Free The Yellow World by Albert Espinosa Page A

hospital but somewhere else: in an elevator, at work, in a shop.
    Because yellows (and we will talk about them in detail at the proper time) are the foundations of the world.
    The important thing to do is to look for them, to look for these roommates.
    1. Find a stranger. Someone who powerfully attracts your attention.
    2. Talk to them. Simply talk. Say what comes into your mind. Find a way to approach him or her, gently, very gently.
    3. Give them forty-eight hours. People always need forty-eight hours to lower their defenses, to trust you, to get into their pajamas, to accept someone.
    4. Enjoy your roommate.
    But this is just a start. If you find roommates outside the hospital, then you can find everyone else: the orderlies, the doctors, the nurses, the yellows.
    I don’t mean to say that you need to find doctors outside the hospital and make friends with them; I mean that there are people who can have the same effect on you as the doctor has on your body and your illness.
    1. For me, finding doctors means finding people who can cure you or listen to you. They’re necessary; they’re part of the yellow network, the network of friends. But you have to be able to divide them, set them to one side, so that you know that you can approach these yellow doctor friends when you are “unwell.”
    2. Nurses are people who can go with you anywhere, give you moral support, or share with you all the thousands of problems you have. They’re the kind of people you end up thanking for something they’ve done thousands and thousands of times, because going somewhere boring with you on a sunny summer day when they could be on the beach is something that has no price.
    3. Orderlies are individuals, lucky encounters, altruistic people who give you a hand at different moments of your life. It could be on the highway when your car breaks down, or it could be when they lend you money after a robbery. Lots of people call them charitable souls. I call them orderlies.
    We will talk about the yellows at length in a bit. Patience, patience. Let’s just build the hospital for the moment, the environment.

20
Do you want to share an REM with me?
    Nighttime gives you the strength to change the rhythm of your life. All you need to know is what you want to change and that the dawn will not come soon
.
    —Christian, somebody’s brother (I’ve forgotten whose)
    Nights are the yellowest part of the day. I like nights because almost everything is made real.
    Nights in the hospital were great. They were calm. For years the Eggheads escaped at night: We took our wheelchairs and went looking for adventure, running all over those six vast floors.
    We didn’t have wheels, we couldn’t go to the disco, but we had wheelchairs and so many places to visit and play. Every day one of us would choose a place to go, where to spend the night. My favorite was going to see the “other” Eggheads: the newborn babies. We’d go, we’d whisper sweet nothingsto them, we’d make them laugh, and they’d look at us and make their noises. It was a strange feeling: They had their whole lives ahead of them; ours were within touching distance of their end.
    I’ve always believed in the power of the night; I’m sure that the night makes your wishes come true. There were so many nights in the hospital when I felt capable of overcoming my fears and changing the rhythm of my life, although this effort has only one obstacle in its way: You have to get past your dreams, avoid the cold light of day. This is where successful people live, people who turn their dreams into reality: They can overcome the dawn. This is what Christian always used to say. He was someone’s brother but I can’t remember whose. Sometimes the visitor is more important than the person visited.
    I’ve always tried to have my best ideas born during the night: at three or four in the morning. This time of night is the right time to draw up plans. It’s as if when you are almost ready to fall asleep