The earthquake of 1940 in Lima
—Marie, go back to your seat! — Irately commanded the French nun. Today Marie would be considered a hyperactive child, but back in 1940, she was a nightmare, the fiend who shattered the sacrosanct school discipline.
The third time that Marie left her desk, mère Sophie shoved her down on the punishment chair at one corner of the classroom, and secured Marie`s apron belt to the uncomfortable seatback.
The nun then resumed the arithmetic class making the girls repeat the eight times table. When they were at 8 x 5 = 40 a murmur invaded the room, it expanded into a roar and the floor started trembling. Noise and movement combined and intensified, shaking the classroom in various waves.
They were in the third floor of an old building in downtown Lima and the French nun had never experienced an earthquake before. She panicked and ran out, followed by wailing schoolgirls.
Marie was left behind, her eyes popping out of her face and trying frenziedly to get rid of her ties.
Only Eda remembered Marie, Eda was the top class student and – fortunately for Marie – she was also calm.
Eda tried to untie Marie’s apron but had to act with energy and keep things under control because Marie was going out of her mind, cursing and kicking like mad.
Released at last, Marie ran to the narrow staircase and was appalled to see the endless mob of dark-hair heads and pink aprons that, interspersed with the nuns’ cornets and veils, looked like flocks of seagulls fluttering around roses.
Eda saw Marie’s fear crazed eyes and she was glad to have grown up amidst male cousins and brothers with whom she learnt to solve disputes by hand to hand fighting. She finally got Marie under control by exerting her leadership qualities and sheer physical strength.
When Marie realized how crowded the staircase was she tried to jump from the third floor’s balustrade but Eda wrestled with her and pinned her down on the floor. When she sensed that Marie was breathing almost normally Eda allowed her to stand up and they went downstairs together.
It was not an easy thing to do: the building swayed like a sailing ship in the midst of a sea storm, windows shattered, skylights crackled and the school walls were scarred by a seismic lion whose roaring never stopped.
In the main hall some nuns were trying to calm and organize the students while four nuns, busy like worker bees, looked after the queen bee: mère Sophie, who had fainted.
When the French teacher came to she faced Eda’s fiery eyes and heard her harshly utter one question:
—Mére Sophie, where is Marie?
The nun looked up and saw that there were no more classrooms in the third floor: only rubble. She turned pale, cleared her throat and replied:
—Poor child! It is God’s will! God’s designs are intricate and dark!
Dark were Mére Sophie’s eyes after Eda punched them both.
| March 2014 | Yolanda Sala Baez |
La Narradora 