from March 5 to April 10, 2020
The option of escape must always be considered. When that inevitable moment arrives when nothing compensates and the drama is so present that it is tiring, one must seriously consider the option of running away and relocating to the other side of the world. Abandoning one's homeland -and with it, all unresolved problems- is as unworthy a decision as any other.
Far from home we will build a new life with rotting foundations and silk curtains. We will let all the uncomfortable things we left behind feed on the milk of our indifference and we will project a luminous future gestated from guilt.
One day, we will adopt La Mentida, a little white-skinned girl who will take us by the hand when we leave the orphanage and will never let go. Every time we go to a bar, we will sit her on one of the bar stools, all alone, and we will watch her from afar. When we go to sleep we will leave her sitting on a chair, next to our bed, and the next day, when we wake up, she will already be watching us for a while.
With it, we will wander through the new city, aimlessly, feeding on the life of others, on the food of others, on the misfortune of others. We will photograph them all without getting too close, because we are afraid of life, but nothing will escape us. The Lie will be more and more a nuisance to us, so disgustingly pale, but we will not be able to get rid of it, poor thing. It will cross our minds to abandon her or run her over, but we won't have the strength to do it.
One day, in a roadside hotel and with the help of two more hands, we manage to lock her out of the room. At first she will knock at the door, disconsolate, but each time she will be quieter and more tired until, exhausted, she will leave. When from the bedroom window we see her disappear down the street, we will run to cover ourselves under the sheets surrounded by breasts and long hair and we will become pregnant with pleasure and whiskey. We will lose track of time and will not return to reality until the first contraction. We will give birth to a small, white-skinned creature that we will baptize Christianly with tap water. We will name it La Mentida II.
Mercè Vila Rigat
