The clock in the room sounded midnight. Laying in the bed Maria could hear the beating of the country music coming through the window, from the dancing place near her house. It was a venue for middle-agers and the dance wound`nt go on any longer from the mid of the night. She could listen too to the noises of people conversing, laughs, cars doors beating, cars engines starting, people arguing…so, it seemed that it was the end of the happening.

They were middle-agers. Well, she was middle-aged, in her fifties. Her partner , sleeping by her side in the bed, was twenty years older. The music, at the dancing place, was blurred by his snoring. She turned on the light from the lampshade. He was agape. A saliva stream ran through his few teeth to the white pillow that wans`t so white anymore. He farted. A putrescent odor disseminated all around the room. She got up, opened up the window to refresh the environment and went to the bathroom.

While in the toilet seat she could see herself in the mirror ahead. Although we wasn`t young, her figure wasn`t so bad. A little overweight, it`s true, but with a little charm that could still call the attention of the blokes. Like the young neighbor, for instance. The one that, everyday, at the bakery, in the morning, she used to meet. He greeted her with a smile and didn`t call her “aunt” , like the other stupid ones. It was “you”. Not in a disrespectful or insolent manner, but in a intimate and accomplice way that excited her and made her feel younger. He called her always by her first name. “How are you, Maria? “ He also didn`t call her “Mrs, or dona” like the others. Because, smart as he was, he knew that she wasn`t married yet to the old man. They just lived together for, let us remember…. Some seven or eight years…

She tried to recall the good old days. They met in a ball, at Fascination, the same dancing place near her house whose last chords of the music reached her now. At that time he had some money, some charm, some cleverness and some teeth…But he changed for worse and she couldn`t change him back to the old days. And didn`t have any more patience to it. Sharing common life becomes unbearable with someone with different habits. Even small things, like not tapping the toothpaste after using it, become insufferable when occurring day after day. Like the torture of the prisoner in the old times, when they tied him under a leaking tap and left drop by drop to fall down his head. At first he didn`t even perceive the light sensation. Which became heavier and heavier so that, after some time, it seemed as if drops of plumb were making a hole in his head. It is impressive how time goes by so fast when you are over sixties and when the adversities come over you and you don`t have health and disposition or will or strength to fight the problems…now it seemed that he didn`t have, besides the money, the will or the disposition to settle even his denture. “Why don`t you go to the dentist and pay by installments” , she would argue, “ since you cannot afford to pay cash.” And he would always procrastinate. He would let it for the next day or week or month and, inevitably, forget. It seemed that he had given up and didn`t care anymore about appearance. He didn´t care about his clothes, he didn`t shave, he didn`t take a bath everyday, he didn`t even was aware when she went to the hairdresser and changed her hairstyle. But the young guy that lived by her house perceived… “ Hi, Maria, you got a blonde hairstyle now! Wow, I liked it! You look younger! “

She began to think about her young neighbor . The day he greeted her when she was buying cake and sweets at the bakery “What are the sweets and cake for!” He asked. And she said: “It is for my birthday. Want to come along?¨ He was so kind as not to ask about her age. Instead he, with a large smile, said? “Congratulations, let me greet you!” And he hugged her, tightly, with intimacy, She could feel the warmth of his body, his smell, his breath. But, unfortunately, he couldn`t accept her invitation to the party, since his vacations were starting and, the next day, he would go out to the hinterland, to his parent`s house, and would return only the next season, a month later. She started masturbating, thinking about the boy…

Leaving the bathroom she made up her mind. She would leave. Now. Immediately. Not one minute more. It was over. Time is up. Crunch time. She came into the bedroom. Packed up her clothes, shoes, perfumes, a few jewels. She didn`t have very much. The house has his`s . When she decided to come live with him she didn`t bring many things. She dressed up, fast, silently so not to wake him up, picked up her things and, without leaving even a little note, opened the creaking door and went away.

Her walking steps outside grew lower and lower and finally fade away in the darkness. He had been awake all the time, since the noise of people leaving the ball started and she turned on the light. But pretended to be sleeping. He knew all that was happening but a sensation of impotence took over him, There was nothing he could do. He switched off the light, turned to the other side in the bed and went back to sleep. Sad, depressed, angry. But, in a certain way, relieved.

When the first rays of light came through the blinds and much, much later, he was still in bed, staring at the ceiling, apathetic. When you are in the twilight of life the dawns don`t bring to you the hope of a new day. But they carry with them the anguish and anxiety of not knowing what are you going to do in a world that doesn`t belong to you any more. In which you don`t fit.

Days and days after her departure he went on getting up from bed later and later. Getting on life downer and downer. During many nights he forgot the television on in the room. The house became a mess. Dirty plates, cups, saucers and cutlery remained in the kitchen sink. Cockroaches run over the leftovers in the rare days in which he ate something. He didn`t change clothes anymore. Stayed with his pajamas all day. Then he stopped watching tv and reading old newspapers and magazines. He stopped thinking, also . It even didn`t hurt anymore to think about his miseries and frustrations. A slumberous sensation took over all his old body. He just laid down in the sully and disarranged bed looking up at the ceiling. Immobile, catatonic, without energy to get up. He went back to sleep. This time, forever.