Muy cerca

Ana and Luis are on their second date. They meet at a small café and talk about their childhoods.

“Where did you live when you were a child?” Ana asks.

“At 12 Sol Street. And you?”

Ana opens her eyes wide.

“I lived at 8 Luna Street!”

Luis looks at the map on his phone. The two streets are very close, just two streets apart.

“So we lived very close to each other,” he says. “Did you go to the park on the corner?”

“Yes, every Saturday. I also went to Mrs. Rosa’s shop.”

“Me too! I bought bread there with my mother.”

They both laugh. They talk about their homes, their school, and the neighborhood children. They discover that they were the same age and were often in the same places, but they never met.

Ana looks at her coffee and smiles.

“It’s amazing. We were so close for so many years.”

Luis points to the door.

“Would you like to take a walk along those streets?”

Ana stands up and takes her coat.

Ana and Luis leave the café and walk toward Sol Street. The day is cool, but sunny. Luis points to a corner.

“The park was here,” he says.

Now there are new benches and flowers. Ana looks at a big tree.

“I used to play here with my brother,” she says. “Once, I lost my ball.”

“I found a ball here!” Luis replies. “But that was many years ago.”

They both laugh and keep walking. Then they arrive at Mrs. Rosa’s shop. It is no longer a shop, but a small bakery. There is a sign on the door: “Hot bread.”

“My mother used to buy bread here on Sundays,” Luis says.

Ana looks through the window and sees an old photo of the neighborhood. In the photo, many children are standing in front of the park.

“Look,” she says. “Maybe we’re in this photo.”

They move closer to the glass. Can they find themselves among so many children?

Ana and Luis look at the photo very carefully. There are many children, but one girl is wearing a red dress. Ana smiles.

“I had a dress like that,” she says. “And look, I’m holding a small ball.”

Luis points to a boy next to her.

“That boy is wearing a blue cap. I always wore a blue cap.”

They look at each other and laugh. In the photo, they are very close, but they do not know each other yet. Ana looks at the ball, and Luis looks the other way.

The baker comes out and hears their conversation.

“That photo is from a party in the park,” she explains. “Many children from the neighborhood were there.”

Ana and Luis thank her and buy two hot loaves of bread. Then they sit on a park bench, just as they did when they were children.

“We lived only two streets apart,” Ana says, “but we met many years later.”

“Maybe today was the perfect time,” Luis replies.

They share the bread and keep talking. Now they know their lives began very close to each other, even though it took many years for them to meet.