Two word short story

31 thoughts on “Two Words”

1. I’m intrigued by the idea of a person who is a keeper of words. How is that supposed to work? If she just made the words up herself, they have no value because no one will know what they mean. If she got them from the dictionary, they are open to everyone, so why would anyone buy them? Based on context I am guessing this is set before technology or education became prominent in society, but I fail to see the allure of buying words that are truly free to anyone. It makes me think of a novel I read once- All Rights Reserved- where the government charged people to speak once they hit a certain age. The colonel wants to keep the words to himself to the point it’s almost as if he is unable to speak them. They drive him mad. In addition, I think one could compare this story to 1984 by George Orwell. It feels as if speaking comes at a cost and words are not really free for all. It’s interesting to think about.

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2. The story seemed interesting at first. I thought it was going to be a story of adventure and survival. However, as the story progressed, I got puzzled. It was like the author was going down a deep rabbit hole. What was happening? Why would people want to buy words? It was interesting to see how someone who had nothing make a living out of selling words. When she says “selling words,” does she mean that Belisa is a writer? Why would she help the colonel and El Mulato if she knew that they caused a lot of chaos and violence? I did not understand the main point of this story. It feels like the story is set in a dystopian world where society is broken and where everyone fears the leaders. I hope we get to dissect and analyze this story. I want to fully understand what is happening in the story.

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   1. I love so much of this, Ian! You’re right that there is something weird about how Belisa is “selling words.” It feels like she’s more than just a traditional writer, and there is a very dystopian feel to the backdrop.

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   2. When reading this story I also got a sort of dystopian vibe from it. I really like how you acknowledge this and how you compared it to going down a rabbit hole. Going down a rabbit hole seems to describe this story perfectly.

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3. When reading Two Words I just was waiting in anticipation of what would happen next. But the way it was written seemed so intentional that it matched what I imagined of Belisa. The story did not seem fast or rushed. I found myself reading the story slower than I do other stories because I felt inclined too. It definitely got me thinking and curious when she told the Colonel the two words and why he was so obsessed with them. Did that happen when she told everyone else their word? Do they always slowly die? And more importantly, did she know he was going to die because of her words? If that is true, then that makes her seem as more of a villainous character rather than a hero or savior. One of my theories when reading the story was in order for him to achieve his dream of becoming president, she had to give him the words so he could focus on that and soften his “voracious-puma eyes.” And that is what it took for him to feel loved and honored by his people.

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   1. I love your theory, Sarah. I have a very similar one myself 🙂

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   2. I agree with you-the idea that Belisa helped the Colonel win the people’s favor by softening him with her words.

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4. I read this story slowly, even re-read parts, as it was one of the most interesting stories to me so far for this assignment. I loved how descriptive and detail packed it was. I wonder how being a word seller works-are these words that already existed? Were people in Belisa’s country illiterate and she was needed for ideas and the teaching of words? I’m guessing that Belisa makes up the words she sells, because we read that when she was learning to read and write she bought a dictionary and “poured over it from A to Z and then threw it into the sea, because it was not her intention to defraud her customers with packaged words.” I was anticipating a climax later on in the story but there never really was one. I would have appreciated hearing the speech that Belisa sold to Colonel, as well as her bewitching two words, but I guess the absence of them was what kept the reader reading. The cat-like imagery used to describe Belisa and the Colonel multiple times was intriguing. Colonel is described as a puma, Belisa a mountain lion. I assume that the last events of the story (Belisa and the Colonel holding hands as well as Colonel’s eyes softening) signal that the two fell in love? In the end, not knowing the two words, or their meaning, made me obsessed with Belisa alongside the Colonel.

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   1. (I thought of this right after posting the first comment) Two Words also reminds us the extreme power of words-that something you say has the power to deeply affect someone for years on end.

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      1. I agree with you Olivia. One big thing I took away from this story was the importance of words and their deep effect and this is not only shown with Colonel’s obsession with his two words but also the idea of buying words and making sure that you use your few words to the best of your ability to make them count.

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5. At first, I thought this story took place in some sort of dystopian reality where the government somehow managed to make words cost money. It seemed like such a hard concept to grasp, but I realized that it actually made sense in a way. Belisa saw how little people knew how to read or write and capitalized on it, because she realized how powerful of a skill reading/writing was. But it’s sad to see that this business model would be able to thrive, since ideally we would want people to be able to make their own legal arguments to be able to receive pensions. But Belisa was also in a tough situation, she said herself she could either: become a prostitute; work in the kitchens of the rich; or sell words to people. I think the point of the story is to realize the power of literacy. The Colonel is the perfect example, he is known for pillaging and fighting wars and he is feared. But in reality, he just wants to be praised and welcomed which is why he wants to become president. But since he’s illiterate, he can’t write a speech that will move people to vote for him, when he (forcefully) employs Belisa he is doing so in order to achieve a dream. My question is what does the relationship between the Colonel and Belisa represent? Or more specifically what does the Colonel’s crush on Belisa represent?

