The card

I woke up, I had fallen asleep, I had an appointment with my doctor, the very one who was so punctual about schedules. I moved my things from the white purse into the black one, it had turned cool already and I wasn't wearing the white sandals anymore. In my rush I put all the cards into the cardholder, I didn't check whose they were, or whether there were duplicates. I just gathered everything up.

I got to the office with my heart in my mouth, I opened the door and for the first time found five patients waiting. The secretary came over and explained that the doctor had had car trouble and had only just arrived, and told me that if I wanted I could go down and get something to drink, since I'd have about an hour's wait. I thanked her, I thought: what a shame, I should have brought a book, but in the rush…

I opened my purse and thought, I'll take the chance to tidy it up, I'll sort out the cards. The first thing that turned up was a torn ticket stub, all you could read was October 5, '19, which meant that scrap of a ticket was more than 18 years old. I began to remember, it must have been from when I was seeing Eduardo, my great love, he adored classical music.

Suddenly, like a flash, I remembered: the encore was a Strauss waltz, and I began to imagine an imperial ballroom, the marvelous chandeliers, the women in their crinoline gowns, the men in tailcoats, all turning to the rhythm of the music. I dozed off.

I was startled by a loud voice telling me: Come in, it's your turn. I snapped awake and walked in dancing a waltz.