La habitación libre

Story

Hoy Laura llega al piso con dos cajas. Por fin viene a vivir aquí, a la habitación libre, al lado de la cocina. Sofía abre la puerta y la ayuda con las cajas. "Esta habitación ya es tuya", dice Sofía, y las dos miran la puerta nueva de Laura.

Today Laura arrives at the flat with two boxes. At last she is coming to live here, in the spare room, next to the kitchen. Sofía opens the door and helps her with the boxes. "This room is yours now," says Sofía, and the two of them look at Laura's new door.

Pero en la habitación hay ya muchas cosas. Hay una cama pequeña, una mesa junto a la luz y un par de libros. Laura mira todo y piensa un momento. "¿De quién es esto?", pregunta. "La cama es mía", dice Sofía. "Y la mesa también. Las dejé aquí, pero ahora son tuyas, si quieres."

But there are already lots of things in the room. There is a small bed, a table next to the lamp and a couple of books. Laura looks at everything and thinks for a moment. "Whose is this?" she asks. "The bed is mine," says Sofía. "And the table too. I left them here, but they are yours now, if you like."

Laura no quiere tomar las cosas de Sofía. "La cama, vale, pero la mesa es tuya, no mía", dice. Sofía mira la mesa y luego mira a Laura. "Es de las dos, entonces. Una cosa nuestra", dice, y las dos parecen felices con eso. Después miran los libros. "Estos no son míos", dice Sofía. "Eran de otra persona. Ahora pueden ser tuyos."

Laura does not want to take Sofía's things. "The bed, fine, but the table is yours, not mine," she says. Sofía looks at the table and then looks at Laura. "It belongs to both of us, then. A thing of ours," she says, and the two of them seem happy with that. Then they look at the books. "These aren't mine," says Sofía. "They were someone else's. Now they can be yours."

Poco a poco, Laura pone su ropa en la habitación. Saca una foto de su madre y la deja sobre la mesa, junto a una luz pequeña. "Esta foto sí es mía", dice. La habitación es blanca, la luz es buena, y la zona, como ya sabe Laura, es muy tranquila.

Little by little, Laura puts her clothes in the room. She takes out a photo of her mother and leaves it on the table, next to a small lamp. "This photo really is mine," she says. The room is white, the light is good, and the area, as Laura already knows, is very quiet.

Después de un rato, la habitación libre ya no parece libre. La cama es de Sofía, la foto es de Laura, la mesa es de las dos. Cada cosa tiene su lugar. Laura mira todo con las manos en la cara y piensa que, por primera vez, este sitio es de verdad su propia habitación. Está feliz. "Gracias por todo", dice. "El piso es tuyo, pero la habitación ya es mía."

After a while, the spare room no longer seems spare. The bed is Sofía's, the photo is Laura's, the table belongs to both of them. Each thing has its place. Laura looks at everything with her hands on her face and thinks that, for the first time, this place is truly her own room. She is happy. "Thanks for everything," she says. "The flat is yours, but the room is mine now."