Salt Crystals

Cristina Bendek

Chapters (14)

Salt Crystals

First published by Charco Press 2022

Charco Press Ltd., Office 59, 44-46 Morningside Road,

Edinburgh EH10 4BF

First published in Spanish as Los cristales de la sal (Laguna Libros)

The rights of Cristina Bendek to be identified as the author of this work and of Robin Myers to be identified as the translator of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Work published with support from the Reading Colombia Translation Support Programme / Obra editada con apoyo del programa Reading Colombia, cofinanciación a la traducción

All rights reserved. This book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publisher, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by the applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781913867331

e-book: 9781913867348

Edited by Fionn Petch

Cover designed by Pablo Font

Typeset by Laura Jones

Salt Crystals

Cristina Bendek

Salt Crystals

Translated by

Robin Myers

Contents

I. THE DAMNED CIRCUMSTANCE

II. NOTEBOOK OF A RETURN

III. DIVISIONS

IV. LICKLE GOUGH

V. BOWIE GULLY

VI. THE PAPERS OF TIME

VII. NORTH END

VIII. SALT CRYSTALS

IX. IGUANAS ON THE ROOF

X. THE SOUTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN

XI. CREOLES AND RAIN

XII. OTTO

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

For the islands, for their powerful spirit.

For Aura María, who rests in the sea.

Pretend that this is a time of miracles and we believe in them.

—Edwidge Danticat, Krik? Krak!

If we want everything to stay as it is,

then everything must change.

—Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard

I. THE DAMNED CIRCUMSTANCE

I’m from this island in the Caribbean.

I was born twenty-nine years ago on a curious coral formation, home to all sorts of people who have converged here, some against their will. I’m only just beginning to recognise the surreal nucleus from which I banished myself fifteen years ago, taking off like a shot after high school, which is when anyone who can escape will do. The mosquitos haven’t recognised me yet, or the sun; I’ve become more foreign than native. The expressions, the accents, the way people move and act – they all seem exotic to me now, no longer ordinary, as they once were. Every mispronounced word sets off an alarm. Every sign of overconfidence, every thrown-together plan, the lack of initiative, the sense that everything’s half-done. It all feels like knocking on closed doors, trying to wake a horde of unknown and slumbering inhabitants inside me.