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6. This story helped me understand the power in which our words carry. At first, I didn’t know why or how anyone could make a living by selling words. Why would you need someone to tell you words you probably already know? As I read on to find an answer to this question, I realized It isn’t about knowing the words but rather knowing how to use the words. When the Colonel requested that Belisa would make him a speech, It showed that he didn’t know how to bring the correct words together to do it himself. One thing that still confuses me is possibly the main idea of the story, which is the two words that Belisa said to the Colonel. What were those two words, and what is their significance? These words evidently have a huge effect on the Colonel since there is a point when he believes it may prevent him from becoming president. Perhaps this was because Belisa saw the wrong intentions in the Colonel, and it was her way of stopping him from doing any damage. The things in this story can be directly related to things today, such as giving speeches, performing, writing, etc. These all require the use of correct wording.

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7. This story I feel is to remind us of the worth of words. At first, I was a little confused how Belisa could make her living off of selling words, but then I realized that she not only entertained and educated people by reciting and crafting words but that she also connected people and spread their stories. I found it strange how while the Colonial became closer to achieving his goal, the two words Belisa told him had such a grasp on him that his men wondered if he would die over his obsession with the words before achieving his goal. I also found it strange that a war leader wanted to become president not just to rule but rather to be loved by the people and win their hearts.

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8. The detail the author put into describing who Belisa Crepusculario was and how she came to be the woman she is helped a lot with visualizing her character. This story shows how powerful words can be. It seems to me that the Colonel was struggling with accepting that he needed those two words he was given to soften his “voracious-puma eyes” so that he could get what he wished for and win the favor of the people. This drove him deep into madness. Deep into the melancholy that Belisa’s words were supposed to take away instead of inflicting. So this led me to question whether or not everyone else she sold words like this to, were tormented like the Colonel was. I also noticed that the author refers to the man as “the Candidate” several times instead of how he was introduced in the beginning as “the Colonel”. Perhaps, this is a representation of this man’s constant battle with who he was, “the Colonel ” and who he wished to be, “the Candidate”.

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9. Two Words did not progress the way I expected. It explained in the beginning that Belisa came from a very poor family, had her siblings die, and had to venture off alone. This made me think that this would be a story about survival and the harsh conditions. Similarly to both Morning Exercises and Cattle Praise Song. However, this story seems to say that writing and literature can be stronger than force. A girl who once had nothing but the will to survive that learned to read and write somehow overpowered a chief with a strong powerful army through writing alone. The author put in a lot of metaphors in the story to explain to help understand what was happening. For example, when the chief was first seen, she noticed that his eyes were like a voracious puma. But by the end, after she gave him his speech and his two words, his eyes softened just at even the sight of her. This was a great way of showing how the pen is stronger than the sword at times.

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10. I found this story very intriguing. How could one sell words? I was very confused at first and struggled to grasp the concept, but once I did I found it fascinating. It’s incredible how Belisa was able to make a life for herself out of nothing but her determination. She went from not knowing writing existed to selling her words for a living. It confuses me why someone as smart and brave as Belisa would help the Colonel and why he wanted her help in the first place. I am also highly confused by the two words. What were they and why did they cause the Colonel to go mad? I wonder if the words were even real. Maybe they were witchcraft like El Mulato said. Maybe Belisa said the same thing to all her customers causing all of them to go mad, or maybe it wasn’t bad at all. Maybe it was a blessing, and she helped all her customers in some way. Maybe the Colonel wasn’t going to die but live to become a great ruler. There are so many different possibilities. I feel as though I understood everything and nothing about this story, and that’s why it’s like nothing I’ve ever read.

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11. I enjoyed this story very much. This story felt very different from anything I have read before because of its ability to make something so abstract as words and make them feel concrete. The idea of selling words was so interesting to read about and think about especially when freedom of speech is so important in the USA and we say so many words in a day without even thinking about it. One thing that really stood out to me was how at the beginning it talks about how Belisa Crepusculario thinks that words are so special because they “make their way without a master.” This stood out to me because it feels like by the end of the story, Belisa Crepusculario is like the master of words. One thing that also stood out to me was the contrast of Belisa Crepusculario in the early part of her life when she barely knows what words are to when she is selling words later in her life. One thing I wonder is where the idea of selling words comes from. Did something inspire the idea of selling words? One thing I think this story teaches us is that words are precious. This story made me reflect on how we use words all the time without thought but the idea of putting a price on words really made me think about how important words are. Putting a price on something makes a person think about using the thing wisely and the idea of buying words and using them well made me realize that we shouldn’t waste our words but we should put meaning and thought behind everything we say. This reminded me of a time in an english class where we read something that said words are free so we use however many we want to tell stories. Although these are the exact opposite, I think they are both important. Although words are free to use and we should use lots of words to get our ideas out to the world, I think the idea of putting a price on words is something important to think about because it gives us perspective on how important everything we say is. This story was very well written, I enjoyed it very much and I loved the way it made me think about using my own words wisely.

