The Gift


Gabriel was coming home from school, when he saw a man leaving the doorsteps of his house--a fat, middle-aged man dressed in a blue flannel suit and carrying a briefcase. He felt a stake sinking slowly into his chest, as he always did when this happened.

After the man was out of sight, Gabriel rushed inside and found his mother taking a bubble bath. The bathroom door was open. She always let it open for him.

Gabriel gazed down at her.

"Hi, sweetie," she said softly, slowly caressing her arms between the bubbles.
Gabriel remained silent, his cold eyes on her cleavage.

"I got a present today from one of my friends. Why don't you go to your room and take a look? If you want, you can have them," she said.

He went to his room and found two Spaniel puppies on his bed. For a moment he looked pleased and sat next to them. The puppies stared at him with their all-eye faces and opened their mouths, letting undeveloped barks come out. He scratched one of them on the head and felt himself growing stronger, his blood hotter, his hands getting bigger and bigger. His eyes seemed to bulge out, as he lifted one of the puppies and twisted its neck and then did the same with the other. It wasn't difficult at all. The bones of five-week old puppies are very frail and can be broken easily.

Then he picked them up and put them lovingly on his mother's bed.


***

A Spanish version of this story was previously published in El Nuevo Dia newspaper, San Juan, P.R.