Thursday, April 6, 2017

#707 The Woman Who Looked Like Me- Felisberto Hernandez


#707 The Woman Who Looked Like Me- Felisberto Hernandez

This is another beautiful story by Hernandez. A boy thinks he may have been a horse in a former life, or an alternative life. He remembers himself as a horse searching for freedom. Maybe it’s a horse that imagines himself as a boy. Together they are an orphan, fighting for a loving home, one without beatings or hard back-breaking work. The horse would find a new owner, but at the first sign of trouble would jump the fence and run until he hurt.

“The pain made me pay attention to reach separate part of my body as it tried to keep pace with the rest. Now and then, out of step with my other movements, a chill ran down my back, but the next moment it was a shiver of anticipation of the thought of being alone later on, quietly going over my new store of memories.”

He walks into a school during a play and finds an adoring crowd. He settles in with a teacher that kind of looks like him, and he thinks he has found his home. But horses aren’t free around here and one of his owners comes to find him. If you keep running, you will always be alone.

Notable Passage: “I set out slowly because I was tired. But my freedom made me fearless.”

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