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12. This story made me think of the power of words. There is a reason the opposition and power dynamics are diffrent in todays society, especially in America, is that so many of us can read and write, allowing to a full understanding of topics and tensions, as well as experiencing us in argument building and such. When Belisa reads the Colonel the speech, he does not even understand it, but every is amazed by it. With Belisa being able to play around with words in this pay, she is a very powerful and persuasive person, who could easily dominate the scene for politics and leadership, because her knowledge of words have a way with the uneducated. I also found the “two words” thing very interesting. In the last few lines it calls them “witchcraft,” however I do not believe that it is “witchcraft,” just the power and privilege of knowledge and literacy. We can often find that when something is said with over-complicated and “fancy” words it makes us think that that person is more knowledgeable and more important, even if those words are simply filler and meaningless.

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    1. I like how you pointed out that Belisa knew the power of her words and used them wisely. People who didn’t have the same privilege weren’t able to recognize her simple words for what they actually were and called them “witchcraft”.

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    2. I think this is a VERY important point, as humanity often calls things they don’t understand “witchcraft”

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13. “Two Words” seemed to have a lot of unanswered questions. It started off with an interesting character, Belisa Crepusculario, who chose her own name and journeyed far and wide selling words. A traveling merchant is a concept I have seen in stories plenty of times before. However, instead of having an image of haggling with strangers for the highest prices, Belisa has a low rate of a few Mexican cents per word request. This introduces the idea that words should be easily obtained and generally free for the public, but also that unique words and true stories have value. She was able to build a whole career and life from her minimal understanding of words on the day she escaped the wilderness. Her skill with words is so great that the notorious El Mulato and the Colonel from the rebel group summoned Belisa to help them break their reputation of violence and force. I particularly loved the direct comparison between Belisa’s first visit with the Colonel and how they both changed leading up to the second visit, most explicitly shown in the state in which Belisa abandoned her tent. I’m curious to learn more about the intentional lack of detail about the story’s setting.

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14. I found this story to be quite confusing. The idea to “sell words” came as a surprise to me. Knowing this wasn’t a real profession, I was confused on how the story would progress. The only way I can interpret this story is in the most literal way possible. The main character grew up in poverty, meaning gaining the skill of reading and writing was a somewhat of a blessing. I feel as if the author was trying to really emphasize the power of words and how meaningful they are. Using this gift, the main character was able to spread knowledge and meanings to others, emphasizing the importance words possess. Overall, I enjoyed the story. I wonder if there are any deeper meanings I missed.

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15. During my initial read of the short story, the idea of selling words grabbed my attention. It made sense to write letters to individuals, tell stories, and distribute poetry for money. However, I wasn’t sure what she meant when she gave people their own individual words. If they were words that had meaning and were freely available, then everyone would be able to use them, and there would be no need to purchase the words. I was really interested to know what the two words Belisa said to the Colonel were as I read the story. Was the Colonel dying as a result of what Belisa said, or was it something else, and if so, did this happen to everyone or just the Colonel? This got me thinking about something else: the words Belisa spoke to the Colonel stayed with him for many years, and similarly, the words we say may affect others and stay with them for many years as well.

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    1. I think the idea of her giving people their own words meant that she would never repeat them for another customer, that they were tailored for that one client to evoke a specific emotion or response from them. The words were free for the public to use, but people would pay her to to leave them with something uniquely theirs and profound.

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    2. I think the idea of her giving people their own words meant that she would never repeat them for another customer, that they were tailored for that one client to evoke a specific emotion or response from them. The words were free for the public to use, but people would pay her to to leave them with something uniquely theirs and profound.

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16. The use of characters is not only the characters themselves, but also shows the importance and function of characters. With her words, Berisha conquers the colonel’s cougar eyes. Although Beliza comes from a poor family and the colonel is a very powerful person, Beliza can always conquer him through words. That’s the power of words. I think The reason why Berisha is so persistent about writing is that she understands the importance of writing and wants to conquer people through writing to get the sense of superiority that her native family can’t get.

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17. This story intrigued me because a woman “selling words” was really interesting and unique. Normally we think of selling books but this feeling feels different. It is as if she is selling to people who have no idea what words are and using knowledge to her advantage. Belisa is so skilled and talented with using her words that even the Colonel came to her to get help making a speech because he knew that she was so good at using her words to their advantage. Two Words seem to be sending a message about how words can change peoples perspective and lives. Their emotions are controlled on what people say to them and what they hear.

