_Mantengámonos unidos, así nadie podrá con nosotros, decían animándose entre ellos mismos.

Toparse con aquel desastre fue una experiencia triste, desgarradora, lo que hizo que la gente inundara el país de llanto, con ganas de recluirse nuevamente, y hasta de irse como lo habían hecho los otros:

_Volvamos a refugiarnos. Todo está acabado.

Pero no. Luego de llorar por largos meses, tal vez fueron años porque nadie había llevado la cuenta, se secaron las lágrimas, tomaron cada trozo de acera, de calle, de país, y buscaron donde colocarlo, como si fuera un rompecabezas. El trabajo fue lento y arduo, pero gratificante. Ver cada pieza en su lugar, aunque fragmentada, aunque con las marcas de haber estado rota, era una sensación de Alivio, como si no todo tuviera perdido.

Por supuesto que en el camino encontraron personas pesimistas, predicadores del desastre, quienes pregonaban la innecesaria idea de la esperanza, del nuevo comienzo:

_ ¡Esto se lo llevó quien lo trajo! Ni madrake el mago nos salvará -decían con los brazos cruzados sin mover una piedra. También estaban los publicistas del odio, los radicales de profesión:

_ ¿Para qué estamos arreglando esto? ¿Para hacer creer que todo está en orden? ¡¡¡Que el mundo sepa que nos estamos muriendo!!! -exclamaban a viva voz diariamente entre ruidos y gritos.

_¡Bienvenidos a casa! ¡Los estábamos esperando!

Esta es mi participación para el concurso de Hispaliterario 39/ Salvemos el mundo. Si deseas participar, aún estás a tiempo y aquí te dejo el enlace de la invitación.

HASTA UNA PRÓXIMA OPORTUNIDAD, AMIGOS

[Versión en inglés]
By choice, many preferred to stay. Many of them were elderly, who had lived the best years in that country and did not know how to start a new life elsewhere. They were the ones who said goodbye to those who left, who filled the airports and terminals with banners with messages of encouragement: “Come back soon”, “We are waiting for you here”, “Fight for your dreams”.
Those who stayed, at first remained locked up in their homes for fear of the repression in the streets. Then little by little, they began to go out to the patios of the houses and from there they looked at the sky. They say that they sighed and with each sigh they brought out what they carried inside, which was a mixture of despair, but also a bit of relief to continue living.
But then they had to come out of their shelters, out of their bubbles and individual shells if they wanted to survive. So they began to open the doors and windows, to walk through the desolate and destroyed streets, side by side:
Let's stick together, so no one can beat us, they said, encouraging each other.
To come across that disaster was a sad, heartbreaking experience, which made people flood the country with tears, wanting to go into seclusion again, and even to leave as the others had done:
_Let's go back to shelter. It's all over
But no. After crying for long months, maybe it was years because no one had kept track, they dried their tears, took each piece of sidewalk, of street, of country, and looked for where to place it, as if it were a puzzle. The work was slow and arduous, but rewarding. Seeing each piece in its place, although fragmented, although with the marks of having been broken, was a sense of relief, as if all was not lost.
Of course, along the way they encountered pessimists, preachers of disaster, who touted the unnecessary idea of hope, of a new beginning:
_This took it who brought it! Not even Madrake the magician will save us,” they said with their arms folded without moving a stone. There were also the publicists of hatred, the radicals by profession:
_ What are we fixing this for, to make believe that everything is in order? Let the world know that we are dying!!!!! -they loudly exclaimed daily amidst noises and shouts.
But most of them went out every day and did their work, doing their bit, imagining what this country would be like when all the bad things were over, but especially when those who had left came back. Those who had stayed, smiled imagining the welcoming banners, those that would say:
"Welcome home, we have been waiting for you!"