by Édgar Omar Avilés (translated by Toshiya Kamei)
“This quail tastes great!”
“Quail? It’s mushroom soup, Marcos…”
“The ones I brought back from Oaxaca? They are not mushrooms!”
“Well, they must be very good. You asked for another plate a while ago.”
“This is my second plate, Rebeca!”
“No, it’s your third, honey… Hey, what do you know! Sofía got her first tooth!”
“Didn’t they seem strange for mushrooms?”
“I thought they were transgenic… Sofía is pregnant!”
“Well, it tastes like quail soup…”
“The doctor says my tumor may be due to menopause…”
“And is it benign or malignant? This…needs salt. Rebeca?”
“I’m Sofía, Dad. We are at Mom’s wake.”
“Do you think your mother’s soup needed salt?”
“Hang on, grandfather! The doctor is on the way. Say something!”
“Do you think your grandmother fried them first with butter?”
“Of course, I always make mushroom soup that way, Marcos…”
“Rebeca! I’ve gotta tell you about the hallucination…”
“Easy now, honey. Here in the cemetery you’ve got plenty of time for that…”
―¡Está muy rica la codorniz!
―¿Codorniz? Es sopa de champiñones, Marcos…
―¿Los hongos que traje de Oaxaca? ¡No son champiñones!
―Pues deben de estar muy buenos: hace rato pediste que te sirviera otro plato.
―¡Este es mi segundo plato, Rebeca!
―No, es el terecero, amor… Oye, qué crees: ¡a Sofía ya le salió un diente!
―¿No se te hicieron raros para ser champiñones?
―Pensé que eran transgénicos… ¡Sofía está embarazada!
―Pues me sabe a sopa de codorniz…
―El doctor dice que mi tumor quizás es por la menopausia…
―¿Y es benigno o maligno…? Le falta sal a… esto. ¿Rebeca?
―Soy Sofía, papá. Estamos en el velorio de mamá.
―¿Crees que le faltaba sal a la sopa de tu madre?
―¡Aguanta, abuelo!, ya viene el doctor en camino, ¡dime algo!
―¿Crees que tu abuela los frió primero con mantequilla?
―Claro, así siempre hago la sopa de champiñones, Marcos…
―¡Rebeca!, tengo que contarte el alucine…
―Tranquilo, amor, aquí en el cementerio tendrás mucho tiempo para eso…
Édgar Omar Avilés was born in 1980 in Morelia, Michoacán. He is the author of several books, including the story collections Cabalgata en duermevela (2011) and No respiramos: Inflamos fantasmas (2014), as well as the novels Guiichi (2008) and Efecto vudú (2018). His short stories have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including The Airgonaut, New Flash Fiction Review, and Queen Mob’s Teahouse.
Toshiya Kamei holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Arkansas. His translations of Latin American literature include books by Claudia Apablaza, Carlos Bortoni, and Selfa Chew.
(And also from Édgar and Toshiya, enjoy Melodental. – Elephants Never)