Hola mis queridos amigos. Hoy quiero compartir con vosotros un cuento corto. Estamos pasando tiempos muy duros y leer puede ser una manera de pensar menos. ¡Espero que os guste!
A GIRL NAMED HOLLY by Rachel Roberts.
Info: from Speak Up magazine.
Photos: canstockphoto.es / cepymenews.es / big.ben.phone.box.
She walked onto the stage to receive her First Degree in Medicine. The other graduates looked nervous, but not my Holly. She smiled confidently as she shook hands with the Vice-Chancellor of the University. She didn't see me sitting with all the other family members and friends and afterwards she walked straight to her mum and dad and they hugged her. I felt a little sad. I wished she had come to me to be hugged. I always did, but it didn't matter. I would giver her my congratulations later.
Holly has done well. A First in Medicine from Imperial College London, and now she's off to Oxford to specialize. She's a miracle really, considering her unlucky start in life. Actually, that's not true; because Holly was lucky, very, very lucky. If I hadn't been a curious type, and a cat-lover, she wouldn't be here. The thought makes me shiver.
It was Christmas Eve twenty-four years ago. I was a student myself in those days and sharing a tiny flat with two other girls. I was working on my thesis and had decided not to go home for Christmas. By evening my flatmates had left and I could hear people laughing in the street on their way to the pub for a Christmas drink. I felt lonely, so I decided to walk to the 7-Eleven shop to get a bottle of wine. It was freezing. An icy rain blew under my umbrella. I'd brought my scarf, but forgotten my gloves and my hands were soon frozen to the umbrella handle.
I bought a bottle of cheap red wine and was hurrying home, when, above the noise of the Christmas traffic, I heard the sound, a cat mewing and in distress.
At first I took no notice. I just wanted to get home. But then I heard it again. It was such a sad sound, I knew the cat must be in trouble. I love cats, so I stopped and listened. If it was trapped somewhere I could take it home. It would be company over Christmas.
There it was again. A weak, trembling cry. Wherever the cat was, it was in real trouble. The sound came from a deserted side street in the middle of which was an old red phone box under a lamp post. Most of the glass panes in the phone box had been broken. I wondered if the cat was trapped inside.
I peered inside and saw a tiny bundle on the ground, a dirty blanket, illuminated by the golden street light. It moved slightly and to my complete shock I caught sight of a tiny blue fist.
It took me several seconds to realise what I was looking at, and when I did I was terrified. It seems strange now, but my legs went weak and I backed away gasping, "No, no, no!" I couldn't face the enormity of what I was looking at: this was not a cat, but a tiny, newborn baby abandoned in a phone box on a freezing night!
I stood paralysed and then it moved again, very slowly. It cried, and this time the cry was little more than a whisper. That was it. The life rushed back into my arms and legs. I dumped the wine bottle on the ground, pulled open the door of the phone box and picked up the little bundle.
The baby's face was grey with cold, its eyes shut tight. The blanket was wet and freezing cold, so I wrapped my scarf around the fragile little body. Then with shaking hands, I picked up the phone and dialled 999.
I spent hours in the hospital. I learned that she was a baby girl. The nurses called her Holly, because she was found on Christmas night. The police questioned me and I had to do a DNA test, because, of course, they thought she was mine. Personally, I have thought of her as mine from the moment I held her.
I wanted to adopt her, but that was impossible, I was a penniless student. But I went to visit Holly every day. She soon turned into a beautiful baby. It didn't take long for her to be adopted into a good family, kind people, who, when they heard the story of Holly's beginnings, allowed me to keep in touch with her.
So Holly really is very lucky. She tells me, once she is a doctor, she wants to do some good in the world. I'm sure she will and I can't help feeling proud!
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VOCABULARY
-FIRST DEGREE: cum laude.
-GRADUATES: graduados, licenciados.
-TO SHAKE HANDS: estrechar la mano.
-VICE CHANCELLOR: Vicerrector.
-IT DIDN'T MATTER: no importaba.
-TO SHIVER: temblar.
-TO MEW: maullar.
-IN DISTRESS: con angustia.
-LAMP POST: farola.
-PANES: cristales.
-TO PEER: mirar.
-BUNDLE: bulto.
-BLANKET: manta.
-FIST: puño.
-TO GASP: respirar con dificultad.
-SHUT TIGHT: cerrados con fuerza.
-TO DIAL: marcar.
-PENNILESS: sin blanca.
-I CAN'T HELP: no puedo evitar.
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TAKE CARE MY FRIENDS!
KEEP SAFE AND HEALTHY!
SEE YOU!
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