Maestría en Traducción e Interpretación Universidad de Buenos Aires

Actualización en Traducción Inversa Departamento de Posgrado

Mgtr. Ada Moldavsky Assignment No.1 — Nov 2, 2019
Federico González

Havilio, Iosi (2015) Pequeña flor. Buenos Aires: Literatura Random House (págs. 9-10).

This story begins when I was a different person. Just as any other day

since we moved to the town, that Monday morning I got on my bike and

started to pedal forward. Coming out of the tunnel, with the gloomy

wind blowing from the viaduct and into my face, the idea got stuck in

my head that Antonia would remain a little person forever. The

imagined picture filled me with both anguish and a strange feeling of

longing. I was thinking about that as I rode uphill precisely when I was

taken aback by a thick plume of black smoke going up to the clouds.

1
 Maestría en Traducción e Interpretación Universidad de Buenos Aires
Actualización en Traducción Inversa Departamento de Posgrado
Mgtr. Ada Moldavsky Assignment No.1 — Nov 2, 2019
Federico González

Some three hundred meters ahead, at the top of the slope leading to the

industrial park, I no longer had doubts: the fire —or rather the

remaining fire— was burning down the fireworks factory. The premises

were surrounded by police cars, fire brigades, and civil defense lorries.

From the distance, I could see a group of workers gathered behind the

police cordon. I did not have the nerve to come any closer. I turned back

and headed towards an enormous tree perched on top of a rise. I sat

comfortably at the foot of the tree trunk to follow the course of the

events. The swarm of sirens was then joined by some TV vans. I was

2
 Maestría en Traducción e Interpretación Universidad de Buenos Aires
Actualización en Traducción Inversa Departamento de Posgrado
Mgtr. Ada Moldavsky Assignment No.1 — Nov 2, 2019
Federico González

seized by a sort of numbness, body and soul. It is impossible to tell how

long I stayed there by that tree. My growing hunger brought me back to

reality. I moved away from the scene while ruminating on a mixed sense

of downheartedness and relief. I walked my bike alongside the first

meters of the road so that my retreat would go unnoticed. I phoned

Laura, told her that I would be free earlier than usual, and suggested

that we could meet under the pergola down the river-bank walk. The

plan was to go for a picnic and celebrate Antonia’s first birthday. I went

across the drawbridge and set foot at one of the food stalls by the canal

3
 Maestría en Traducción e Interpretación Universidad de Buenos Aires
Actualización en Traducción Inversa Departamento de Posgrado
Mgtr. Ada Moldavsky Assignment No.1 — Nov 2, 2019
Federico González

bank that was popular among workers and machine operators —a place

I liked visiting when I needed to put my thoughts in order. I went for the

day’s special: oven-baked roast beef and potatoes.