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My first memory was when I was just a one year old child. I was in my crib sleeping and I woke up in the early morning and he was there looking at me. It was the first time I saw him with that smile, his small size and his squeaky voice when he pronounced my name. From that moment on he was my playmate for several days, until one night my mother heard me talking and came into my room and saw me sitting playing in my crib. And that same scene repeated itself for several nights in a row, always at the same time.... 3 am.
Worried my mother consulted with a friend, she recommended the following "Light a white candle to the Santo niño de Atoche to keep the goblins away.
So she did and my friend stopped visiting me for a while, but returned after three years. I would get out of bed and go out to play in the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen. There my brothers would find me and scold me, sending me to my room to sleep.
As I grew older, his visits became less frequent, we no longer shared games and he would just stand there looking at me and making jokes to make me laugh.
He has not returned and I think it is because I have lost the ability to see him. I miss him and I don't want to forget him. I know he is real and not a figment of my imagination.
I met him in the garden, he told me that something bad is about to happen, to watch out for St. Patrick's Day. I asked him for details but he disappeared.
Luis, an eighteen year old boy, is sitting reading the letter that came out of a book he had taken from the big library. He wonders who wrote it because it has no name, but it does have a date, March 15, 1950. He keeps it with the intention of making inquiries. He is very curious to know who wrote it and what happened to that person.
He is visiting her aunt Catalina who lives with her husband Jorge Gonzalez, her three children and her brother-in-law Sebastian, in a very old house of the Gonzalez family.
He gathers in the dining room to have dinner with the family. Luis sits between Carlos, a contemporary in age, and Matilda, his fifteen-year-old cousin, a very cheerful and talkative girl. Across from them sit Julian, his older cousin in his twenties, and Uncle Sebastian. Catalina and Jorge occupy the seats at the ends. They are very formal and strict.
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Luis takes the opportunity to say to Carlos in a low voice.
—I have something to show you.
—What is it? —Carlos asks curiously.
—When we finish dinner we go to the library and I show it to you.
They both go to the library but Matilda, who has overheard the conversation, follows them without them noticing her.
When they arrive, she surprises them.
—What do you want to show Carlos?
—What are you doing here Matilda?, no one invited you,
—Carlos asks her angrily.
—Leave her alone Carlos, she can see too, —Luis tells her.
Carlos shows the writing to his cousins. They read it surprised and also want to know more.
—Let's ask my uncle, —says Matilda, —he knows a lot about the history of the family.
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The boys are encouraged and look for Sebastian in the garden, his favorite place.
There they find him pruning the carnations. He has white hair, never married and never had children. He is a very sad man.
When they show him the letter, he is very surprised and turns pale.
—Where did you find this? Is it not possible.
—What's the matter? Why do you say that? —says Carlos.
—This must have been written by my younger brother Alberto. He died when he was 12 years old. It was an accident and as he speaks, his gaze is lost in his memories.
—But what happened uncle? Why didn't we know anything about him? — says Matilda.
—That St. Patrick's Day we were playing in the library because it was raining. We were running on the floor that had been waxed. My mom had already warned us, but we didn't listen to her. I pushed Alberto and he fell and hit his head and was in a coma for five years and then died. It was my fault. But how strange... that's the date of his death. How could he write it down?
The three guys do not understand what happened, but Sebastian keeps thinking about what his brother was telling him about that little being, his childhood friend.
He tries to explain to his nephews and at the end he tells them "And to think that we never believed him"
