The photograph

I was sitting in a plaza in Tucumán, resting from some professional conference days where we'd gone to present a paper. I was relaxed, enjoying the sun and the beauty of the place. A man came up with a camera and asked my permission to take a photograph of me.

«What do you want it for, if you don't even know me?»

«Every year, there's a photography contest. And you seemed to me, with the peace and relaxation of your face surrounded by the charm of this plaza, a good subject».

«What do I get out of it?»

«You get a beautiful photograph, a keepsake from Tucumán».

He asked for my details to send me a copy after the contest. He took equipment out of a bag, measured the light, the distance, and after several tries, finally took the photo.

I went back to Buenos Aires, hopeful to see my famous photo, but it never arrived. I forgot about Tucumán, about the photo, the whirlwind of the city absorbed me.

A long time passed and one day I get home and my mother tells me: «the postman brought a very strange envelope that says ‹Careful, do not bend!› written in red». Curiosity makes me drop my purse and everything I was holding, I take the envelope, I can't get the flap open. I run to get the letter opener. Finally, I open it. I put my hand in and pull out a newspaper clipping. «Results of the top photography prizes» listed from one to ten with the photographers' names and, underlined in red, number five.

I go back to the envelope. There inside is her, the photograph. I look at it, surprised, there's something that moves me, the photographer managed to capture that moment of peace and happiness I was living. Believe it or not there are photographs that speak. And this is one of them.