STORIES
Felisberto Hernandez
THE DAISY DOLLS
Next to a garden was a factory and the noise of the machines
came through the plants and trees. And deep in the garden was a dark
weathered house. The owner of the "black house" was a tall man. At
dusk hi s slow steps came up the street into the garden, where the
crunching sound they made on the gravel could be heard over the noise
of the machines. One autumn evening, as he opened the front door,
squ inting in the strong light of the hall , he saw his wife standing
halfway up the staircase; and noti cing how the steps spread into the
middle of the courtyard, it seemed to him she was wearing a great big
marble dress, gathered up in the same hand that held onto the
balustrade. She realized he was tired, that he was on his way up to the
bedroom, and waited for him with a smile. They kissed, and she said:
"Today the boys fini shed setting up the scenes... "
" I know, but don 't tell me anything."
She saw him up to the bedroom door, tweaked his nose and left
him to himself. He was going to try to sleep a bit before dinner: the
dark room would separate the day's worries from the pleasures he
expected o f the night. He listened fondly , as he had since childhood, to
the muffled sound of the machines, and fell asleep. In his dream he saw
a lamp shining on a table. Around the table stood several men. One of
them wore tails and was saying: "We have to turn the blood around so
it'll go out the veins and back the arteries, instead of out the arteries
and back the veins." They all clapped and cheered; and then the man
who wore tails jumped on a horse in the yard and galloped off, through
the cheers , on clattering hooves tha t drew sparks from the fl agstones.
Remembering the dream when he woke up, the man of the black house
recognized it as an echo of something he' d heard that same day-that
the traffic, all over the country , was changing from the left to the right
hand-and smil ed to himself. Then he put on his tails, once more
remembered the man in the dream and went down into the dining
