“I’ve worked all my life as an office clerk. But when I was...

“I’ve worked all my life as an office clerk.  But when I was young I dreamed of being an important writer.  I won some prizes in my town.  But mainly I used writing as a weapon, because I was completely in love with a girl who liked reading.  At the time she was dating another boy in class who played basketball.  He was popular.  Quite a bit taller than me.  Eventually he went on to play for the national team.  And I was so shy.  I could barely speak to her.  At the end of the year I wrote her a long letter declaring my love.  She broke up with the basketball player over the summer, and when I returned to school the following year, she’d written ‘Yes’ on my desk.  Everything changed.  The world had light and color.  There was no more rain.  We’d go walking in the town center.  We went dancing.  But when Christmas came around, she told me she needed to talk.  She was getting back together with the basketball player.  So I played all my cards.  I wrote a short story.  It was about two soldiers competing for a woman’s love.  One of them was a powerful lieutenant.  The other was a simple soldier, who loved her more and later died in battle.  When I finished I asked her to read it.  She told me it was very nice, then married the basketball player.”  
(Madrid, Spain)