Nachito and his wooden horse
The night of the kings was coming and Nachito, a 7 year old boy who lived in Venezuela, specifically in the city of Carúpano, State of Sucre, was once again feeling that discomfort in his stomach, that unjust anger that he was experiencing inside with that magic, that illusion? Fiesta de Reyes, because many years ago they had forgotten their house, that poor house where he had moved a few years ago and where his father had taken them before leaving for the city of Caracas, the capital of his native country, because it had been ruined and left with nothing due to the debts he had accumulated and the economic crisis of that time.
He was disappointed and that's why he didn't want to ask for anything that year. He asked himself. He was really angry with them, because he felt they were unfair to him and the three younger brothers in his family and the many other children in his neighborhood. His other seven siblings were all grown up, some of them even gone because they had formed their own families.
To forget about that sad thought, Nachito encouraged his little brother Tinito to go out and play soccer with the other kids and, to do so, they decided to make a big paper ball with pieces of cloth so they could play with their new friends from the neighborhood. They went out, played, ran, sweated, and fought with three kids from the opposite team, six in total, for a goal, because they almost did it with their hands and that was cheating. They played on the road in front of their house. They were bigger than the children with nachito, but they were not afraid of them. In the end, they ended up fighting, hitting each other, but when their neighbors saw that fight, they separated them and sent each one home. They left in pain, he and his brothers without the paper ball and pieces of cloth they had made. With all this fighting they had forgotten that it was Christmas and that night was a good night.
They were quiet and did not complain so as not to attract attention. Their mother was in the kitchen preparing the flour to make the hallacas... as they always had by tradition, they did not eat dinner, they only made hallacas so that it could reach them until the day of kings. Their mother looked at them with that loving look she had, without scolding them she told them: "wash your hands and get ready to eat" They went running to wash their hands to the washer man as he and his brothers could. nacho liked the smell of the hallaca stew his mother was preparing. He sat down to eat with his brothers when suddenly he said to his mother: "How delicious are your hallacas, mother!" and his mother smiled lovingly and gave nacho a kiss on his forehead.
That's how they spent the night. What a beautiful moment that was! It was their best Christmas present and their best night of the year! They laughed, told stories, jokes and above all it smelled of family
That's how they spent the night. What a beautiful moment that was! It was their best Christmas present and their best night of the year! They laughed, told stories, jokes and above all it smelled of family
The days went by, without nacho being able to forget the innocence, the New Year's Eve, and the Eve of the Three Kings. But that year on the night of the Three Kings something strange happened that has followed him all his life. He woke up with a lot of noise in the room that was close to his room and with great care he got up, went outside and saw one of his brothers, Pedro, with his mother placing a big package next to the Christmas tree, which they decorated with great love. He said nothing and ran to bed thinking many things and above all with the great secret he had just learned. In the early morning she woke up her little brothers and told them that next to the tree there was a great gift. They got up and ran to see it, waking up all the others with their screams. The kings came, the kings came, ... this year the kings did come! They all came and read what was written on the wrapping, "for Maria, Tinito, Nachito and Julio, to play, have fun, share and be happy. We had a hard time finding the house but we finally found it. Keep on loving each other. Merchor, Gaspar, Baltazar. See you next year and behave yourselves".
Between the four of them, they tore the paper that covered the gift and inside a beautiful wooden horse emerged, a black rocker! Nacho was the first to ride it and felt great pleasure when he got on it, it was his first present in several years! Then he got on it, tinito, and at that moment he went to where he was sitting, his brother Pedro and his mother... Excited, with tears in his eyes, he hugged them and said in their ear "Thank you dear kings."
Eventually the little horse had wheels, and with it they flew down the neighborhood road, yes, with many falls and wounds in their legs but happy. His wooden horse died old and with it, many of his dreams. That year he also had his usual gift. A bar of chocolate wrapped in his little white paper.
What a year of kings for nachito, like that year, with his shared horse that only swung. A horse that arrived to reveal who were the real kings of his life! It was his best gift, because he did not feel bad, but he understood with much emotion, the absence of other years when he knew the secret kept from illusions and fantasies... he grew up with it and still plays with it.
His children and grandchildren still play with this illusion of the land of dreams that comes from the East.
The End
Declaration I certify that my entry to the The Ink Well Writing Prize is my own original work and has been published exclusively to The Ink Well and my Hive profile. I understand that my entry may be excluded from the Writing Prize if I have not met the Rules of Entry and the Community Rules. The Ink Well and the Writing Prize is supported by theCommunities Incubation Programme and the
curation initiative. Declaration I certify that my entry to the The Ink Well Writing Prize is my own original work and has been published exclusively to The Ink Well and my Hive profile. I understand that my entry may be excluded from the Writing Prize if I have not met the Rules of Entry and the Community Rules. The Ink Well and the Writing Prize is supported by the