“What are you listening to, Dona Eduviges?”
She shook her head, as if she had awakened from a dream.
“It’s the horse of Miguel Paramo that is galloping out there on the road from Media Luna.”
“Then someone is still living in Media Luna?”
“No, nobody lives there now.”
“Then, what about the horse?”
“It’s only the horse that runs back and forth. They were inseparable. It runs all over the place still looking for him, especially at this hour. Perhaps the poor thing is plagued by remorse. Since even animals realize when a wrong has been done, isn’t that so?”
“I don’t understand. I haven’t heard the sound of a horse.”
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
“Then it must be my sixth sense. A gift that God gave me; or perhaps a curse. Only I know how much I have suffered because of this.”
“It all began with Miguel Paramo. I was the only person who knew what happened to him the night he died. I was in bed when I heard his horse coming by on the way back to Media Luna. I was surprised, because he never came back that early.
He usually arrived when it was beginning to get light. He was going to see his girlfriend in a town called Contla, some distance from here.
He left early, and was late coming back. But that night he didn’t come back...
Do you hear it now? I can definitely hear it once more. The horse is now coming back this way.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Then it must be me. All right, as I was saying, the idea that he didn’t come back was just a rumor. His horse had just gone by when I heard someone tapping on my window. God only knows if it was just an illusion. The truth is that something made me go to see who it was. And it was him, Miguel Paramo. I wasn’t surprised to see him, since he had sometimes spent the night in my house, sleeping with me, until he met that girl who swallowed his brains.”
“What’s going on?” I asked Miguel Paramo. “Did she leave you in the lurch?”
“No. She still loves me,” he said. “The thing is, I couldn’t find her. The town had disappeared. There may have been some fog, or smoke, or I don’t know what. But I know now that Contla does not exist. I went even farther than I planned, but I could never find it. I came to tell you, because you understand me. If I told anyone else, they would say I was crazy, like they always say I am.”
“You’re not crazy, Miguel. You must be dead. Remember, they told you the horse was going to kill you someday. Don’t forget that, Miguel Paramo. Or maybe you did something crazy, and that is something else.”
“I only jumped over the stone wall that my father had ordered them to build. I made my horse, Colorado, jump over it, in order to avoid going a long way around until I reached the road. I know I jumped over it and kept going but, like I told you, after that there was nothing more than smoke, and more smoke.”
“Tomorrow your father is going to be very upset,” I told him. “I feel sorry for him. Now go on, and rest in peace, Miguel. I‘m grateful that you came to say goodbye to me.”
From Pedro Paramo, by Juan Rulfo