A Charming Life: Twelve stories about the future

By Alicia Fenieux

Fulbert is fully happy, the system provides him “a charming life”. However, real life continues there, stalking, inescapable, and nothing can avoid the unforeseen circumstances of fate.
Through twelve stories, Alicia Fenieux invites us to visit a future where real life coexists with fictitious realities as well as holograms and avatars do so with humans of flesh and blood; a world where the longing for the past is as strong as the fascination that arouse science and technology. It is the daily life of the years to come with its intimate, disconcerting and also ferocious dilemmas; a future in which we have lost, among other things, empathy, the real contact with the other, closeness to nature.
A charming life. Twelve stories about the future, a book that provokes laughter and at the same time, disturbs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Editorial Forja
• Release date: Aug 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9789563383898

Book preview

King

The Forest of Kai

He liked dusk. It was a time when he used to go to the beach, sit down among the rocks and whittle wood while the warm sun bathed his skin.

That day when sunset arrived casting its earthy tinge, a whisper, or perhaps a presentment, made him scan the horizon. Coming from the east, Remigio saw a huge landing boat making an approach. He jumped to his feet, surprised. Unknown vessels very seldom arrived there. He rolled up his pant legs and waded into the sea. With his strong fisherman’s arms, he helped to drag the boat out of the water and pull it up onto the shore.

As soon as the three visitors disembarked, a cold wisp of suspicion came as a warning to Remigio. Seamen usually ignored the Island of Kai. There was nothing on that stony islet that made it worth the risk of crossing the treacherous currents of the South Pacific. However, the way the visitors greeted him with a firm handshake caused him to display a large toothy grin and bid them welcome.

The men took a break and remarked amongst themselves about the prevailing peace. Then, they redirected their attention to Remigio who remained standing beside the group trying to figure out the reason for their visit.

We have been told that there is a native forest on the island that is a place of real beauty. Could that be true? asked one of them.

Remigio nodded in assent and, in a flash, a sign of contentment illuminated the faces of the recent arrivals. That sparkle in their eyes did away with his initial mistrust and encouraged him to go on and talk about the forest. He told them of the virtues of the boldo trees, the taste of the pine nuts and the centuries–old life of the araucarias trees. That small nature reserve was the pride and joy of the Kai islanders. When a sunny day managed to get them out and about, they would make an excursion to that dimly–lit and ever fragrant place and consider themselves to be lucky. Emboldened by the silence with which they listened to him, Remigio invited the three visitors to get to know the forest. The group followed him in a good mood to the highest part of the island.

Remigio was one of the few young people that remained on Kai of his own free will. At his twenty–two years of age he had the freedom of his inexperience combined with the advantages of adulthood. He could do or forgo doing as he pleased and do so according to the dictates of his own nature or the circumstances of his environment. He loved those surroundings. Each time he went to the mainland, his longing to return made life unbearable. He yearned for the smell of the sea and the trees, the song of the birds and crickets, the customary calm in town and the fury of the waves in winter. Nostalgia tied up a knot of pain in his chest that only loosened itself when it was time to go back to the island.

Despite the poverty and the hardships of life on that remote island, Remigio lacked nothing. He had Teolinda, his beloved couple. They had been sweethearts since their infancy as well as cousins, friends and neighbors growingup together. They additionally shared the same broad frame, dark, innocent eyes and bushy head of hair. But she had a wisdom and sure–fired determination that were hard to find on Kai and, certainly, were not to be found in Remigio.

The day of that visit, the only person able to foresee the risk of showing off the forest to some strangers was Teolinda.

They are not bad people, he remarked. Why not bring them in to the prettiest part of the island?

Both leaned to rest on the rough solidity of a great eucalyptus tree in the Kai thicket, their lovers’ refuge on summer nights.

And what if they should come back? Teolinda looked him directly in the eyes.

It’s a protected park. They are not going to cut it down. What could we have here that would be of interest to them?

A week later the visitors returned, this time accompanied by a pair of foreigners. They located Remigio, greeted him effusively as if they had known him for a long time and asked him to guide them to the forest once again. Upon arriving, each of them approached a tree and hugged the tree trunk. They remained in silence for several seconds with their eyes closed and face pressed against the tree bark while Remigio looked at them without understanding what it was all about. He loved that forest, but it did not seem to justify such rapture.

The strangers bid farewell to the trees slowly as if they were waking up from a snooze. They returned to the cove, boarded the landing boat and, upon saying good–bye, promised to return. Remigio, still puzzled, watched them sail away toward the breakwater.

Visitors started to arrive in small groups. They came from coastal cities on the mainland across from the island. They disembarked somewhat fearful of the waves. Upon regaining their strength after their trip by sea, they headed for the forest accompanied by a guide. They greeted the villagers when passing through the town. Once they arrived among the araucarias, eucalyptus, canelos, peumos and arrayanes trees, they always did the same thing: they hugged the tree trunks.

Who are these people you brought here? Remigio asked the owner of the boat that had landed on the island.

The man was having a soft drink while waiting for the group to return. He rested his back against the bow of the boat and replied with undisguised irony.

What else? Tourists, naturally.

Why do they hug the trees?

The boatman finished his soda and tossed the empty can into a trash bin placed on the beach. The trashcan was full of empty cans as a result of the large number of visitors that afternoon.

How should I know? It just became popular and that’s all there is to know. And don’t be stupid… Take advantage of it. These guys bring money.

The boat traffic continued on the increase as did the loads of tourists brought to Kai. Remigio, sitting on the rocks at the beach, offered to play host. He liked to join in with this flow of people who were always in a happy mood. Without any conscious intention, as had been the case with everything of any importance he had done in his life, he started to guide groups to the forest. He showed them the singularities of the woods that only he knew. He told them the history of Kai and always found the right time to ask them why they hugged the trees. They transmit the wisdom of the earth… Because there are no longer any trees that old… To feel the energy of this place… It´s known they have healing properties. Each person had something different to answer and gave him a tip at the end of the excursion. After two months, Remigio had a bag of money under his bed, but with few chances to use it. He also experienced a growing, undefined disturbance of his mood.

The islanders spontaneously began to emerge from their isolation. They showed up on the edges of the family farms, lost their mistrust and were keen to satisfy the small demands of the visitors: Something to drink?… Is there a bathroom around here?… A little something to eat? When the flow of people stabilized, a wharf had to be built at the most sheltered spot on the bay.

Little by little, where chickens formerly had scratched and pecked the ground unhurriedly while the old folk took a siesta nap in canvas deckchairs, there now sprang up an incipient trade of businesses. Remigio’s parents opened up a home–cooked meals stand, and Teolinda’s parents set up a coffee stall beside their home despite her opposition. The spiraling enthusiasm swept up the rest of the neighbors and did away forever with the quietude of the islanders. From then on, nobody was able to live according to their natural