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18. I really liked the premise and the description in this story. Belisa selling words once she realizes the power they hold was really cool, and I think it made me reflect on how powerful well crafted speech can be. I think that she acts like a blacksmith in this story. A true artisan of their craft, creating something so good it forces the consumer to think about it. There was a clear backstory for what Belisa does, and I think this story really makes us think about how powerful even a short message can be. Two words ruins this war hardened Colonel’s ability to function. The two words that Belisa whispered to the Colonel were able to soften his hard nature, and the Colonel “caught himself savoring them in his leisure time.” Whenever he would think of them, he would seemingly become infatuated with her and fondly remember the moment in which she whispered his words to him. The only thing that sets the colonel free from this is holding her hand, giving into his love for her, softening his eyes and no longer being the loneliest man in the world.

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19. This was definitely my favorite story out of all. I loved the uniqueness of the plot and how, in the end, love was found. I enjoyed how this story highlights the importance and impact words can make to someone. It may not be as impactful as they were to the Colonel compared to modern day, but I liked how the author presented this idea. I also liked the love interest she incorporated into the story. It was the classic bad boy meets shy girl, but with a twist. Usually this type of plot is utilized through a high school setting with the jocks, nerds, and theater kids, but I liked how Allende incorporated this in her story. I liked seeing Belisa’s hard work and determination slowly rise to her succes that even the Colonel wanted to speak with her. She was successful after undergoing through so much and built her name out of almost nothing. I also liked how Belisa didn’t take advantage of reselling the dictionary for profit. Once Belisa came into the Colonel’s life, his life changed for the better after that. Although El Mulato couldn’t see this change for the Colonel’s benefit. I feel like in his case, one must experience it to understand it. Why didn’t Belisa just stay with the Colonel after they first met? Does Belisa ever get any credit for her speech?

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20. This story is really interesting to me especially because the story really captured my attention. I envy the passion and talent Belisa has for words and writing. When she first discovered words I felt slightly bad for her since sh had such a horrible life before and she had to leave home to find her passion. However, it was inspiring to see that she was never hindered to do something else and she was fixed on selling words. I’m really curious what those two words she told El Mulato were seeing the way they affected him, but I also think it’s good the story never tells us to keep the mystery of the two words more engaging. I cannot imagine how the words of Belisa touched all the men when she wrote the speech. I had a very enjoyable time reading this short story because the plot was fascinating and Belisa’s character was very lovable as she is a strong and talented woman.

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21. The entire story was around the power of words. But we never got to know any of the words Belisa sold or wrote. The title was “Two Words” and the story was around the two words that Belisa gave to the colonel. I feel like the author is trying to have us think about what words mean to different kinds of people. Different words are sold to people with different needs. While not telling us what words Belisa sold or had, the author made us think about what words do we need, or what words do we think the people needed in the story. Allowing the audience to imagine or fantasize what do words really mean.

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 Two Words by Isabel Allende is a captivating short story about the “magic of words”. Belisa, the protagonist, sees that words have innate value, and as she travels across the country through towns and cities and villages, she allows others to see that same innate value words hold. Although there is no real magic in the story, it’s written with a fascinating mystic feel to it. The story was published in the collection The Stories of Eva Luna (1989) and translated to English from Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden in (1991).

“Two words” is an emotional story of suffering and fate. Belisa Crepusculario, the protagonist of the story, was never given any name by her parents nor was she baptized. Thus, she named herself using the words “beauty” and “twilight”. She changed her tragic fate and fought her poverty by using the “power of words”. She traveled all across the country to sell words of many kinds from news to stories, to poems, and advice.

Since childhood, Belisa had to endure a lot of hardships. Tormented with hunger and pathetic conditions, all she ever knew was suffering. When she was twelve, there was a drought where she lived and as a consequence, her family died and she had to bury them by herself. She feared that her death was near as well and thus she embarked on a journey to save her life. She left her barren homeland and traveled towards the sea hoping it’ll provide salvation. It wasn’t an easy journey. Many failed. But she pushed forward, no matter what. When she finally reached a place with water, thereby some twist of fate she first encountered words and their magical abilities. She knew there were not a lot of honorable positions for her to work, to escape prostitution and other humiliation she thus chose to sell words. With her last dime, she brought a dictionary and asked a priest to teach her how to read and write.

Her life wasn’t the same after that. She submerged herself in her new profession and people lined up to listen to her speech. She moved from place to place and wherever she went she brought along the news from other parts of the country. She would also give people advice and recite stories without missing a word. She not only entertained but also helped people. She would give secret words to end their sufferings. The person who got these words kept them secret, and in times of difficulty, they helped the person cope with problems. She lived a nomad life, moving around with her tent and her words.

