Colin Smith was the eldest of eight siblings in a very humble family that lived in a remote village in the Andes Mountains. He had spent his entire childhood herding sheep on the mountain and helping his mother take care of his brothers and sisters. Despite working hard since infancy, Colin had suffered from a heart condition from birth. Often, when forced to overexert himself, he would feel his heart stop beating for a few seconds; his vision would cloud, and he would collapse to the ground. He always regained consciousness after a few minutes thanks to his faithful dog, Pancho, who, as if he were an expert in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, would start jumping on his chest and licking his face and arms until Colin opened his eyes again<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, this last time Colin had fallen backward onto the wet grass next to a massive boulder, and Pancho could not turn him over. So, the dog began to jump on his back and lick the nape of his neck and throat, waiting for him to wake up, but Colin did not stir. Distressed for his friend, Pancho ran down the mountainside to where another shepherd stood with his flock. He bit a sheep by the neck and began dragging it toward where Colin lay, hoping the shepherd would follow. But the man, mistaking Pancho for a wolf, grabbed his shotgun and fired. Pancho, bleeding and feeling his strength fail, did not give up. Dragging the sheep as best he could, he managed to reach Colin's side, let go of the animal, and collapsed dead beside him <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shepherd, realizing Colin lay unconscious on the ground, hoisted him onto his back and carried him swiftly to the doctor's house\u2014the only physician in the entire region. After examining him, the doctor declared that his heart had stopped and that only an immediate helicopter transfer to the capital for a new organ could save him. Unfortunately, that was not a viable option; his family was deeply impoverished and lacked the required money. When the doctor insisted once more that only a heart transplant from someone recently deceased could save him, the grief over their son's impending death drove the parents mad. They begged the doctor to perform the transplant right then and there using the only viable organ available to save him. Reluctantly, after much pleading, the doctor agreed. Disclaiming any responsibility for the outcome, he improvised a small operating room in his clinic's waiting room and began to operate with the shepherd's assistance, under the watchful gaze of Colin's parents, who prayed while clutching a crucifix, hoping for a miracle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To everyone's joy, the miracle came to pass. From that day forward, Colin enjoyed a new, strong, and healthy heart, never again having to worry about collapsing when hastily climbing a slope after a stray sheep or leaping through the hills while playing with his siblings. Not only that, but he also began to notice that some of his senses had sharpened in a startling way. At night, after going to bed, he was able to sleep while remaining alert to any occurrence in the house or the sheep pen; he could hear their bleats of terror when threatened by a wolf, as well as the rustle of their hooves upon waking in the morning. But what had sharpened most of all, in an extraordinary manner, was his sense of smell. Now, while herding high on a mountain, he only had to bend down and sniff the grass to know if a pack of wolves was nearby, even if they were hours away. And as evening fell and it was time to return home, he would inhale deeply toward the village and know exactly what his mother was cooking for dinner that night<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was his extraordinary sense of smell that, one evening while walking down the mountain shortly before dark, made him deviate from his path home and forget his flock. He headed irremediably, as if under a spell, toward the only tavern in the village, following the trail of an astonishing aroma wafting from within. When he entered, he saw a beautiful peasant woman sitting at the bar next to the local boss's son\u2014a man everyone respected for his bullying ways\u2014drinking moonshine. Still entranced by that sublime fragrance, Colin went straight to her and, filled with happiness, ecstatically began to sniff under her skirt. Suddenly, he heard the man beside her screaming, calling him a \"filthy panty-sniffer,\" and felt the blast of a glass bottle shattering against his skull. He blacked out on the tavern floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon waking, he found himself back in the doctor's clinic, whom he had not seen since his successful transplant two years prior. He noted with joy that the beautiful peasant woman was facing him, looking at him with a worried expression. From that day on, the two began to walk together every afternoon in the mountains, rejoicing in having met and loving each other like free, innocent creatures anywhere they pleased. She would confide all her dreams for the future to him, and he would follow her everywhere, filled with emotion, letting himself be led. A few months passed this way, but gradually, even though she remained his entire life, Colin began to notice that she seemed increasingly weary of his company during their walks. She no longer caressed him and often scolded him for any little thing without reason, leaving Colin unable to understand why. On a bleak winter day, Colin waited for her for hours, but she never showed up. When at last, heartbroken and filled with worry, he returned to the village, he found her kissing the mayor's son in front of the tavern door. Filled with emotion, he began to run toward her. Suddenly, much like what had happened before, that quarrelsome bully delivered a fierce kick\u2014this time to his testicles\u2014leaving him writhing on the ground in intense pain. But she, instead of taking pity on him as she had the first time, looked at him with indifference, climbed into the bully's brand-new cart pulled by two donkeys, and Colin heard him shout furiously, \"If you don't get rid of him, you're never seeing me again!\" while she tearfully begged, saying she could not bear for such a thing to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next morning, the beautiful peasant woman appeared in front of Colin's house driving the bully's flashy cart, and they traveled a long way together through the mountains, during which Colin felt immensely happy. Shortly after, having arrived near a small creek, she abandoned him. Colin, not understanding why she was taking so long to return, waited for her for days under the cold and the drizzle until finally, desolate over her absence and feeling a ravenous, dog-like hunger, he walked back to the village using his extraordinary sense of smell. He found her again in the garden of the boss's large manor house, where she now lived with his son, the bully<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon seeing him there looking at her, she seemed glad for an instant that he had returned. But a few moments later, the bully, who had also noticed his presence, came out of the house with a shotgun. After slapping her for being in the garden with Colin without his consent, he began shooting at him, claiming he was trespassing on private property. Colin ran and did not stop until, tired and frightened, he reached the boundary of the property. He remained there motionless for weeks, waiting for her to come out of the house, but the bully seemed to have her locked up inside like a possession, never letting her leave<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, on a peaceful morning that heralded the beginning of spring, Colin saw the doors of the stable next to the main building open. Out came the flashy cart pulled by two donkeys, driven by the beautiful peasant woman. She stopped beside him and invited him to get in. Both started down that same long path through the mountains they had traveled before. She told him that she had met inside the house with a group of women from the Salvation Army\u2014all friends of the bully's mother who had come from the capital to rescue her\u2014and that she had finally understood that his behavior, standing motionless in front of the house for weeks and forcing her to stay locked inside so as not to upset her boyfriend, deserved only one name: stalking. She said she finally understood why he behaved in such a cruel and monstrous way: because he was a narcissist, and that unfortunately, the only possible solution to move on with her life was \u201czero contact\u201d. Beside her, Colin, who never stopped looking at her while he listened without understanding a single word she said, felt happy. When they reached the same creek as before, they both climbed down from the cart, and she\u2014after tying him this time to a tree with a chain she had brought\u2014abandoned him once again. Colin, not understanding why she was taking so long to return, just as before, waited for her for days under the cold and the drizzle until finally, desolate over her absence and feeling a ravenous hunger, he died.<\/p>\n\n\n
Accessed 1 times<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Colin Smith was the eldest of eight siblings in a very humble family that lived in a remote village in the Andes Mountains. He had spent his entire childhood herding sheep on the mountain and helping his mother take care of his brothers and sisters...<\/p>\n
Accessed 1 times<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,17,40,44,41],"tags":[21,19,20],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desvarios","category-desvarios-misogino","category-desvarios-therian","category-ficciones","category-narrativa","category-relatos","tag-cuento","tag-perro","tag-therian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":583,"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions\/583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.masrampinyo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}