Photo by Xavi Palomera
There was this little playground I used to go with my granddad when I was a kid. It was not much, actually, just an outdated slide, a sandbox for toddlers and two plain and rustic swings chained to a metal bar.
In summer time, my granddad took me there every late afternoon when the sun was beginning its daily descent behind the mountains and the heat was more bearable. I really loved my granddad. He wasn’t much of a talker, but in his silent ways made it pretty clear that he loved me as well. Don’t ask me how I know it. There are things that words cannot communicate. But they are real.
My granddad died one October morning when I was 9 years old. And maybe because I was too old already or because without him it was not the same, but I never went back to that playground.
Decades later, I find myself back there. But this time there won’t be silent anymore. Now it’s time to talk.
Los Columpios (The Swings) by Roger Simeon premiers at IATI Theater on November 7, 2015. http://www.iatitheater.org
