Ballad for a madman
"I killed for love!" This was the last thing Amelita's brain could process that night. Her eyes were still on the TV screen, where the news went on and on, but her ears could no longer discern anything the reporters were saying about the most famous trial of recent times. "What an impetuous man! His eyes were like flames that made my heart burn," she said softly, like someone confessing to a priest. A little while later, lying in bed, she found it difficult to cut through the torrent of thoughts and go to sleep. The image of that man remained imprinted on her retinas. Tried and condemned for the death of his wife, he insisted endlessly on his innocence. "It was her fault, that bitch, who cheated on me," he told the reporter, already dressed in his striped uniform from the municipal prison where he had been taken. At three in the morning, she finally replaced her waking delusions with dreams.
As soon as she fell asleep, she dreamt of her father, just as he was when Amelita was still in elementary school. Juan Pablo was a dreamy sexagenarian truck driver who had once met a fiery young woman on the roads of Argentina and remembered what it was like to be in love. It had been so many years since he had felt like this: nothing but flesh, bones, entrails and fluids! A month after meeting Micaela, he abandoned his wife and almost grown-up children and went to enjoy his new passion. However, the idyll was short-lived and, when Amelita turned eight, Micaela left with Ramon, a neon sign installer who wandered around the province of Mendoza.
In the few years that followed Micaela's departure, Amelita saw her father, an amateur singer with a passion for tango, fall silent. His lips only opened to quench his thirst for Malbec wine. Eventually, Amelita persuaded him to hum 'Ballad for a Loco', the only song that put her to sleep, soothed by seeing her father's eyes light up again in the short time that he, lulled by the lyrics, relived his great passion. That night, when Amelita dreamt of her father, he was singing the same song at the top of his lungs, his eyes full of tears. But in her dream, her father's face was the same as that of the prisoner she had seen on TV earlier.
The next day, before she'd even had breakfast, Amelita set about writing a letter to the convict. "Hector", that's what his name was, "I know you'll be pleased to know that someone is able to understand you. My father was an exceptional, faithful and respectful man who, like you, was deceived by a fickle and superficial woman. That kind of woman can drive anyone crazy! But please believe me, not all of us are like that. I'll do my best to help you forget your suffering. Your most faithful and devoted friend, Amelita".
During the six years Hector spent in prison, he and Amelita wrote to each other almost every day and an intimacy soon developed between them. On the same day that Hector was released, they got engaged: "My freedom was short-lived," he said, looking at the ring that sparkled on his finger, before sitting down with his feet up and listing all the dishes from the Mendoza cuisine that he had dreamed of in prison. Amelita would spend the first few months of her marriage devoted exclusively to fulfilling her lover's every wish. He was so beautiful! And what's more, he sang beautifully...
One day, when Amelita opened the door to her house, she ran into Ramon. He had discovered her address and was carrying a package of letters that her mother had written to her, but hadn't had the courage to send while she was alive. This is how Amelita discovered that not everything was rosy between her parents. Juan Pablo was an insecure, jealous and violent man. With a short temper. As Amelita read and reread these letters, her view of the past changed. She had decided that her mother's story would not be repeated. She, Amelita, would know how to build a relationship full of love and respect, she wouldn't have to run off with the first man who knocked on her door to save her skin.
Ramon reappeared from time to time and, thanks to conversations with him, Amelita gradually filled in the gaps in what she knew of her mother's life. These visits would soon become the best moments of a life that had quickly become exclusively dedicated to washing, ironing, cleaning, doing the market, cooking and watching soap operas. Apart from that, Amelita couldn't go out with her friends or dress up without Hector uttering a torrent of insults. Ramon's incessant comings and goings, with their tins of cookies, photo albums and an endless list of stories, was also arousing a growing hatred in him. Soon the insults were replaced by slaps and the latter by punches. Amelita, however, already knew what she had to do to put an end to all this violence.
That day, Ramon and Amelita would meet in front of the stall that sold meat empanadas. She was going to run away with two changes of clothes and nothing else. But as she jumped out of her window, she was surprised by Hector. A few hours later, the police and TV station vans surrounded the building, and news of the murder of the unfaithful wife began to spread. Gradually, a gathering of women formed on the sidewalk, carrying placards and shouting phrases in support of the betrayed husband. "What a disgrace, a story like this. Running off with your mother's lover! Where is this world going?", said one of the women to the evening newspaper reporter, while the others waited anxiously for the killer to leave. The doorman, who was watching the whole scene next to the empanada seller, muttered dejectedly, "The real story is about to be rewritten by the survivors."
Balada para un loco, interpreted by Amelita Baltar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK8EybuTYU4
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