“Amanecerá y veremos.”1 Pedro learned and lived by this phrase from an early age and throughout his life. The motto assured him that the future could not be predicted. This made him live his life without expectations. All he knew was that the sun rises every day. Plans may become facts, but whatever hopes and expectations someone has may also result in disappointment.
For Pedro, things were never what they seemed. Mistrust was embedded in every action and decision, particularly when these involved other people and their promises. He probably inherited this stoic nature from his relatives, who lived by the same principle and therefore looked at the past like a succession of pointless memories, and did not hold any reason to look forward to the future. Nothing mattered, nothing was worth putting their heart on the line for. All you knew was that the sun rises every day and the rest would reveal itself in due time.
In contrast to her father, Dora had the enthusiastic nature of her late mother. She maintained high hopes for any new opportunity, even though she was continuously battling her desperation for survival, attempting singlehandedly to solve all the difficulties of her family. She bought a lottery ticket every Friday with whatever was left of her wages; she lit candles to a host of saints and virgins; she sprayed the house with holy water and would never kill spiders, in case they were the sign of a good surprise.
After Pedro’s accident, Dora became the breadwinner of the family while he was reduced to working with his shoeshine box in Parque de los Periodistas. He also looked after his grandchildren so that Dora could work more hours on weekends. Income was an uncertainty for Pedro and Dora, but she was in charge and took on the duty of looking after her two young boys and her father, as if accepting God’s punishment for her unwanted pregnancies, bringing children into the world out of wedlock and without the blessing of the Church.
Dora looks forward to wearing a uniform and working in a place where she does not have to clean up other people’s mess. Quitting her job as a maid with Doña Perla, la familia Ortiz and Doña Sofía was risky, but Dora wanted to stop comparing the wealth of the patrones2 while she struggled to afford the basics. Dora’s new job in Almacenes Tia starts next month, six days a week from eight to seven, and it is a blessing. She would earn a minimum but steady wage every month, instead of the random cash in hand from the patrones, who regularly seem to forget to pay her what was agreed.
Pedro used to secure jobs for himself as a labourer and helped Dora find jobs like the one at Doña Perla’s house. To him, Dora’s patrones seemed generous: they gave her extra money for the bus, gifts for his grandchildren. Even some of the toys from Nena, Doña Perla’s granddaughter, ended up in their home. He couldn’t understand Dora’s expectations about working in a store. Since Pedro had arrived in Bogota, he had viewed employment as a linear sequence of events: he turned up, did what was asked of him, and waited to be paid at the end of the week. The simplicity of this agreement worked well; a job was a job, not an adventure, nothing extra to hope for, nor to bring him happiness or prompt grief. His occupation now, waiting for someone to come for a shoeshine, replayed the linear sequence of events. To him, Dora’s plans and hopes seemed naïve and pointless.
They both agreed to ignore the issue to avoid arguments, as long as she could provide for everyone in their household.
(…to be continued…)
Footnotes
1. Literally, Spanish for: “It will dawn (the sun will rise), and we’ll see.” Transposed to English, something like: “Time will tell” or “We’ll see what happens.”
2. Bosses.
Transadaptation Volume 7 – Via Ellipsis – Continuation of Uncertainty, Instability and Extremes Transadapted
January: An Unexpected Trip Down Memory Lane – Sarah-Leah Pimentel (South Africa)
February: Blow-up – Veronika Groke (Austria)
March: Futuros Murguistas – Alejandra Baccino Uberti (Uruguay)
April: The Nomenclature Man – Paulius Limantas (Lithuania)
May: Amanecerá y veremos – Adriana Uribe (Colombia)
June: Finding Light in Yerevan – Armine Asryan (Armenia)
July: The Last Judgement – Nadia Silva Castro (Brazil)
August: Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Worm? – Narantsogt (Natso) Baatarkhuu (Mongolia)
September: Second Steps – Jonay Quintero Hernandez (Spain)
October: New Normality – Svetlana Molchanova (Russia)
November: Pandemic Love – Li Xiakun (China)
December: Beyond Comprehension – Rahaf Konbaz (Syria)
Background – Context
Transadaptation Volume 6: Meaning? – Uncertainty, Instability and Extremes Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2025)
Transadaptation Volume 5: Of Flowing Vicissitudes – Life Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2024)
Transadaptation Volume 4: Material Dissent – Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2023)
Transadaptation Volume 3: Evanescent – Young Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2022)
Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)
Transadaptation Volume 1: In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)
Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)
L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)
From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)
Emblems and stories on the international community
Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world
Credits
Background photo: Medellin, Colombia – Stacked – Carlos Martinez (Unsplash)
Insert photos from top left (clockwise): 1. Medellin, Colombia – A person – Carlos Martinez (Unsplash); 2. Bogota, Colombia – Time will tell – Carlos Martinez (Unsplash); 3. Medellin, Colombia – Waiting – Carlos Martinez (Unsplash); 4. Bogota, Colombia – Walking home – Carlos Martinez (Unsplash); 5. Bogota, Colombia – Taking a break – Carlos Martinez (Unsplash)