B0040702LQ EBOK (51 page)

I buttoned up my trousers as I was going slowly down the
stairs. It had grown cooler outside in the street. I turned up my
coat collar and set off in no particular direction, feeling faintly
desolate. I would like to say something out loud, but I'm afraid
I might not recognise my voice. I say nothing. At least tomorrow I can collect my German marks from the Customs and
leave, and perhaps begin to live. It's twenty-three twenty and
I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything all day and now ... But
where am I going to sleep. Who can I explain my sadness
to. I'll take good care of the tickets from Customs and Left
Luggage and tomorrow I'll decide what to do. Now I'm
going to go for a stroll about the city, although with my
unshaven face ... I do wish people wouldn't keep staring at
my overcoat ...

Translated by MargaretJull Costa

Alonso Zamora Vicente (Madrid, 1916) is a renowned
literary critic and linguist, author of the standard work on
Spanish dialectology. He was a professor at Madrid University
and at the Instituto de Filologia in Buenos Aires. Throughout
his life, he has also been, in his own words, a Sunday writer of
short stories. His books include: La voz de la tierra (1958),
Primeras hojas (1959) and Vegas bajas (1987). He won the 1980
Spanish National Prize for Literature for Mesa, sobremesa. `A
Poor Man' is taken from Smith y Ramirez (1957) a collection
of seven stories about the anxieties of life in the city.