El turno de noche, relato de ficción (The Night Shift, a short story)
MCER B2377 palabras
Between three and five in the morning, the petrol station on the motorway belonged to Nadia and to whoever needed fuel badly enough to stop. The lorries arrived in waves, and then, for an hour at a time, nothing. She had learned to tell the time by what people bought. At three it was coffee and cigarettes. By half past four it was chocolate, always chocolate, as if the body knew the night was nearly over and wanted something in return.
The man came in for the first time on a Tuesday. He bought a bottle of water, paid in coins that he counted twice, and asked whether the road north was still closed. It wasn't, and it never had been. He thanked her anyway and stood by the door for a while, looking out at his car, parked away from the pumps, in the dark, at the far end of the forecourt.
On Wednesday he was back at twenty to five. The same water, the same coins, the same question about the road. Nadia said no again, and this time she watched the security screen instead of his face. The car had not moved from the far end. Something in the back seat, or someone, stirred and then was still.
On Thursday she caught herself waiting for him. That was the part she would never tell anyone. She had wiped the counter twice, straightened the chocolate, switched the coffee machine on early, and when the doors slid open at twenty to five she felt the relief of something arriving on time. Ridiculous. He was a man who bought water. He was a driver who could not sleep, like half the country.
He came to the counter with the bottle and did not put it down. "You're here every night," he said. It was not a question, and she did not answer it. Behind him, through the glass, the headlights of his car came on and went off again, once, like someone tired of waiting.
Nadia looked at the clock. Twelve minutes to five. Twelve minutes, and then the day shift, and the light, and the ordinary noise of the road. She put her hand under the counter, where the alarm button was, and left it there.
Palabras que quizá no conozcas
- shiftturno de trabajo
- forecourtexplanada de la gasolinera
- pumpsurtidor
- lorrycamión
- countermostrador
- coinmoneda
- to wipelimpiar pasando un paño
- to straighten (things on a shelf)poner derecho, ordenar
- to stirmoverse ligeramente
- still (not moving)quieto, inmóvil
- headlightsfaros del coche
Preguntas
Se contestan con el texto delante. No es memoria: es entender.
How does Nadia know roughly what time it is during her shift?
By what the customers buy — Ha aprendido a leer la hora por lo que compra la gente: a las tres, café y cigarrillos; a las cuatro y media, chocolate.
The man asked whether the road north was still ___.
closed — Es la pregunta que él repite las tres noches: whether the road north was still closed.
The road north really was closed that week.
False — El texto lo niega dos veces en la misma frase: It wasn't, and it never had been. Ni estaba cortada esa noche ni lo había estado nunca.
What do the details about the car suggest?
That the man did not want anyone to see it properly — El texto no lo dice: hay que deducirlo. El coche está lejos de los surtidores, a oscuras, en el extremo de la explanada, y la segunda noche sigue en el mismo sitio. Quien solo va a comprar agua aparca donde hay luz y se marcha. Y algo, o alguien, se mueve en el asiento de atrás.
What has changed in Nadia herself by the third night?
She has begun to look forward to his visits without admitting it — El texto no lo dice: es otra inferencia. Se ve en lo que hace —limpia el mostrador dos veces, ordena el chocolate, enciende antes de tiempo la máquina del café— y en ese «Ridiculous», que es su propia voz discutiendo consigo misma. Y en que es la parte que no le contaría a nadie.
What does the last sentence of the text suggest?
That she is getting ready for something that may not happen — Pone la mano donde está el botón de la alarma y la deja ahí: no lo aprieta. El relato termina abierto, en esos doce minutos, y no llega a decir qué pasa después.