One day she was approached by El Mulato a feared rebel and the right-hand man of their leader, he and his men forcefully carried her away to their leader. They were a rebel group who fought wars and induced terror wherever they went. The leader, called the Colonel demanded to see her because he required her services. He was the most feared man in the land but when she saw the Colonel, she strangely felt sympathy for him and wanted to comfort him. The Colonel explained that the reason she was brought there was that he wanted her to write a compelling campaign speech, he was planning to run for president. The Colonel was tired of people being afraid of him and wanted to be respected and loved by everyone. Belisa agreed and wrote a speech for him and in addition, she gave the Colonel two secret words even though he didn’t ask for them. While Belisa is leaving El Mulato tries to touch but he is met with “an avalanche of words he had never heard before” and his desire for her stops there. He becomes afraid of her words.

After a while the Colonel used Belisa’s speech to win the hearts of the citizens, it was a very persuasive and emotional speech. He inspired people with his poetic delivery. The people believed that the Colonel was capable of leading the country towards a bright future. However, soon the Colonel became very restless because of the two words Belisa had given him. He repeated them all the time and was tormented by the effect they had on him. El Mulato noticed his leader’s distress and tracked down Belisa. He accused her of witchcraft and demanded that she must take back her words and end his leader’s suffering. Belisa looked at the Colonel and when their eyes met she approached him and held his hand. The colonel’s men then knew that the Colonel will now never be able to break free from that magic. We never learn what those two words were but it is widely believed that the two words are “Te amo,” Spanish for “I love you.”

Two Words | Analysis

The short story “Two words” uses magic realism to tell a touching story about a struggling poor girl, Belisa Crepusculario. The vivid descriptions and images of suffering at the beginning of the story convey the helplessness of Belisa. The story is very engaging as most of its elements are mysterious; it sparks curiosity in a reader. Right from the start, we are introduced to the main protagonist in a cryptic manner. From the first sentence, Allende is showing her audience the power of words. Belisa gave herself her name, meaning she created her own identity and in some ways her destiny as well. She sold words that brought wonder, happiness, and information to people, and in turn, she became very popular. She has built her reputation in such a way that people were drawn towards her and compelled by her words. It’s as if her words had magic. People paid her in exchange for her powerful words which often told about each other’s doings, about distant relatives, about what was happening in the civil war. People also used her words to write love letters and gain advice. Her prices were not very high, for five centavos “she delivered verses from memory, for seven she improved the quality of dreams, for nine she wrote love letters, for twelve she invented insults for irreconcilable enemies,” again her mystical powers are emphasized. She can help people improve their dreams meaning her words are powerful enough to even get a stronghold of a person’s subconscious. In reality of course such things often don’t make sense but magical realism doesn’t always follow logic. Even though there is never any real magic used by Belisa, Allende used this literary technique to covey the “magic” words have, they have a certain power that can get hold of people and influence the way they feel. We often see it in real life, when people are affected by songs, movies, and books.

“Each person received his or her word, with the assurance that no one else would use it that way in this universe or the Beyond,” Belisa gives a unique word to each person who pays 50 centavos. She creates original content for her audience and doesn’t want to “defraud her customers with packaged words” and that’s why she throws away her dictionary. Since people believed whatever she said if she wanted she could make up words or tell lies and create fake sensations or controversies but she doesn’t. She remains original and uses honesty, to be direct with people. We never learn how she manages to find so many words or how she convinces people so easily and that gives her a magical aura. She might have learned words from a priest but nobody taught her how to control words the way she did. The way she manipulated words and people’s minds are all her original art.

She is an excellent speaker and she recites stories without missing a word that is why people trust her. Her straightforward and sincere demeanor makes her a strong character. She is even capable of creating political and legal arguments. She uses her talents to share the magic of her words with people and bring some happiness into their lives during the turbulent time of the Civil War.

The essence of the story is the power of words. Ironically, Allende creates her magical impression on the readers by not revealing words. The words Belisa tells people or the two secret words she told the colonel, we never learn about them. This creates a magical mystery that stirs the imagination of the audience. Even after the story ends readers wonder what those “two words” could be and this way the story lingers on the reader’s mind for a longer time. The magical secret words given to the Colonel are so potent that his men want to “undo the witchcraft of those accursed words,” but the mysterious words whispered to him had taken hold of his mind. It is often believed that those two words could be “Te amo” meaning “I love you” in Spanish and that’s why they influenced the Colonel so deeply. However, we don’t actually know if this theory is correct. 

The vague ending creates opportunities for multiple possibilities. If we knew what those words were there would be nothing holding our attention. This mystery intrigues our curiosity and activates our imagination. Allende keeps the story’s stronghold on the reader’s mind similarly to how Belisa’s words did on the Colonel. By not revealing a lot of information Allende manages to imply that words are powerful. Some words catch the attention of the readers and get a hold of their.

Two Words | About the Author

Born in 1942 Isabel Allende is a Chilean-American writer. She is well known to use magical realism in her famous works. She’s considered one of the most popular Spanish writers of all time and she has many awards such as; Chile’s National Literature Prize in 2010 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.

