SHORT STORY HUNGER
HUNGER
Automatic traslation from the original story in Spanish. Not checked manually
It was very early in the morning. Roy woke up hungry. He got out of his bed and headed down the long hallway that would take him to the kitchen.
With stealthy steps he headed there. Along the way he licked his lips thinking about a good piece of meat… better not overcooked, he thought.
Halfway there, he stopped in the hallway. He had just realized that he didn’t know how to do it. The worst thing is that Hanna was still sleeping.
He cursed her bad luck, he knew it was not advisable to wake her up. Once he had done it, he would wake up in a very bad mood.
Despite being aware that he had no idea how to do it, he approached the kitchen door.
The first morning lights were already filtering through the window and allowed him to clearly see the refrigerator, as well as the cupboard where the frying pan was stored.
The oil jug and salt were on the counter. He had seen Hanna prepare the meat many times, yet he didn’t think he could even try. What a shame to have to depend on her.
Also, since it was a holiday, she might have gotten up later than usual. He considered waking her up… Even if she got angry, after a while she would surely have gotten over it.
He slowly turned down the hallway toward the bedroom. Let’s see if he could figure out how to wake her up without making it seem like he was the one who had done it.
Thinking about how to do it, he returned to the kitchen again… he felt so hungry that looking at the refrigerator, he seemed to find a slight consolation. It was only a matter of a short time.
That’s it! He thought he. I will go back to bed and pretend to have a nightmare… This way she will wake up and instead of getting angry, she will try to calm me down and thus, already awake, she will prepare breakfast. Let’s see if we’re lucky and she makes me meat.
He left the kitchen and, this time with that decided, returned to bed. He lay down and waited a few moments. Immediately afterward he accelerated her breathing and began to moan piteously, at first softly then, little by little, he increased the volume of her moans.
Not even a minute had passed when Hanna woke up and, caressing her head, said: “Calm down, Roy, wake up… you’re having a nightmare.”
Roy looked at her, feigning a certain daze, and as if a spring had propelled him, he stood up…
Hanna looked at the clock and said: “With your nightmare you woke me up earlier than I had planned, but it’s too late to go back to sleep. With your moans I have completely woken up… I’m going to have breakfast… I imagine you want to eat something too, right?” Roy’s eyes lit up, he started wagging his tail and barking with joy, he started jumping around Hanna as they both headed to the kitchen.
Hunger – Short stories series – Copyright ©Montserrat Valls and Juan Genovés