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| Mural a Penelles - una fotografia de Fra Miquel * Relats d'estiu de la Carme: mes d'agost: El banc mágic |
The ultamative End of Children of Love
A few hours later, lights are on in the newsroom of the Concord local newspaper. A tired-looking man, clearly in foul mood after a restless night, is typing the following report on his typewriter; it is to appear in the next day’s edition in place of the 38-line preview of the local philatelic society’s upcoming anniversary:
CONCORD, 8.19. (hdt.) A horrific, senseless double murder was discovered yesterday evening in
Concord. Passers-by found the bodies of John (78) and Mary (76) Adams in their
garden. The police, who had been alerted, managed to apprehend the 13- and
15-year-old perpetrators in a remote barn that very night.
As Lieutenant Frank Corey (46) explained, they had just been trying to hide a chequered blanket – which they had used to wipe their knives – under a bale of straw.
This blanket, bearing the initials M.A., was identified shortly afterwards by neighbours as belonging to the victims. The boys then confessed immediately.
When asked what had driven them to commit this atrocity, the older of the two stated: “We just wanted to see what it's like. The old folks wouldn’t have had long to live anyway, would they?”
The parents of the two boys, to whom they will return on court order until the trial begins, are devastated.
One of the mothers, Liberty W. (34), wept in disbelief: “How could the children do that? They had everything.”
© hrj 1978 / 2026
Quin canvi de registre! M'has deixat amb la boca oberta 😯
ReplyDeletePobres vellets, ara que ja ens els estimàvem...
Moltes gràcies, Sean per la teva segona participació.
Una abraçada
Perhaps I shouldn’t have ruined the idyll of ‘El banc mágic’.
DeleteHowever, especially in those years, I took great pleasure in surprising readers with completely unexpected endings.
Una abraçada, Carme!
Contestant el meu comentari a la primera part del relat, em vas dir que estaves segur que no em sorprendria saber que aquell final no era el definitiu. És cert, la sorpresa no ha estat que la història continués sinó que continués d'aquesta manera. No m'esperava gens aquest final tan tràgic i impactant. Molt ben pensat!
ReplyDeleteSalut!
Thank you very much, dear Mc!
DeleteThe story’s origins are linked to my reading of Thoreau’s *Walden* – hence Concord (hdt.) –, some excesses of the ‘Women’s Liberation’ movement – hence Liberty W. (34) –, and perhaps also because I’d been reading a lot of Roald Dahl at the time.
In other words:
Even in an idyll, terrible things can happen at any moment; even if it’s just the children of oh-so-emancipated women murdering a peaceful old couple just for fun.
Una abraçada!
So sad, it does happen and it's a shock and a tragedy every single time.
ReplyDeleteWhen already the writer felt somehow guilty at ruining such a tender story, what ought perpetrators in real life to feel.
DeleteUn gir poc esperat, encara que aquestes històries passen més sovint del que voldríem...
ReplyDeleteAquesta segona lectura m'ha portat nous detalls. ;-)
Petonets, Sean.
New details? You make me curious. ;-)
DeletePetonets, Paula.
Desde luego no me esperaba este desenlace y su trágico final. Que triste y cruel realidad el hecho de los actos que algunos jóvenes comenten solo por saber que se siente. Muy fuerte.
ReplyDeleteSaludos desde España
I remember feeling miserable, letting such a heart-wrenchingly beautiful story end like that, dear Núria.
DeleteLa paz de la noche.