The shadow

I'm the super of a building, where there are several apartments rented short-term to foreigners.

I'm used to seeing people from different countries pass through, but….

I was at the front desk, which you reach by a long hallway that lets me see who comes into the building. That's when I saw it, a shadow about 1.80 meters tall, with 2 white points at face height, accompanied by 2 small shadows, one on each side. All dressed in dark clothes, at a distance of 1 meter, a small shadow of about 1.50, dragging 2 enormous suitcases. The white points of this shadow were loaded with sadness, exhaustion, and maybe frustration.

I went over to the door, the first shadow pulled out a bunch of keys and a piece of paper he showed me, which was the rental receipt, which I recognized. I let them through.

The next day, dressed in light-colored clothes, I could see that her skin was as dark as I had ever seen and I wondered what African country they might come from. I noticed that once again the small shadow kept its distance from the man (the woman in the light clothes was pregnant). It hurt me to remember her pushing the suitcases, while he held his children by the hand.

That day, when I was already about to head up to my apartment, I saw the father arrive with the 2 children, playing in the hallway with a ball. That wasn't allowed, since the doors are made of tempered glass. I went over to explain that the rules didn't allow it. I tried to find a way to explain, until finally I took the ball, set it against the glass and made an explosion sound with my mouth. Three bright arcs of white teeth opened into laughter, he took the ball I handed him, shook my hand and went upstairs with his children.

He didn't seem like a bad person, he was polite, but he didn't help his wife, at that moment I saw her arrive, loaded down with packages, I went out to receive her, it was hard to get the packages away from her, she didn't understand that I was trying to help her, finally I got them settled in the elevator and the smile that lit up her face was the best thanks I could get. The next day the whole family came back, and again she was full of packages, I went to take them again to free her from the weight, the husband turned and grabbed me by the shoulders. And I could read in his gaze a mocking smile.

I kept helping her every time I saw her loaded down, until the day they left. When I said goodbye to them, it seemed to me the small shadow stood taller and her shoulders shone brighter.

I think she had realized that you can live without being someone else's shadow, what I don't know is whether the husband received the message I meant to send him.