ALMOST NO MEMORY

Como si yo tuviera el tiempo del mundo. Como si hoy no tuviera que entregar exámenes y promedios de dos grupos antes de las tres pues de tres a cinco estaré ocupada en un proyecto de mi santa institución. Como si yo no tuviera otros dos grupos con exámenes que calificar. Como si el tiempo fuera mío tengo el descaro, el infinito descaro de sentarme a leer un relato de Lydia Davis y, peor aún, tengo el mayor descaro de inferir que es un cuento para mí y, mááás piiiorrr, tengo el desvergonzado atrevimiento de dedicarme a capturar un cachito y colocarlo aquí, al ladito de mis santas ocurrencias sylvíssimas.

A certain woman had a very sharp consciousness but almost no memory. She remembered enough to get by from day to day. She remembered enough to work, and she worked hard. She did good work, and was paid for it, and earned enough to get by, but she did not remember her work, so that she could not answer questions about it, when people asked, as they did ask, since the work she did was interesting.

She remembered enough to get by, and to do her work, but she did not learn from what she did, or heard, or read. For she did read, she loved to read, and she took good notes on what she read, on the ideas that came to her from what she read, since she did have some ideas of her own, and even on her ideas about these ideas. Some of her ideas were even good ideas, since she had a very sharp consciousness. And so she kept good notebooks and added to them year by year, and because many years passed this way, she had a long shelf of these notebooks, in which her writing became smaller and smaller...

Lydia Davis, "Almost no memory"