Congratulations

Congratulations

He was on the run all day. He was late everywhere he went, excusing himself in the knowledge that he should only say I’m sorry. He entered the party quaking and hot. He approached the woman who smiled alongside the pink curtains. He said «Congratulations» three paces before reaching her. Blushing, she smiled even more. He didn’t stop and went up nine steps quickening his pace only slightly. He was in the habit of counting stair steps and regular steps and numbers. He counts the eighty steps that separate his apartment from the ground daily. Forgetful and untrusting, he counts them until he is fed up with himself. As if it were possible that reality would give back a different result in response to his calculations. Nine steps and he was already walking down that unbearable hallway. Four dichroic lights. He also numbered the dichroic lights in hallways. He had the feeling that this action allowed him to go down them in relative calm. «A certain number of steps, so many lights and that’s it, I’ve reached the other side. Nothing bad can happen to me». «Congratulations» looked at him sympathetically. This time it was the woman who, quickening her pace only slightly, moved away from him. He went about his way in a friendly manner. Once on the other side, and this was strange because he had just gone up seven steps, he found himself thinking about her gaze, as if he wanted to dominate it beforehand so he wouldn’t become dizzy as he descended the seventeen steps of the spiral staircase, although he preferred to call it a circular stair. Somewhat dizzy, he went through the dining area first and then the kitchen, winding up in the laundry room. He went out into the back yard. There were three huge pine trees to the left. Five «Congratulations». «Congratulations», he repeated. He decided to finish his task as soon as possible, took a deep breath and pulled himself up straight, practiced a face, dissimulated his hurry and continued to hear his voice. This time the pines remained to his right and he looked at the large black door, thinking only of the large black door, which used to be green. He calculated how many steps to reach it. Fifty-seven steps, maybe seventy, one hundred fifteen at the most. That’s it.