FunCulturalThe blue crab (Saturday afternoon stories)

The blue crab (Saturday afternoon stories)

A few hours before her transformation, Irene grabbed a blue crab from among several floating in the pewter pot. Then he put it on the table and separated the soft shell. Then, he detached the pliers and extracted from the interior of the animal the fiber that crumbled when touched. As he felt, a splinter embedded itself in the index finger of his right hand and began to bleed.

Soon she took the magnifying glass out of her apron pocket and peeled off the tiny leftover pikes from the shell to clean the meat and place it in a white container, but she could not bear the prick and made an imperceptible groan to her companions, who continued in the routine of picking crabs.

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Irene felt a burn on her skin and saw the blood spilling from her finger, like water spilling from a container. He turned his back to the platform where he was grooming, for he could not bear the pain. He lowered his mask and sucked his finger, but the blood didn’t hold back.

When he looked back at the counter, he noticed that three of the ten jars he had already filled were missing. She looked at the rest of her companions with the intention of identifying the thief, but they were still far from reality, through the repetitive movement that required cleaning the crabs. The way they repeated the actions made them look like a compact circuit of machines.

Irene instantly understood the affront and noticed Dani, the whale, who was on her left. She was a robust woman who seemed to reach two meters in height, which combined perfectly with a face cracked by scars and close-fitting hair, which gave her a manly air.

Luz, her closest companion, had noticed the moment when Dani, the whale, moved from her position and stole what she could from the positions of the others. Although others also saw, they only chose to look at each other and kept silent to avoid future insults, which could well end in a cut on the face.

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However, Irene did not hesitate to claim Dani, the whale. At that moment, silence invaded the entrails of the factory, the women were left inert and Dani, the whale, emerged from his place, raised his gaze and fixed it on the eyes of Irene, who, by then, was already trembling.

Dani the whale ran towards her, pounced on her neck, lifted her with the ease with which she raised the jar of crabs, and just as she was about to leave her mark on Irene’s face, she was interrupted by Team McGregor, the chief of staff, who blew his whistle, the same one he used for women to increase production. In confused Spanish, he ordered them to be pricked again.

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Irene decided to accept the loss. He turned his attention to the prick of his finger and saw that it was beginning to form a kind of scaly crust that spread across the skin. He saw his companions with the white cap, the mask and the magnifying glass, in a trade that was only comparable to a conviction.

Two hours later, the clock struck 9:00 pm and the siren that indicated the exit spread through the spacious hall with a sound that released Irene and her other companions.

On the way to the inn, he noticed that the roughness of the finger had spread across his hand. Irene thought that if she continued like this, she would not go to work the next day. Perhaps the puncture had generated an allergy, but the sentence of Team McGregor reverberated in his mind: “No work, no money”, so he gave up his idea. At that moment, a fly began to tease her and landed right on the affected hand and arm. Irene tried to scare her away, but the bug was persistent.

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Upon entering, he found the administrator of the lodging, who, in a loud voice, as if for all other tenants to know, reminded him that he had two months without paying the rent. Irene climbed the spiral stairs with the impulse to have ignored the words and entered the room. The room had no windows to the outside, it had a small bathroom. In one corner there was an electric stove and next to it a one-person bunk.

Irene took a shower to contrast the usual fishy smell that remained on her skin. He had the sensation of tiny particles of glass detaching from his body, falling to the floor and going down the drain. But she was not concerned, although it did disturb her that her entire arm was covered with a stain that looked like a sheet of scales.

Then he went to bed and checked that the alarm clock was set for 3:00 am For some reason, Dani the whale came to mind. And he wanted to have the courage to take the knife and stab her the next day.

Irene wanted to sleep, she knew that if she came to work drowsy, she would not give up. But when he was about to fall asleep, a fly appeared and settled on his forehead; then it jumped to the ear and from there to the neck, in which the roughness that came from the arm was beginning to form, however, Irene did not notice.

After time and without being able to sleep, Irene found that she only had four hours to rest, although she could not do so because again she thought of Team McGregor and his whistle, of the screams of the accommodation manager and Dani, the whale, intimidating her. She was stunned by the insistence of the fly and realized that it was no longer just one, but three that surrounded her. He could not explain how it was possible that those insects were walking at that hour. The corrugated effect was beginning to spread all over her body, but Irene didn’t notice.

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For a moment she was able to fall asleep and as she did so, she had the feeling that she was entering a room similar to her own, only that the walls were lined with clocks that at the same time marked 9:00 p.m. Soon, Irene began to be dazed by a whistle and a shout that said: “Move it.” He saw Dani the whale again steal jars full of pulp. His body felt full of scales. He also saw a giant blue crab pacing from one side to the other, tiny blue crabs emerging from its shell and then falling apart on the ground to form a gray spout. Irene looked out into the water and was reflected. The image was beautiful and from the bottom it invited her to immerse herself. Irene dared to do it and once inside she was lost in the depth.

The next morning, surprised at not seeing her leave early, the administrator began knocking on her door. He insisted several times, screamed, but no one answered. He looked for the copies of the keys for that room and when he entered, he found a giant blue crustacean, whose claws were scattered on the bed.

The owner thought that such a device was nothing more than Irene’s device to avoid paying the rent.

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