Anton Chekhov
The Visitors
A pair of newlyweds is strolling through the railway platform on a seaside town. He takes her kindly by the waist, she leans slightly towards him. They feel happy. The Moon takes a glance at the scene and frowns, green with envy in all its loneliness. The air stands still. The scent is one of lilies and cherry blossoms.The high chirping of the crickets can be heard coming from the other side of the train tracks.
‘It’s so beautiful out here, Sasha.’
‘So beautiful.’ replied the young lady ‘It seems right out of a dream. That little forest, so gorgeous and inviting, and those telegraph poles do breathe life into the scenery. The poles bring to mind mankind, civilization. Don’t you love when the wind brings with it the faint roar of a moving train?’
‘I do, but… You’re nervous Varia, your hands are warm. What will we have for supper?’
‘We’ll have some some soup and chicken, and plenty of them. I had some sardines brought specially for you from the city.'
The moon winks as it is obscured by the clouds. The bliss of the couple reminded the satellite of its harrowing isolation above the hills and valleys.
‘The train is here.’ blurted out Varia.
Three beaming eyes emerged from afar. The train guard walks to the platform. Hundreds of signs light up the tracks.
‘Let us watch the train depart and then head home.’ said Sasha in the midst of a yawn ‘We are so happy together Varia, so happy I can hardly believe it sometimes.'
The black iron monster crawled silently to the platform and stopped. Shoulders, hats and tired faces could be seen through the dim lit windows of the train cars.
‘Look! Varia is there, and she’s with her husband! They must be here to welcome us! Varia! Varia! Over here!’ A voice claimed from the inside of a car.
Two girls leapt out of the train and into Varia’s arms. Behind them, a burly lady and a slim, tall, grey-haired man followed along. Then came two schoolboys, their suitcases and their caretaker and at last came the grandmother.
‘Here we are my dear!’ blurted out the gray-haired gentleman whilst giving Sasha a handshake.
‘You surely must have been waiting for a long time huh? You were angry at your dear uncle weren’t you? Kolia, Kostia, Nina, Fifa, children come give your cousin Sasha a nice hug will you? We are all here; we’ve come to spend a few days with you! Surely this is not an inconvenience. There is no need for a big celebration.’
The newlyweds were horrified at the sight of Sasha’s uncle and the whole of his extended family. While the man was greeting everyone left and right Sasha imagined himself and his wife offering their three bedrooms, pillows and blankets to their uninvited guests. The sardines, chicken and soup banquet would be devoured in a mere moment. The ink would be spilled all over the house and the flowers would torn by the rowdy children.The aunt would carry out her monologue, endlessly discussing her perils, her loneliness and her stomach ache and how she was by birthright a baroness in Fiji. Sasha gave his wife a hateful glance.
‘They’ve come to see you! To hell with them!’ he whispered in her ear.
‘Me! They are your relatives!’ she replied softly.
‘You are all very welcome to stay’ said Varia as she turned to the guests with a warm smile.
The moon reappears and smiles. The satellite is surely glad it doesn’t have relatives. Sasha looks the other way, so as to hide his desperate grin. All the while he kept repeating the same line:
‘Come please! My dearest guests come please!’
Translated from Spanish by Braian Alan Hausch. Source text extracted from Historias de una anguila y otras historias published by Espasa - Calpe Argentina S.A in 1944.
2020
