Radio Lanzarote has already chosen the three winners of the XIV edition of the Radio Lanzarote Summer 2024 Micro-story contest. This fourteenth edition wanted to pay tribute to the writer Miguel de Unamuno in the year that marks the centenary of his exile to Fuerteventura.
Apart from the three winning texts, special mention has also been made of seven other participants for the quality of their micro-stories.
The winner of the first prize was Roberto Tejera de León with a micro-story without a title, who has won a dinner for two at the Jameos del Agua restaurant. For her part, the second winner was María José Torres with her text El Pargo, who takes as a prize one of the unusual experiences for two people in Montañas del Fuego. Finally, the third prize went to Itahisa Manso Hernández with a work without a title and with which she will be able to enjoy a brunch in the Cactus Garden.
First prize
Without title
Author: Roberto Tejera de León
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto. It was her. It had to be her. Who else could magnetize his gaze like that? The memories, now drowned in bourbon, were not enough to stop what his voice longed for so vehemently.
–Eugenia?
The girl turned around, and Augusto's face broke down into a mixture of bewilderment and stupefaction. It wasn't her. She retained her figure. Yes. And her hair, loose and brown, gave off that particular coppery sheen. But it wasn't the same look. Nor was her smile, small and tiled. Then, his ill-fated judgment reminded him that she was no longer there. That she had left. And she would never return.
Second prize
Title: El Pargo
Author: María José Torres
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto Puerta Salazar: el Pargo. The only one in his family with that nickname, and very proud of it for that reason; one day his descendants, when they arrive, will be called the sons of el Pargo or los Parguitos. And although he and his family think that it is because he is the son, nephew and grandson of fishmongers, this baptism arose as a consequence of the discreet taunts of an old cunning man from the town who, slyly and with great success, observed and spread the rumor that, from a very young age, the boy's face would turn into a hake's face when a girl passed by the place.
Third prize
Without title
Author: Itahisa Manso Hernández
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto. Although, as Estela affirmed, legends are like that, decorated so that they can conquer even the most arid lands. The maiden was not human. You could see through her, but you never knew if the image she returned to you was real. The maiden my grandfather spoke so much about was his most desired freedom. The one they stole from them, the one they subjected to long hours of work, the one that only had the size of a few. My grandfather saw it clearly, he saw how she left, making noise, raising the wind, opening cracks in the ground, but no one believed him.
Fourth finalist
Without title
Author: Roberto Tejera de León
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto.
–Where have I seen her before? –he wondered, while replicating his steps, hollow and extinguished by that perennial haze.
When he was close enough, he held her gaze. It was full of nothing.
Uninhabited. Empty. Alien to thoughts and emotions. She was beautiful, yes. But also fragile. Faint.
She had suffered.
The girl stopped in front of a whitish marble slab. Tears soon ran down her cheek, heavy and bitter.
–Are you okay?
But she ignored him.
Then Augusto saw it, and, instantly, the desire to grab life vanished between his hands. There, carved in marble, it read:
Rest in peace, Augusto.
Fifth finalist
Title: Semáfoto en rojo
Author: Juan Jesús Beiro Caamaño
“In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto, who advanced without moving his feet. Those two eyes in the nape of the maiden's neck led him, or rather dragged him, now out of the city, along a dark path... They were two beacons in the night guiding him towards a safe harbor. They were the eyes of God trying to show him some universal truth... And then, they began to ascend. And the stars no longer seemed so far away. And they continued to ascend. And Augusto caressed full happiness. And, when they were reaching their destination, he woke up, lying in the middle of the street, with the strident sound of an ambulance siren.”
Sixth finalist
Without title
Author: Basilio Ledesma Brito
"In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto…"
…As soon as he contemplated her graceful figure he knew, it was her. It couldn't be anyone else. He would recognize her wherever he saw her as long as he retained a thread of life and some of his senses.
Attracted by the indescribable magnetism that always characterized her, a strange force prompted Augusto to follow her, but his feet stopped even before starting the march. His already meager reasoning reminded him that she was not the same. Possibly he wasn't either anymore. Being aware of this terrified him, so he preferred to stay longing for what would never return.
Seventh finalist
Title: Solitude
Author: Ana Lidia Márquez Morales
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto. He followed her through the sandy areas and through the badlands. He sought shelter for both when the rains came. She told him her sorrows in a foreign language and he hunted when she couldn't find bread. One day, Augusto woke up and she wasn't there. He looked for her everywhere and, finally, in the street where he had met her, the maiden's smell completely vanished. Augusto remained there, howling at the stars, glittering, like her eyes.
Eighth finalist
Title: Infinite blue
Author: Alma Sky
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto, whose heart, until now inert, felt for the first time one of those heartbeats that are never forgotten, a heartbeat that squeezes your soul, devouring every part of your being, waiting screaming for a soft caress of tenderness from that blue-eyed girl.
The immensity of the ocean slept in those eyes full of life. Eyes that never met again with Augusto's melancholic heart.
Ninth finalist
Title: Departure
Author: María Carmen Delgado Hernández
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto embraced life, but life pushed him and he fell into the hole of his fears. He said goodbye to his body that had given him so many joys. There lying between four wooden boards, he looked at her fixedly and she returned his gaze. Her sunken sockets like water troughs, refused to close, she wanted to continue looking at her as she had always done, but little by little her eyelids were falling like the night. Until only hearing a voice say. - Goodbye my love.
Tenth finalist
Without title
Author: Itahisa Manso Hernández
In this a dog did not pass by the street, but a graceful maiden, and after her eyes went, as if magnetized and without realizing it, Augusto. He was like that, my Augusto, my husband, my friend, the father of my daughters. Passionate but faithful. So faithful that he gave his life for what he thought was a good cause and now... What will become of him if he has nothing left but stubble of memory? What is left for the man, when his memories have been replaced by lagoons that only provide darkness? His eyes... are so similar to the fog, you sense that they hide something, but you can't see what. You will no longer be able to answer me dear, we have no light left. My husband, my friend...
The Radio Lanzarote Micro-story Contest is sponsored by the Centers of Arre, Culture and Tourism of Lanzarote.
