Any Life in Havana

Any Life in Havana / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on October 8, 2015


Angel Santiesteban, Havana, 26 September 2015 — Rolando never wanted
wealth, depending on the point of view you look at it from, because
wishing for blue jeans, a good pair of sneakers and some brand name
t-shirts, carries an extra sacrifice above and beyond the daily one. It
is going beyond, through "ambition," the possibilities, that usually set
or rule an average Cuban's behavior.

Graduating from nursing school, despite the terrible food that he
endured at school, the little enjoyment of those youth years, and the
humiliation of being financially supported by his grandmother with her
precarious pension, made him walk the desired path of the "easy," and
once his Diploma was endorsed after completion of the mandatory
community service required from graduates, he experienced the bad night
shift hours at the Hospital emergency rooms, lousy professional rewards
and underpayment, and so, among many reasons, accepted the invitation to
meet an old but interesting foreigner who offered him, for one night,
the equivalent of several months wages.

Young Rolando is a regular on the Malecon, in clubs, gay bars, the piece
of beach called "My Cayito" and many places available for homosexual
gatherings. Meanwhile his nursing Diploma remains hanging on the wall.
At least that way he could pay back his grandmother, who did not get to
see his "profession" change or the prosperous life he's living now. At
times he takes flowers to the cemetery and softly, almost in the ear of
her spirit, begs her for forgiveness.

"This is crappy life I have to live, with no choices," he says
disappointed, while sucking his cigarette. "My grandmother has to
understand wherever she is … She knows I tried everything and nothing
worked."

And he starts walking along the edge of the Malecon while the
streetlights draw shadows he drags down like the ordeal of his own life.

by Ángel Santiesteban

Havana, September 23rd, on probation.

Translated by: Rafael

Source: Any Life in Havana / Angel Santiesteban | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/any-life-in-havana-angel-santiesteban/