By Isabel Allende

She was called Belisa Crepusculario, not by her baptism or on recommendation of her mother, but because she sought the name until she found it. Ever since, the name had adorned her. Her profession was to sell words. She toured the country, from the tallest and coldest mountains to the hottest coasts. She would settle in fairs and in markets, where she would mount the four poles of her tent with a linen awning which would protect her from sunlight and rain so she could attend to her customers. There was no need of advertising her business because her nomadic lifestyle spread the word like wildfire. There were those who had been waiting for years. And when she finally appeared in the village, they would form a queue outside her stall under a branch. Her prices were reasonable. For five cents, she gave prefabricated words; for seven, she would improve the quality of the dreams; for nine she would draft love-letters; for twelve, she would frame insults for the worst of enemies. Belisa also sold stories. But they weren`t fantastic tales. They were long, real stories that she would recite flawlessly. Soon, the news spread from one village to another. The people would pay her extra to add a line or two. A child was born, so-and-so died, someone’s children got married, the harvest caught fire, they all went to her. Everywhere, a small crowd gathered around her to hear her speak. They would learn about the lives of others, distant relatives, fascinating tales of the Civil War. To anyone who gave her fifty cents, she gave them a secret verse to drive away melancholy. It was different for everyone, of course, otherwise it would be a collective delusion. Each one received their own, with the guarantee that no one else used it for that purpose in the Universe or beyond.

Belisa Crepusculario had been born in a poor family, so poor that they could not even afford names for their children. She entered the world and was raised in the most inhospitable region. Some years, the rains would become avalanches of water, inundating and sweeping everything away with it. And in others, not even a drop fell from the sky and the sun would inflate so as to take over the entire horizon, turning the land into a desert. Until she was twelve years old, she had no skill or virtue to survive the hunger and fatigue that existed for centuries. A long period of drought saw Belisa Crepusculario burying her four younger brothers. And when it was her turn, she decided to walk over to the plains towards the sea. Belisa wanted to see, if on this journey she could dodge and deride death. The land was eroded, with deep crevices strewn with stones, fossils of trees, thorny bushes and skeletons of animals roasted by the heat. At times, she would stumble across families which, like her, were heading towards the south in search of a mirage of water. Some had started the journey with their belongings perched on their shoulders or on wheelbarrows, but could barely move their bones dragging the weight. After walking a little, they had to let go of their things and continue bearing just their own weight. They crawled laboriously, their skin turned into that of a leather lizard, scaled and peeling off. Their eyes were scorched by the bright sunlight from the sky. Belisa did greet them with a wave as they passed by but did not bother to stop, because she could not afford to waste her efforts in being compassionate. Many fell on the way but Belisa was so stubborn that she succeeded at crossing Hell and finally arrived at the first springs-fine threads of water, almost invisible, feeding a rickety vegetation. These springs later became streams and estuaries.

This way, Belisa Crepusculario not only saved her life but also accidentally discovered the art of writing. On reaching a village along the coast, the wind landed a newspaper cutting at her feet. She took the yellow, brittle sheet and kept observing it for a long time without thinking much about its possible use until curiosity got the better of her shyness. She went over to a man who was bathing his horse in the same muddy puddle where she went to quench her thirst.

“What is this?” she asked.

“Sports section of the newspaper.” replied the man showing no astonishment at her ignorance.

The answer left the young girl stunned. Not wanting to seem cheeky, she withdrew herself from inquiring further about the significance of the flies painted on the paper.

“They`re words, my child. Here it says that Fulgencio Barba defeated Nero Tiznao in the third round.”

That day, Belisa Crepusculario learnt that words do not belong to anyone and they`re free to be used by all. She discovered that anyone with a little skill can train themselves to do wonders with words. She considered her situation and concluded that besides prostitution or working as a servant in the kitchens of the rich, there were very few respectable things that she could do for a living. Selling words seemed like a decent enough alternative. From that day, she adopted that profession and never entertained another. At first she provided her services unaware that the words could also be written outside of newspapers. When she found out, she evaluated the infinite scope of her profession and all the countless things she could do with the knowledge of words. She paid twenty pesos of her savings to a priest to learn to read and write and with the remaining three pesos, she bought a dictionary. She memorized the words from A to Z and later threw it in the sea as she did not intend to cheat customers with prefabricated words.

Many years later, Belisa Crepusculario was seen at the centre of the market square, sitting under the shade of her tent, selling arguments of rights to an old man who had been hoping to receive his pension due from twenty six years. It was a busy day in the market and there was a lot of humdrum around her. Suddenly, gallops and screeches were heard. Belisa Crepusculario looked up from her writing and saw a cloud of dust followed by a group of horsemen, who had barged into the marketplace. They were Coronel`s men who had come there on the orders of the Mulato, a giant known all over the region for the swiftness of his knife and his loyalty towards his boss. Both-the Coronel and the Mulato, spent their lives engaged in the Civil War and their names were synonymous to bloodshed and calamity. The warriors entered the village like a stampeding herd- noisy, bathed in sweat and leaving behind a frightening hurricane as they passed by. Chickens flew everywhere, dogs went helter skelter, women fled the scene with their children and there wasn`t another living soul in the marketplace except Belisa Crepusculario. She on the other hand, was extremely shocked to see the Mulato walk in her direction, because she had never seen the gigantic man before.

