Jorge's April

It was April, and the chilling of the winter was barely passing away.  Jorge was in his way to school, worried as usual on the traffic as he was entering the Underground station.  He passed the checkpoint as normal, just showing his transportation card to the attendant, and climbed to the first train that headed southward.

Jorge had been living there for nine months yet, and begun this school last October.  It was pretty difficult at the beginning: a new city, the language, the people around, the weather, etc.  But Jorge has been getting used to this brand new situation.  Well, the winter with its bare four hours of daylight and sub-zero temperatures were almost gone.   The snow was gone for good too.  Jorge remembered the first time he saw the snow falling.  It was a beautiful scene.  The trees were still yellow and red as it was an early snowfall in mid October and the white snowflakes with this multicolor background was an amazing view.  It went soon over, but the days were becoming shorter and shorter, and when December arrived everything was so dark.  The trees were black, the days too short, and being away from home had almost brought Jorge into a big depression.  And then this second snowfall came.  Just in time for Sancta Lucia.  It was beautiful too.  The streets and the alleys covered in white, the locals making their celebration of light.  Things had changed for a little while and Jorge was happy for the first time that winter.  But the snow soon stopped to be a novelty to become an every day reality.  Having to go to school in the middle of a snowstorm, the combination of dirt and snow in the streets and the dark days.

But those days were over now.  The train stopped at the station near the school and Jorge went off.  The spring was in the air, the scent of the flowers, the smile on people’s faces and the sunny days.  It was already cold but as Jorge realized how lucky he was a smile colored his face.