“Her dress had the softness of rose petals; its tulles glittered with infinitude of sequins and little mirrors, and because it covered the body of a woman I believed I had fallen in love with her body.

You do not love me enough I told her. Sometimes I have to wait for you; you do not share my anxiety.

What is to love?

Do not ask it to me, the world is full of traps. To love is to suffer, but it is also happiness (or resembles it).

For what do you want me to love you if to love is suffering and happiness is illusory?

For us to talk.

Are we talking?

Yes.

Then I love you.

And they stopped talking. The dress was dirty, torn; it did not shine anymore in the night. Where there were its tulles and little mirrors?

One day you forgot me.

Never I forgot you. I did love your memory in the beauty of a dress said in the garden’s kiosk the two voices that nobody heard.”

Excerpt from the tale "Fidelity" from the book "Los Días de la Noche" (The Days of the Night) by the Argentinean writer Silvina Ocampo (written in Spanish). Translated by Raúl Hernández Olea