The truth
The first mouthful of a strawberry ice cream cone “provoked an involuntary grimace of disgust.” César’s attempts to hide the truth proved to be fruitless, for his father had already noticed it. The child’s grimace was “almost exaggerated, expressing both the physiological reaction and its accompanying emotions.” “Trying to hide it would have been absurd.” Then the argument started. César insisted that the ice cream was “bitter” whilst his father tried to prove that it was “tasty.” The irony was that the ice cream was not only bitter but poisonous too.
Miracle
The fact of César’s survival was considered “a miracle.” That little child managed to cope with the disease which took so many lives of both adults and children. The irony of the whole situation was that “if there had been a miracle, it was entirely involuntary.” According to the child, he “wasn’t cooperating with science.” “An urge, a whim or a maniac obsession” impelled him to “sabotage doctor’s work, to trick him.” César “pretended to be stupid” and he couldn’t explain a reason of that strange wish. His recovery was indeed involuntary.
A fantasy
Ana Magdalena was “a ghost.” She “never left the hospital” and had “no illusions.” The mothers were “always complaining about her,” they even tried to fight with her, but they “must have known it was hopeless.” The mothers “came and went,” while she “remained.” “Having frequented the hospital environment for an average of a week,” the mothers “formed an idea of the ideal nurse for the children’s ward.” They imagined “a good fairy, all gentleness and understanding.” The irony was that they presumed that all those qualities “could be combined in a single woman.”
