The South

---

El Sur

(The South)

Fall 1957

(Dog barks)

Agustin?

Agustin?

Casilda! Casilda!

What's wrong, miss?

My husband is gone!

And Sinbad won't stop barking.

Agustiiiin!

Agustiiin!

(dials phone)

Provincial Hospital?

Is Dr. Arenas there?

This is his wife calling.

Miss! Estrella's bicycle is gone!

No, I just wanted to know

if he spent the night there.

Do you know where he could be?

Yes...

If he arrives, please tell him

to call home right away.

Yes, it's very urgent.

Yes. His wife.

Thank you very much.

That day at sunrise,

when I found his pendulum under my pillow

I felt I knew

that everything had changed,

that he would never come back home.

Well?

A girl.

Are you sure?

I'm sure.

What will she be called?

Estrella.

They told me that my father divined

that I would be a little girl

Its the first thing about him that comes to mind

an intense image, that in reality

I had only invented.

Want some?

Yes.

I kept growing while we moved around from place to place

My father looked for a full-time job.

He found it in the north,

in a city surrounded by walls

on the banks of a river.

We lived in the outskirts

in a rented house

"The Seagull. "

It was in the no-man's land

between the countryside and the city

next to a road my Dad used to call "The Border".

We'll follow the same treatment, ok?

Yes, yes.

Come on, Agustin, when do I get out of here?

I'm sick of this, man

I have to be home.

Very soon, very soon.

But you have to do what Sol Lucia tells you, ok?

And relax. Relax.

(motorcycle approaches)

Will you give me a ride?

Isn't it a bit late?

Noo. C'mon, just one.

Alright...

C'mon, get on.

Faster, faster!

Sure, sure.

Estrella!

Less noise!

Your father's upstairs.

How was I supposed to know?

If you bother him,

he can't do his experiments.

(floorboards creak)

(ball bounces noisily)

Estrella! What..

What did I tell you before?

It dropped.

Hey Mom,

Why doesn't Dad want anyone

to come into the attic?

Because all the power

he keeps in there

would escape.

I see.

That's why he locks the door?

If he lost that power,

he couldn't do any of what he does.

Where does he get it from?

From nowhere.

It's just something he has.

He's always had it?

Yes,

since he was born.

And I?

Could I have it too?

I don't know...

you're his daughter...

yes, perhaps.

Would you like that?

Very much!

Well,

now its bedtime.

Good night, darling.

Good night, Mom.

The first thing you have to learn

is how to hold the pendulum.

Take it.

Don't press your fingers too much.

Hmmm?

Ahh yes,

that's the way.

Now,

close your eyes a little

without thinking about anything

No, no

Don't grip the chain so tight

Let it stay loose

That's it

Now

you do it.

Don't think about anything

Slowly

Slow

Slow, thats it

thats it

very good.

Your mind completely empty.

Very good.

Dad! Its spinning!

Stop!

Stop there!

Its spinning!

Now he's found it.

Now he's going to check the depth.

(coins clink)

Go ahead and count them.

Well, Don Agustin, has it appeared?

Yes, the water's here.

(one, two, three...)

And how far down do we have to dig?

(Four...)

Each coin counts as a meter

(Five...)

The total equals the depth you have to dig.

(six...)

(... seven,eight.)

And how many coins are there?

Eight.

Eight meters. Thats what you have to excavate.

Well, okay, now we know what to do.

That's easy, not too deep.

My father was capable of doing things

that others saw as almost miracles

but to me

being a part of him,

they seemed the most normal things in the world.

My mother was one of the schoolteachers

retaliated against after the civil war.

She taught me to read and write.

Softly going up

and strongly going down.

A little more

more ink, wet your pen.

Oh, another inkstain!

It doesn't matter, go on

Go on

That's it.

She was with me everyday

however I have few definite memories of her

from that time.

I remember her sitting next to a window

in the afternoons

sewing my dresses,

in the greenhouse

taking care of her flowers,

in the patio varnishing old furniture

that she got from God knows where.

And at night

reading those novels she liked so much.

How is it?

Very nice.

My father's origins were, for me,

always a true mystery.

I knew nothing of his past

but it never bothered me

What's that?

Spearmint

It smells so good!

We'll bring some to your mother

to put in the soup.

For me it was enough having him by my side

for nothing else to bother me.

The story that mystery held

opened up for me little by little

through my mother's words.

In the south

it almost never snows.

What a strange place!

Hey Mom,

how come we've never gone there?

Your father left there

when he was very young

and he's never wanted to return.

Why did he leave?

He never got along with your grandfather

I've been told they were like cats and dogs

that your father was very rebellious

and your grandfather very bad-tempered.

So, you can just imagine it

what happened.

From the very beginning

these stories were like fantasies

and I filled them with images

I gathered from all over.

Not knowing the real distances involved

I located it on the other side of the globe

always with palm trees in the background

somewhere in the south.

Something happened there to my father

I never got clear exactly what

something that made him leave and never return.

One May afternoon

the day before my first communion

two women arrived from the south.

The Seagull! There it is!

Do you see it?

Where?

On top of that house,

it seems like it's flying for real!

Milagros, I don't see anything.

Pepe! Hit the brakes!

It has to right here.

Are you sure, Milagros?

If we're wrong...

I said to stop, you untrustful...

(horn honks)

I think they're here.

Run. Go to open up.

What a racket you're making, woman.

I'm coming!

Mom!

They're here!

Now I hope you behave

And where's your father?

Dad!

DAD!

Come here a moment, Estrella.

What for?

I'm going to comb your hair a little.

But I'm fine!

Please.

Come on.

Does Don Agustin Arenas live here?

Yes, we've been waiting for you.

Pepe, go ahead and unload the trunks.

I don't... I don't like it parted on that side!

That's how you always wear it.

But it looks terrible!

Its prettier with your hair up out of your face,

stop fidgeting.

When you see your grandmother, don't forget to give her a kiss.

Okay...

Okay...

I'm telling you because I know you.

Agustin.

Agustin. Agustin, my boy!

How many years it's been...

and such a shame for all of us.

You've changed so much.

Are you content?

Yes.

You're not just saying that?

How's my mother?

She's in the car

She's so-so

she had a bit of colic four days ago.

What a misfortune,

we almost had to stay home.

Go on... Go and find her.

Estrellita?

You are Estrella, right?

Yes. And you're Milagros.

That's right!

Hello, son.

How are you?

A little weak, but good.

And Estrella?

She's grown a lot, you won't recognize her.

This beard...

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