𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫; 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱

Running on river | english

With nothing to do, not quite, I was sitting there on a hot day in March, possibly a Wednesday or maybe a Thursday, the only thing I remember well is that it was the year 1959 and him. Yes yes, him, with big glasses like bottle bottoms, a  navy blue sweater torn and frayed on the left side and his wheat-colored hair. River was resting on a wooden chair, apparently he was just as bored as me, maybe school was extremely easy for him, who knows, maybe he had mastered the subject and it was useless to have to listen to what was going on. River, a very unusual name, his parents could have called him John or Samuel or Michael but his name was river, which I find absurd since rivers always make noise with the flow of water but he didn't. He was always sitting there, calculating, silent. I had never noticed his presence until that day, perhaps the sun was kind enough to enter through the skylight of the classroom and illuminate his seat directly just like a reflector, his blue eyes like the sky in spring were lost and observing everything around him until he runs into me. My face was prostrate on top of the desk, leaning on my left arm so as not to feel the hard oak wood against it, I saw him and smiled kindly to which he responded in the same way, two hours later we left the room to go to another for taking a different class. Once again, we exchanged glances and this time he smiled at me first to which I answered for the second time in the same way "what a nice person" I said to myself, but I didn't dare to speak to him for a moment, something about him seemed so unusual It was scary, the simple fact of approaching him made me forget how to speak, I even could even forget my own name.

 At recess he was seen alone, he did nothing in particular, he only sat in the patio on a stone bench to eat alone, the others passed by without even flinching at his presence, I did not understand how someone as striking as River could go unnoticed. If I had seen him on the street, I could have sworn that at least 10 people in his school and neighborhood were interested in dating him and another 10 were his friends. A couple of months passed, days, even weeks ... I always ran into River, I even asked my friends if they knew him but none of them did, Sara said "Not in a million years I would ever forget a person with such a description" While Carmen and Dolores did not stop searching in the school corridors for someone with the physical description that I had provided. 

One day when I left a bit earlier than usual, I noticed in the distance a blond boy getting on his bike and pedaling down the path, I immediately knew it was him, so I followed him. I followed him without thinking it twice, it was like an impulse, it was something that I felt a great need to do, I ran while the thicket of grass filled with small pieces of it my white socks, my school shoes and my pastel blue skirt that reached my knee. River slammed his bike down and crossed the street, I hid behind a bush with my tousled curls, my forehead full of cold sweat and my heart fluttering in a combination of tiredness from running and nerves from being discovered, then I observed the action that occurred: River entered a store and through the window I observed how he stole three packages of orange cookies and two medium sodas, then he slipped away without being discovered, took his bicycle and fled to his next stop. I ran after him without being seen once more, he dropped the bike more carefully than before since he had cookies and soda in it, this time he braked in front of a blacksmith workshop, he approached a large and robust man With a gray beard and a grease-stained midnight blue apron, I became very attentive to their conversation as I hid behind a sign that read "Smithy" in bright red letters. I heard that River was short of money, he needed help to which the blacksmith offered him a little money in exchange for a good amount of metal, the blond nodded without saying anything else, adjusted his glasses and left for his third and last stop, to which I followed. The sky was already turning darker, it was colored in a very beautiful violet blue that is only seen in spring, the air stopped being so warm and became fresh but not cold, River Bottom would come home to dinner around 7 at night, hidden behind a couple of half-dried bushes and a white fence I witnessed how his widowed father with a long face disguised in a smile told him passively but not cheerfully that he was late for dinner, River apologized and put the goods stolen from the store on the small wooden table in the dining room. His older brother, Rain, who was coming from a terrible day at work, thundered down the stairs giving River a push to annoy him. I had seen Rain before, he was my older brother's age and they went to school together for several years. I stayed for a few minutes watching them eat until River stood up and went upstairs to his room. I got home and slept in anguish thinking about all the situations that River was going through.