“You are the one I have been looking for!” he screamed, pointing his coiled whip at Belisa. Before he even finished talking, two men threw themselves at her, smashing into the awning and breaking the inkstand. They fastened her legs and hands behind her in a cross and put her on the back of Mulato`s horse like a sailor`s suitcase. Then they started galloping towards the hills.

Hours later, when Belisa Crepusculario was at the verge of dying, her heart turned into a desert from the sand inhaled by the constant jolts of the horse, she felt the horse come to a halt and four powerful hands place her on the ground. She tried standing up on her feet and holding her head up with dignity, but her strength failed her and she collapsed with a sigh, sinking into an obfuscated dream. She woke up hours later by the murmuring of the night but did not have time to decipher the sounds. The Mulato was staring at her impatiently, kneeled down at her side.

“Finally, woman. You`re awake!” he said, reaching out for his water-bottle and handing it to Belisa so she could drink the strong concoction of brandy with gunpowder from it, and revive herself.

She asked the Mulato why she was being manhandled like that and he told her that the Colonel required her services. He let her splash water on her face and took her to the extreme end of the camp where, the most feared man of the country, rested on his hammock which was tied between two trees. She could not see his face because it was eclipsed by the shadow of the foliage overhead and the indelible darkness of years of living as a bandit. But she thought that the man`s expressions were forgivable for he addressed her with such humility. She was surprised at his voice, soft and fine-tuned, like that of a soothsayer.

“Are you the one that sells words?” he asked Belisa Crepusculario.

“At your service,” she babbled, scanning the darkness to catch a glimpse of his face. The Colonel got up on his feet and the light from the torch that he carried, gave him a face. The woman saw his dark skin and fiery eyes of a puma. She knew, at that very moment, that in front of her was the loneliest man in this world.

“I want to be the President.” he said.

He was tired of travelling that damned land of useless wars and defeats that could not turn into victories by any amount of subterfuge. He had spent years sleeping in the open, getting bitten by mosquitoes, feeding on iguanas and snake soup. But all these minute struggles weren`t reason enough for him to change his destiny. What instigated him the most was the terror and fear in other people`s eyes. He wanted to enter villages under arches of triumph, walk through colorful flags and flowers. He wished to be applauded and gifted with fresh eggs and warm baked bread. He was fed up of watching men elude, women run away out of fear and all creatures tremble, every time he passed by. Therefore, he had decided to be the President. The Mulato suggested they go to the capital, gallop into the Palace and take over the Government, just like they had taken so many other things without asking or seeking permission. But the Colonel was not interested in becoming yet another tyrant, they already had a lot of those. Moreover that way, he would not be able to win the affection of the people. His idea was to be elected by public voting in the upcoming December elections.

“For this, it is important that I speak as a candidate. Can you sell me words for a public speech?” the Colonel asked Belisa Crepusculario.

She had accepted many assignments but nothing like this. However, she could not refuse because she was afraid that the Mulato would shoot her between the eyes, or even worse, the Colonel would go into mourning. Moreover, she got a sudden urge to help the Colonel because she felt a throbbing heat in her skin, a powerful desire to touch that man, to run her fingers along his skin, to embrace him in her arms.

The whole night and for a major part of the following day, Belisa Crepusculario searched for the appropriate words in her repertoire for a Presidencial speech. She was closely guarded by the Mulato, who never took his eyes off her firm legs and her virginal breasts. He dismissed the harsh and dry words, the ones too flowery, the ones discolored by abuse, the ones offering false promises, those devoid of the truth and those that were confusing, only to accept those that were able to stir the thinking of men and appeal to the intuitions of women. Making use of all the knowledge purchased from the priest for twenty pesos, she wrote a speech on a piece of paper. Thereafter, she motioned the Mulato to untie the rope which fastened her legs by the ankles to a tree. They led her once again to the Colonel. On seeing him again, she felt the same palpitating anxiety of their first meeting. She handed him the paper and waited as he observed it, holding it by his fingertips.

“What on earth does it say here?!” asked the Colonel, finally.

“Don’t you know how to read?” answered Belisa Crepusculario with another question.

“What I do know is war.” he replied.

She read the speech out loud. She read it three times so her customer could engrave it in his memory. When she was done, she saw the excitement on the faces of the Colonel`s men who had gathered to listen to the speech and then saw the Colonel himself, whose yellow eyes now shone with enthusiasm. He was now confident of winning the elections with those words. The presidential throne shall certainly be his.

“If the boys are left awestruck after hearing the speech thrice, we`ve surely secured ourselves a good place in the elections.” The Mulato said, approving the speech.

