-Ya no sé más que decir. Tanto tu familia como la mía no nos puede prestar más dinero, porque ambas dicen que la situación está tan difícil incluso para ellos. Me encuentro tan desconsolada como vos -finaliza con su mirada puesta en el piso mientras que recorren lagrimas por sus mejillas.

El hombre no se da cuenta de lo que acaba de decir su esposa porque se encuentra distraído en propios pensamientos, algo que cualquiera podría notarlo al verlo a él tan inmóvil como una estatua: sentado, posando su brazo sobre la mesa, y con su mano en la barbilla.

Fugases son los recuerdos en que se llegaban a disfrutar de la opulencia: comiendo tres veces al día, tanto en casa como fuera de ella (al visitar los mejores restaurantes de la ciudad). Con grandes compras en los supermercados. Adquiriendo ropa de prestigiosas marcas, las mismas que se podían ver en las vidrieras en los más prestigiosos centros comerciales, así como también lo último en artefactos electrónicos, especialmente en temporada navideña. Las típicas charlas junto con los conocidos y amigos para pasar los ratos durante los fines de semana, degustando de los asados y licores. Y ni hablar de sus viajes a los paisajes naturales más exóticos de su tierra, o las ciudades más cosmopolitas y vanguardistas del mundo Occidental.

Ya la realidad es otra, porque la opulencia de ayer es la escases de hoy, y al recordar esto se le viene inmediatamente un nudo a la garganta, sin saber qué más podría hacer o a quién solicitarle ayuda... a menos que... claro, aquella mujer, su excompañera de trabajo en la empresa donde laboraban antes de irse a la bancarrota, y en el que, durante todo ese tiempo se coqueteaban hasta llegar a tener intimidad. Esa pasión, esa lujuria, cosa que no es fácil de olvidar, ha hecho que el contacto por saber el uno del otro se haya vuelto permanente, y en el que la distancia entre los países que los separan sea sólo el obstáculo para su reencuentro definitivo, a menos... a menos... que llegue a tomar el poco dinero que tiene guardado para volver a reunirse junto con ella, por lo que la idea le resulta excitante, en que una vez estando los dos nuevamente daría fin a todos sus males, para dar comienzo a una nueva vida.

Su rostro se llena de tanta alegría que nace una sonrisa, a lo que se atreve a decir unas simples palabras:

- Mi vida, se me ocurre que puedo hacer viaje para...

“Este relato está inspirado en los miles de casos que ocurren dentro de los hogares venezolanos, debido a la actual y profunda crisis económica”.

A LONG-AWAITED REUNION

Bankrupt businesses. People feeding on waste found in the middle of the garbage. Cost of food and other products that increase with each passing day. Hundreds of people moving to another place in order to look for a better future. These are different scenarios of the same scenario that is not encouraging at all, and that is being a mental journey that makes the protagonist of this story, who is nothing more than a married man and future father of a family, with a child that is about to be born in a few months. And that when analyzing his situation within all that has been mentioned before, makes him feel hopeless, if not depressed.

His wife comforts him as he sits at the living room table, immersed in his thoughts and with a lost look:

-I don't know what else to say. Both your family and mine cannot lend us any more money, because they both say the situation is so difficult even for them. I am as heartbroken as you are - she ends with her gaze on the floor as tears run down her cheeks.

The man doesn't realize what his wife has just said because he is distracted by his own thoughts, something that anyone would notice when they see him as motionless as a statue: sitting, his arm resting on the table, and his hand on his chin.

Like a shining light are the memories in which opulence was enjoyed: eating three meals a day, both at home and away from home (when visiting the best restaurants in the city). With big purchases in the supermarkets. Acquiring clothes of prestigious brands, the same ones that could be seen in the windows in the most prestigious shopping centers, as well as the latest in electronic devices, especially during the Christmas season. The typical chats together with friends and acquaintances to spend time during the weekends, tasting barbecues and liquors. Not to mention his trips to the most exotic natural landscapes of his land, or the most cosmopolitan and avant-garde cities of the Western world.

The reality is different, because yesterday's opulence is today's scarcity, and when you remember this you immediately get a knot in your throat, not knowing what else you could do or who to ask for help... unless... of course, that woman, her former co-worker in the company where they worked before going bankrupt, and where, during all that time, they flirted until they got to have intimacy. That passion, that lust, something that is not easy to forget, has made the contact for knowing each other has become permanent, and in which the distance between the countries that separate them is only the obstacle for their definitive reunion, unless... unless... that he gets to take the little money that he has saved to reunite with her again, so the idea is exciting, that once the two would again end all their evils, to start a new life.

Her face is filled with so much joy that a smile is born, to which she dares to say a few simple words:

- Honey, it occurs to me that I can make a trip to...

"This story is inspired by the thousands of cases that occur within Venezuelan homes, due to the current and profound economic crisis".