A Morning in Puerto Alejandrino
Inspired by Gabriel García Márquez's novel: Chronicle of a Death Foretold
In the quiet coastal town of Puerto Alejandrino, life lazily offered itself to the inhabitants. Pablo and Pedro Vicario, two brothers known for their strength and silent resolve, continued their existence primarily unknown. However, one fated day would irrevocably change this. They were destined to become the protagonists of a grotesque act, the shadows of a death foretold.
Angela Vicario, their beautiful sister, had been married to Bayardo San Roman, a man admired for his wealth and charm. The wedding was grand, the feast was impressively extravagant, and the joy was infectious; until the groom, in a state of shock, arrived at the Vicario household with his recent bride. Angela had been returned, her honor tarnished. The revelation had been shocking, the disgrace unbearable. Bayardo could not accept Angela, not as a wife, for she was not pure. The person responsible: Santiago Nasar.
A morning unlike any other, the twins awoke with a brutal task at hand. Their honor duty-bound them to kill Santiago Nasar. Divulgence of their plans was their mode of operation, not a secret, but a public announcement. They believed that someone, anyone would intervene, saving them from the dirty work of restoring their sister's lost honor.
The town was mostly silent, agitated whispers, frightful glances, and anxious prayers were all that broke the eerie calm. Everyone knew about the looming act of violence. They saw the twins sharpening their knives, heard them announcing their intention, but no one did anything.
Hours passed like tangible shadows, heavy and dark. Word managed to get to the mayor, who dismissed it as drunk people's talk. The priest brushed it aside as a poorly timed joke. Even Santiago's closest friend, Cristo Bedoya, failed to reach him in time to warn him about the imminent danger.
The tranquillity of the town was shattered with the piercing cry of Santiago's mother. The Vicario brothers had carried out their plan. Santiago Nasar, the child of the town, lay dead in his own house, his life drained out onto the whitewashed tiles. The twins were immediately arrested, but the deed had been completed. The death, as it had been announced, was executed.
The town would remember this day, not as a celebration of a wedding but as the day of a death foretold. In the town's memory, the laughter and joy were replaced by a deep silence, a collective regret, and an unending question: Could they have stopped the Vicario brothers? A haunting question, a silent confession, a charade of life in a town living the aftermath of a death foretold.