Free The Wind From the East by Almudena Grandes Page A

away.They must have been in a hurry that morning.”
     
    Dr. Gutiérrez consulted her notes, underlining things from time to time, avoiding his eyes as she asked questions.
     
    “He was her last child?”
     
    “Yes. All the other births were fine, quite normal. After Alfonso was born, she didn’t realize there was anything wrong. She wasn’t an educated woman so she didn’t fully understand what had happened to him. She didn’t make any sort of formal complaint either—she just put it all down to the will of God.”
     
    “And she brought him up exactly like her other children?”
     
    “Exactly the same.”
     
    “So Alfonso has always lived with the family?”
     
    “Always.”
     
    The doctor smiled appreciatively at his response.
     
    “First he lived with my parents,” Juan continued, “then, when my father died, he stayed on with my mother. She was always fit and active, and very strong physically, until she had a brain hemorrhage seven years ago. So then Alfonso went to live with my brother Damián, as he was better off than my two sisters. He had a large house with a garden, in the Estrecho district, near to where we all grew up. Everybody in the area already knew Alfonso and he could manage quite well on his own. Damián was married to a girl who’d lived next door to us for years, and she was very fond of Alfonso. Her name was Charo, and he adored her. Their house was very well organized, with a live-in maid and another girl who came in the afternoons to look after their daughter, my niece Tamara, who was only a baby at the time. So Alfonso’s arrival didn’t alter their way of life too much. I’m the eldest, but I live on my own.Well, not now; I mean that I lived alone back then, and that’s why it seemed the best solution.”
     
    “So what happened?” the doctor asked. As he remained silent, she decided to press him further.“I’m only asking because Alfonso now lives with you.”
     
    “Yes.” Juan took a breath and answered in one go.“My sister-in-law died in a car accident eighteen months ago. My brother was the driver. He suffered very serious injuries, including brain damage, which was what eventually killed him seven months later. My sisters’ situations were both still very difficult—they each have three children, and the younger of the two is divorced. I’ve always been closer to Alfonso than they have and I’ve always spent a great deal of time with him. I’d take him out at weekends, for lunch, or to the cinema, and he’d sometimes stay at my place on Saturday nights. We’d go away on short trips in the summer. I tried to help my brother and sister-in-law, to give them some breathing space.As you can imagine, Alfonso can be quite exhausting. Damián and I were always very close too. I was only eleven months older than him and I knew his wife very well—we were all part of the same group of friends when we were kids. I went to visit them a lot, I often had lunch there on Sundays, and I’d stay with Alfonso and Tamara if they couldn’t find a babysitter. My niece only saw my sisters at Christmas, on her birthday or her cousins’ birthdays, so when her parents died, I decided to take care of both her and Alfonso.”
     
    “That was very brave of you.”
     
    “No.”This time it was Juan who looked away.“I simply accepted my responsibility.”
     
    “And the change of location? I expect you realized that this could have an adverse effect on your brother.”
     
    “Yes, but I was more worried about my niece.” Juan had foreseen this question.“She was deeply affected by the loss of her mother, and when in the end her father died too, she became very withdrawn, she wouldn’t speak to anyone, and she began to do badly at school. I thought it would be a good idea to have a change, to leave a house that would always remind her of her parents.”
     
    “Of course, of course, I understand,” the psychiatrist said quickly, apologetically, as if Juan’s words had