Veronica's silence.

The annual storm was approaching, so Jacinto prepared the house so that the havoc would be less than at other times. Every year at that time his town was hit by a strong coffee storm, this particular phenomenon was very strange the first few years, but after two decades the inhabitants were used to it, they even took advantage of the situation by selling coffee to neighboring communities after the storm passed.

Over time the people had perfected the mechanisms to resist the merciless storm. The liquid coffee flooded the streets and the coffee beans that hailed like bullets broke the roofs of houses and windows, as well as the windows of cars; they could even cause the death of those who were caught outside their homes. So the community nailed wooden protectors on the windows of the houses and on the roofs, they had also designed shelters for the cars. And they hid in the basements during the three or four days of the violent storm, for this they had to have ventilation systems and canned food reserves.

Jacinto grunted angrily as he nailed wood to the front windows. Days before he had made the food purchases for the reserve, he only needed a few details to wait calmly with his sister for the arrival of the storm, which was beginning to appear on the amber horizon. Veronica was the name of Jacinto's sister, the two had lived together in their mother's house for years. Veronica never married, she was always there taking care of her mother until she died, Jacinto returned to the house after his wife abandoned him for being drunk and violent. Since then the two siblings shared the house and their tedious life as bitter old men.

Jacinto nailed the last window and entered the house throwing the door with force, he had argued with Veronica weeks ago, since then she did not speak to him. He would reproach her while she kept quiet, this was routine between the siblings, when she got over her anger she would go back to talk to Jacinto and they would continue with their lives. But this time Veronica had not spoken to him for two weeks, although Jacinto did not show it, this affected him, his sister was the only person with whom he interacted, because due to his alcoholism and bad mood he had no relationship with any neighbor in town.

The storm began and Jacinto ran to the basement, Veronica was already there. Jacinto closed the door and lay down on one of the chairs, he lit a cigarette; he did not feel like smoking, but he wanted to bother his sister, he knew that she would complain because now the air in the shelter would be full of tobacco smoke, but she did not say anything, this irritated Jacinto even more. He saw his sister silent and somber in the corner, her hair covered her face, Jacinto hit her knee with his closed fist and exclaimed:

-I am the only thing you have, whether you like it or not. Just as you are the only thing I have, I don't understand why you are dragging out this punishment for so long. At the end of the day you will have to talk to me, as you always do, as you have done since we were children.

Veronica continued without saying anything and the coffee beans were hitting the ceiling with force, more than usual, it seemed that this year it would be stronger than other times. The brother continued:

-I know I overdid it the other day, I shouldn't have hit you, but you made me mad. It's always the same with you, you do everything wrong and then I'm the one to blame - Jacinto was anxious, partly because his sister's silence was driving him crazy and partly because the storm could be heard from inside the shelter with too much force, he didn't know if the protection would be enough this year.

-I'm your older brother, you can't stop talking to me - Jacinto seemed desperate, he was standing and walking back and forth in the small space of the shelter - You have nowhere to go, you have no one else, it's like mom said, family is forever.

A shuddering noise sounded from upstairs, Jacinto jumped in alarm, he knew the wind had ripped off the roof protector. He clenched his fists, the roof of his old house would not withstand the four-day storm without the protector. He glanced sideways at his sister in the corner, she hadn't been upset, Jacinto felt a pang inside, he knew what she was thinking.

-I'm sure you feel like talking now," Jacinto shouted to Veronica, "say it out loud, go on, tell me how useless I am, I'm not even good enough to put up the ceiling protector.

The noise on the roof overshadowed Jacinto's screams and announced that the roof of the house was beginning to break, with nothing containing the liquid coffee, probably the basement would be flooded soon, and when the storm passed, everything inside the house would be destroyed by the hail of coffee. Jacinto hung his head, he couldn't look at his sister, he felt miserable because again she was right: he was a useless bastard.

In spite of the approaching disaster, Jacinto smiled, because in the middle of the noise caused by the storm he thought he heard his sister's voice. He knew that at the end of the day she would speak to him even if it was to tell him that he was a good-for-nothing. He leaned back in his chair, calmer this time, as he listened to Veronica's insults. Of course that was all a hallucination of Jacinto's, since his sister had committed suicide after the argument and her body had been hanging from a noose in the corner of the basement for two weeks.

_{Original content by the author.
Resources: Tablet ZTE E10Q
Own illustration
Translated with Deepl.com
All Rights Reserved || @jetta.amaya// 2022}