Doppelgänger - Núm. 17-1, Enero 2019 - Encuentros - Libros y Revistas - VLEX 772107965

Doppelgänger

AutorMiguel Zapata Ferreira
CargoWest Virginia State University
Páginas164-164
164
Encuentros
¡Doppelgänger
Miguel Zapata Ferreira1
The Chinese Box. Doppelgänger.
The dreamer who is dreamt.
Tautology. All those would be
appropriate titles. When Professor
Sugar told me the story, my rst
reaction was to try to forget it. I
failed. Its memory returned to me
like the burning heels of blistering,
narrow shoes. I confess that in
a somewhat sadistic way, I have
laughed at it. Laughter is also a sign
of madness. The story is, after all,
politically incorrect. For all of this,
I decided to write it. This way, I
would remember it as ction, and I
would have forgotten it is real.
One shiny autumn afternoon,
behind the yellow sunlight ltering
through the large glass windows
of the lab, Professor Sugar told
me she had casually met one of
our colleagues, Professor Otálora,
the librarian. He was laughing.
Polychromatic laughter, she
specied. His tie was undone,
his collar, unbuttoned. He looked
demented. He told her this story:
--I was helping a group of
students to nd secondary sources
for a presentation on bullghting in
Spain, studied from the perspective
of animal cruelty, so that they could
compare it to dog ghts, or even
1 Cuento del profesor Miguel Zapata. West
Virginia State University.
cattle raising in the USA, as similar
inhumane treatment of animals,
when I thought this was my best
chance to tell them this joke: “what
is the worst problem with young
people today? Is it ignorance? Is it
indolence?” and they replied: “we
don’t know, and we don’t care.”
Then he continued his hearty
laughter he had interrupted only to
tell the story.
Professor Sugar told me that crisp
afternoon, she had found the story
clever, and she made the resolution
to tell it in her classroom at the
rst appropriate occasion. When
she nally did, nobody laughed. –I
felt embarrassed. Even ashamed,
she said. I think the story is a bit
insulting, so I apologized to the
class.
I, same as Professor Sugar, found
the story astute, too, but intriguing.
I waited and waited for my chance
to visit her class with the pretext
to conduct teacher observations.
Once in her classroom, I asked
a group of her students: “Do you
know the meaning of the word
‘indolence’? They answered:
--“No.” Then I asked: “Did you ask
Professor Sugar? --No, what for?
they replied in unison.

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