“How much do I owe you for your work, woman?” the Colonel asked Belisa.

“A peso, Colonel.”

“Well, it`s not a lot.” he said opening his bag suspending from his belt, containing remains from his last loot.

“Also, you are entitled to a small gift, Colonel. I will give you two secret words.”said Belisa Crepusculario.

“How is that?”

She went on to explain that for every fifty cents a customer paid, she gave them a word, exclusively for them. The boss shrugged nonchalantly. The offer did not seem very tempting but then he didn`t want to be rude to the woman who had served him so well. She calmly approached the stool where he sat and bent over to give him the gift. His senses were tickled by the mammalian scent flowing from this woman, the heat from her derriere, the gentle brush of her haIR against his skin, her minty breath whispering in his ears the two secret words he was entitled to.

“They`re yours, Colonel,” she said retreating. “You can use them all you want.” she added.

The Mulato accompanied Belisa to the roadside, his lustful eyes on her like that of a stray dog. When he reached out to touch her, she stopped him with a string of devised words that were powerful enough to drive away his desire, for he thought they were some kind of an irrevocable curse.

In the months of September, October and November, the Colonel delivered his speech innumerable times. It was as if the glowing and impactful words would turn to ashes if he wouldn`t use them so intensively. He toured all over the country, entering cities with a triumphant air, stopping by even at the most forgettable places, where only the trash-can indicated human presence. All this to convince voters into making him the President.

As he spoke from the podium at the centre of a market square, Mulato and his men handed out sweets and painted his name in golden on the walls. But no one paid attention to these publicity tactics. They were too enchanted by the clarity of his proposals and the poetic lucidity of his arguments. His immense passion to correct the mistakes of the past was contagious, and for the first time in their lives, they were happy.

After the oration of the candidate, his men fired shots in the air marking celebration and lit firecrackers. And when they went, they left behind a trail of hope that lingered in the air for days, like a magnificent memory of catching glimpse of a rare comet. Soon, the Colonel became the most popular politician. He was a rare phenomenon, the man who emerged from the Civil War, dressed in scars and orating like a king, whose prestige was scattered everywhere, stirring the heart of the nation.

The press took over his case. Journalists travelled from far-away lands to interview him and quote his phrases. His extent of followers and enemies grew.

“We`re doing great, Colonel!” said Mulato upon the completion of twelve weeks of success.

But the candidate wasn`t paying attention. He was repeating his two secret words which sounded more powerful in his head with each repetition. He recited them whenever he felt softened by nostalgia, he recited them in his sleep, he carried them on his horse, he would recite them before delivering his renowned speech. And every time those two words crept up in his head, he would think of Belisa Crepusculario and her presence around him. His senses would then be rattled by the memory of her wild corporeal scents, the warmth emanating from her derriere, the touch of her hair, her minty breath, rattled until he started sleepwalking. His own men started to fear that he might die before he becomes the President.

“What happened to you, Colonel?” the Mulato asked him multiple times, until finally one day his boss broke down and confessed that the culprit of his anguish were those two secret words that were nailed in his head.

“Tell me those words and we`ll see if they lose their power.” said the Mulato, faithful as ever.

“I won`t. They`re only for me.” replied the Colonel.

Tired of watching his boss’s condition deteriorate with each passing day like a death-row inmate, the Mulato threw his rifle over his shoulders and set out to find Belisa Crepusculario. He traced her footsteps throughout the vast geography of the country to ultimately find her in a small village in the South, set up under the awning of her make-shift office, telling the beads of her rosary. He perched himself in front of her with his legs wide open and his weapon held tight, oozing authority from every cell.

“You are coming with me.” he ordered.

It was as if Belisa Crepusculario knew the whole time that he would come to get her. She gathered her inkstand, folded the canvas of her tent, threw a shawl over herself and quietly climbed on the rump of the horse. They did not exchange even a single greeting. The Mulato`s desire for her had converted into rage, and it was only the fear that her language invoked in him, that stopped him from destroying her. Neither was he willing to bring up the Colonel, who now walked about aberrant. He didn`t want her to have the satisfaction of knowing that, what years of battles couldn`t achieve, she had managed to achieve by merely whispering in his ears. Three days later, they arrived at the camp of the Colonel and the Mulato immediately presented his prisoner in front of the candidate and all the troops.

“I have brought this witch to you so you can return those secret words and have your manliness back from her, Colonel.” He said, pointing the barrel of his gun at Belisa Crepusculario`s neck. The Colonel and Belisa`s eyes met, scanning each other from a distance.

The men saw in the Colonel’s dangerous puma eyes that he would never be able to undo the spell of those two bedeviled words as Belisa Crepusculario walked towards him and took his hand. The beast had finally been tamed.

                                                                           THE END

Original Story- Dos Palabras

Written by- Isabel Allende

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