Sunset, rapidly emptying Argentine highway, 1/8 in the tank. The nearest civilization is 300 km away. It would seem to be an ordinary place, where God himself has already forgotten the way….
Last time I was here almost a year ago – I was returning from the national swamp with capybaras. Christmas morning, ten centimeters of clay on the wheels, desperately looking for at least one open car wash. The chances of success seem to be zero, but at this gas station helped – a healthy young man, a slouch in the shoulders, with ruddy cheeks and a shy smile, was already unscrewing the corroded tap of the water pump covered with dust.
- How is it in Ibera, the roads are very muddy after the rain? The young man silently holds out a calabas with freshly brewed mate.
- And Leo’s all grown up, did you put him in the gym?
The gas station attendant has not only not forgotten me for a year, but also perfectly memorized his son’s name. And I thought hard: do soccer achievements arise in spite of or because of love for children?
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