put plants in the drinks?” asked Miguel, looking curiously at the inside of his plastic cup.
“They’re mint leaves,” replied Daniel. “They marinate them in lime and sugar before serving the alcohol.”
“Marinate?” What are you on about?”
“It’s.... never mind. The point is that’s how they make mojitos.”
“It tastes like grass.”
“Well, it’s mint. It’s one of the ingredients for a mojito. Kiko, you’re Cuban, can you explain to Miguel how to make a moji...?”
But Kiko was nowhere to be seen.
“Can you believe it?” He turned back to Miguel. “He spends ages in the bathroom and then he leaves us the moment he gets chance.”
“Unbelievable,” was his big friend’s only reply.
“I don’t know why we bothered coming here, it’s obvious that this isn’t our... Miguel?” Another one had disappeared. Lifting his head, Daniel could see Miguel approaching a group of tipsy girls.
Daniel sighed, fed up. If Miguel brought up the mojito conversation, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about.
He thought he’d go for a walk before going back to the apartment when, turning around, he knocked a glass of wine held by a feminine hand. Bad luck meant that the vast majority of the drink went down the girl’s white dress that...
“Shit!” was the only thing Daniel managed to say.
The smile from the twenty-something year old shone brighter than the tacky lamps that decorated the party. Her olive skin contrasted almost poetically with the intense white of her dress.
“My dress!” she cried, rubbing at the wine stains.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. Are you OK?”
“Yeah, it’s OK. It was an accident.”
“I’m such an idiot!”
She tried to console him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
“Here, take my sweater, it’s all yours,” he offered her. “I know it’s not very pretty and well, it’s a man’s but at least it will cover you.”
She smiled, ignoring his protests. Her eyes gleamed.
‘At least it will cover you’? What am I saying? She’ll think I’m calling her a tart for showing too much skin. And, having said that, that may well be the most wonderful cleavage I’ve ever seen in my life. All of this went through Daniel’s mind as she spoke.
“That’s really nice of you,” she accepted the sweater. “It’s a bit big but I like how it smells.”
“It looks better on you than it does on me. In fact, it looks great on you.”
What are you saying, you idiot?
“I’m Bea.” She gave him two kisses on the cheeks. “What’s your name?” she wanted to know.
“Daniel. Nice to meet you.”
; “How would you like to go somewhere a bit quieter? This is all a bit too much.”
Something exploded inside of Daniel.
“Tell me about it! I was just about to leave.”
“Say no more. Let’s get out of here!”
He repeated enthusiastically that phrase which was always used in films; let’s get out of here!
The girl, who had just descended from heaven to save him from a disastrous evening, took his hand and led him towards the edge of the beach.
The following day, at lunchtime, Daniel submitted to Kiko and Miguel’s questions. Where did you get to last night? was the first one, in spite of both of their hangovers. Daniel told them about Bea and how they had escaped the beach to end up in a romantic club with palm trees, fountains and delicious food. He told them how they talked about their childhoods beneath the light of the stars until the place closed. Then he went into detail: her wavy jet-black hair, her almond-shaped grey eyes and her hypnotic whispers. Over dessert and much to the insistence of his friends, Daniel admitted having woken up in that mysterious woman’s apartment having spent one of the best nights of his life with her.
For Daniel, that was the first day of the rest of his life. Far from leaving that lustful night as a one-night stand, Daniel and Bea saw each other again. As soon as the tour had ended, Daniel asked for a few days off from work to go back to Gandía. By his second coffee, sitting in front of the beach, Daniel knew that she was the one. He felt fascinated that he could really be himself when he was with her, the same way he liked how she was herself with him. When they weren’t out and about, they locked themselves in her bedroom and lost all notion of time. Daniel liked to look in the mirror of her wall while they made love. Just another thing she never disappointed in. She had everything. The night before he had to go back to Madrid, they went to the beach and swam naked. It was the first time Daniel had an orgasm underwater.
The following morning, Bea accompanied him to the bus station. While enjoying their last coffee together, Daniel thought about how radiant she was in her light blue dress. It left the top part of her chest on show and barely covered her beautiful legs. Bea talked non-stop and Daniel nodded. Really, he didn’t have anything to say. He promised himself that that morning would not be the definitive goodbye. He wouldn’t let it be. Between hugs and a rebellious tear or two, the two lovebirds agreed that time would tell what their relationship would be. They would wait a while before seeing each other again to see if they really missed each other.
Reflections in the Mirror Page 6
