Where people hide

Alejandro lived in a small town near the jungle. He was obsessed with hiding. He hid in abandoned huts, ditches, barrels and even shadows. No other child could disappear so well. He played hide-and-seek all day long. When other children got tired of the game, he kept on playing by himself. Because for him, it wasn’t just a game.

Since his dad disappeared, Alejandro had been trying to find that perfect hiding place his father must have gone to. If he only managed to find that place, they could both hide there, together.

No one explained to him where his dad had gone. Adults just hugged him. Neighbors looked down. Mom cried and cooked dishes that he never ate because he was too busy hiding.

That day, his search took him deep into the jungle. He crawled under the roots of giant trees. He got under fallen logs. The riverbank was wet and slippery, but he still tried to hide in it. It was then that he saw the parrot on a swaying branch. The creature was so bright that it looked like a flower made of feathers. For a moment, Alejandro forgot his mission and stared at the bird with his mouth open.

The parrot tilted its head and asked:

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for the best hiding place,” the boy said.

The bird raised the feathers on its head.

“Why?” it asked.

“To join my father in his hiding place,” said Alejandro.

The parrot swayed on the branch silently for a few moments and then it said:

“I know that place.”

Alejandro’s heart skipped a beat.

“Please, take me there,” he asked.

So the parrot flew along the river and Alejandro followed. He was so nervous he couldn’t stop talking. He told stories about his father. It felt nice to talk about him.

Suddenly, the parrot landed on a bouncing leaf.

“We’re here,” it said.

Alejandro looked up and saw a long, narrow, golden ladder that reached the sky and disappeared in sunset clouds.

“You can climb this ladder. Your father is probably on the other end of it,” the parrot said. “But there is a problem. This ladder is very fragile. It cannot bear the weight of a whole life full of memories. To be able to climb it, you’ll have to leave your memories behind.”

“All of them?” Alejandro asked. The bird eyed the ladder, squeezing its eye.

“You might keep a few of them…” it said, “but really, you can’t take much.”

So Alejandro sat at the foot of the ladder and began to review his memories. He tried to decide which ones he could forget.

First came the good one: the day he and his father went down the river in a canoe. Alejandro shook his head. He definitely wanted to keep that one.

He tried with bad memories. Surely, those would be easy to discard. When his father got angry, he could look scary, like he was someone else. But Alejandro discovered that even that image was dear to him now. He couldn’t let it go. His eyes filled with tears.

“I won’t be able to climb that ladder," he said “I can’t forget him.”

The parrot sighed.

“Of course, you can’t,” it said. “Had he been easy to forget, you wouldn’t be looking for him.”

So Alejandro stood up, wiped his tears and waved the bird good-bye. He walked along the river, climbed over roots and logs, returning to his town, to his house, where his mother was cooking by candlelight.

“I couldn’t find you for lunch,” she said, not turning to him. “You must have found a good place to hide.” She put a bowl in front of him.

“I did,” said Alejandro.

His mother turned away again.

“Are you going to hide after dinner?” she asked.

“No,” replied Alejandro.

“No?” His mother glanced at him. “What will you be doing then?”

He looked at her.

“I want to listen to your stories about Dad,” he said.