Selected Cronicas

THE LITTLE MONSTER

He is the brightest boy in his class. He never plays games. (His secret is a snail.) His hair is cropped, his eyes are gentle and attentive. His delicate skin at nine years of age is still transparent. He is polite by nature. He handles things without breaking them, lends books to his school-mates, helps them with their lessons, does not lose his patience with the square and the rule, and never misbehaves, like all the other unruly boys.

His secret is a snail. Which he does not forget for a single moment. His secret is a snail, which he treats with dispassionate and agonizing care. He keeps it safely in a shoe-box. With solicitude he pierces the box every day with a needle and string. With the utmost care he postpones its death. His secret is a snail, nurtured with insomnia and precision.