"Did you know the color red is invisible under moonlight?" "No, I didn't. Did you know once the taraxacum blooms, its head dries out for a couple of days, its stamens fall, the bracts bend backwards, and its parachute ball opens into a ful…

Hey, would you marry me? How about a lifetime? You and me? Hm? Actually, God, give me eternal life. I'd strain spaghetti for Billy with a racquet every night, I'd stay at home, at the crime scene, with the Long Island skyline behind the gl…

Pouring it down. Four floors above some tiny street of downtown Madrid. 1:50 p.m. A boat's cockpit, a few windowed square meters that the landlord stole from the terrace, that's the kitchen there (or what my roommates call a testing ground…

A city made of nougat lying at my feet. I had never seen that place before, but a feeling of having dreamt of it was melting its corners like fondue. I had already tasted it, of course. Perhaps it was a forgotten dream, perhaps that's what…

"It doesn't matter what your job's all about, you'll end up alienated." "Oh, c'mon." "You can turn your head, you can live with your back to reality Carmen, but trust me, this is for sure: the system leaves no escape, this show is meant to…

Blessed are those who saw the unscathed light, who woke up today and didn't raise the blinds because they had been up all night. Who left the place where the pain was, those who headed to it once, twice, too many times. Blessed are those w…

I can't write today. I'm in a rush. In a couple of hours I'm leaving for another town. My sister is getting married. I'll give a speech at the ceremony. I've already read it to three people. The three of them cried. I think that means it's…

Table 4: "Check this out. I made it myself last night. I think it is not bad." "Let me read: COMPUTER ENGINEER, MAINTENANCE, REPAIRING, CUSTOMIZE, BUILD PER PARTS, RECOVERING FROM BLACKOUTS. FREE INTERNET SETUP. CONTACT ONLY THROUGH WHATSA…

At first he didn't know who I was. My sunglasses, my ponytail. He looked at my trainers. "You are 'la' Carmen, right?" It was fictional to return to that place and see how almost every leaf was untouched. A van with a scary clown sprayed o…

Agnes yelled to Tigresa so loud that her pitch was bending the bars. Tigresa was the one who fed the beasts, he had a high pitch, though not as high as the one that the owner of the business had- not as high as Agnes', I mean. Tigresa was …

It was a rainy evening. Zia Scilla had been hanging and collecting the same clothes over and over all day long. Alfio's trousers now looked like a stinky puddle. Mr Bosch had been undisturbedly drinking Budweiser since 1pm. Inside Lucceto'…

She was already there, peeking from the side stairs, smoothing her spotless black dress with the gestures of a housewife. It would have been impossible for me to tell wether she was nervous or not. Checking the sole of her right high heel …

Dear President of the Republic of Spain, In the first place, allow me to congratulate you. We have a bright country despite the weather. The public administration works so hard on itself, that sometimes it reminds me of an ascetic monk thi…

In two days a list will be published. A surname will be missed in the registry office, another will appear at a border, two initials will cross a secret gate, a country will enter a rank, a song will fall to the ground. I never dealt well …

“Hi lil’ rat!” “Hi Carmen! How did you know it was me?” “I read ROSA on my phone screen.” “What a nice full moon, right? What’s going on over there? Tell me!” “It’s my break week.” “Right. Then you must be watching Lebanese movies, skippin…

It never rains to everyone’s liking. That’s a saying in Spanish. For the past weeks the sun has heated the walls of my flat so much that the very thought of rain flows down my body and triggers cracks in the floor tiles. Water… what an ext…

English and Spanish share some common words. Some of them mean the same thing, some of them don't. The second kind is unfairly called ‘false friends’. I confess I have a weakness for these… same length, same weight, same sound… and a suppo…

The odd couple exists beyond Jack Lemmon and Neil Simon. It actually is a natural phenomenon going on at my flat now. Enough of perfect matching souls, wedding ribbons and better halves. We’ve seen too many of them throughout our lives. I’…

A good friend of mine wrote once that, in his heart, Barcelona was twenty five. Now that I think of Madrid, I guess I could write something like that. I still remember when I reached that city in a moving van. I was carrying with me a chee…

Rob was white-brown-black. He had a hole in his leg and something going on in his ear that made him unable to keep balance, avoid idiots and jump on time to fall with elegance. I never cared. In winters, he liked to sit on the couch beside…

Dear Jan, I haven’t heard from you for the past two months. I guess you may be already in Nuremberg getting ready for your course, or perhaps back to Sheffield babysitting that sod, or hopefully plucking apples with Vincent at Limoges. I m…

Shirin, what a merciless prince stole the flame of your thoughts and the lightness of your heart. Why did he do so? Why did he put such a heavy stone on the top of your head? Did he want to test his aim with a bow? To hit the stone and set…

Last night. Four people of an uncertain age in a car heading to the movie theater. A figurine of Jabba the Hutt hanging from the rearview mirror. Average percent of brain usage barely reaching 10 point 01. Let’s name them Do, Re, Mi and Fa…

Dear selection committee and other bureaucrats whom it may concern or not but that for some reason have to read this letter in order to file it, burn it or use it to even the desk's legs:I chose the Monographic Course on Aesthetics to fulf…

The difficult slope. That’s what I named it. It was two hundred meters away from my house. Just a cut in the ground, an ascending wall of mud delimiting a sunny field of daisies from the shady forest of cypresses that crowned our side of t…

My middle sister is getting married. So far nothing thrilling or surprising. She has found the perfect guy. They sound like two songs by Carosone; they look like a finished 10000-piece puzzle, they smell like melted candy in an amusement p…

Somewhere at this moment there is an English person studying Spanish. Somewhere at this moment there is a Spanish person studying English. The first has conjugated the future perfect of 'to fall' instead of the subjunctive. The second has …

Living on the highest floor of a building has some drawbacks, especially if it’s August, a hand fan is the only way you have to cool down, and half the day southern sunbeams paint the rooftop yellow. Also you may sometimes find the lift bu…

The use of mobile phones has become widespread among the youngest members of our society. This undeniable fact, partially triggered by the nature of the modern market, has aroused the worries of teachers and therapists and has initiated a …

When I was little, my siblings and I used to play a game called ‘The dictionary’. The rules were easy. Someone picked a word, quite a complicated one, and wrote down its official meaning on a piece of paper. The rest of us had to compose a…