Hacerse el sueco (Playing dumb)

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HACERSE EL SUECO

Sabes que él y yo nunca fuimos amigos... pero hubo un punto de inflexión en nuestro trato. Hace años, coincidí con él un veraniego sábado en la piscina pública. No esa a la que vamos por el puro postureo, no... era la piscina de mi barrio donde hay de todo: marujas, familias de emigrantes, chuloplayas, viejos verdes, modernas y todo el diverso mundo piscinero que se tercia en Madrid. 

Él, solitario y exhibiendo su cuerpo fibrado en la zona de niños y señoras bien. Qué quieres que te diga... pues la verdad es que destacaba. Por otro lado yo estaba con mi ex y su hijo en la zona marica... no he de aclararte que también destacábamos. 

Nos vimos. Sin duda alguna, nos vimos y sin mucha gana, sinceramente era un compromiso para mí, hice el amago de acercarme para saludarle. Digo amago porque nunca llegué y se quedó en intento, ya que mientras me miraba y veía cómo me acercaba, se dispuso a recoger su toalla y salir de la piscina. 

Ahora lo recuerdo como algo totalmente absurdo, pero en ese momento yo y mi sentido del ridículo nos dimos la vuelta. 

Lo de hacerse el sueco lo he llevado a la práctica varias veces, lo admito, pero desplantes así, no los tengo localizados en mi memoria. 

Y yo que no soy muy políticamente correcto, hasta en ciertos momentos guardo la compostura. Al menos él dejó claro la no necesidad de guardarla y así hacer evidente que él y yo nunca fuimos amigos.

PLAYING DUMB

You know that he and I were never friends… but there was a turning point in our treatment. A few years ago, I overlapped with him on a sunny Saturday in a public swimming pool. It was not that one we go for posing… but the one in my neighbourhood, where you can find all kinds of people: busybodies, migrant families, snobs, dirty old men, flashy basic men and all the diversity of crowds that you can find in “the world of swimming-pools” in Madrid. 

There he was, alone and exhibiting his ripped body in the kids and wealthy women area. I am not going to lie… he obviously stood out from the rest. On the other hand, I was with my ex and his son in the gay area… I do not need to clarify that we also stood out. 

We saw each other. There was no doubt, we saw each other and without feeling like it (honestly, it was a compromise for me), I showed signs of approaching you to say hi. I say I showed signs of that because I never ended up doing it, it was just an attempt, since once he looked at me and saw I was getting closer, he started picking up his towel and left the area. 

Now I remember it as something completely absurd, but in that moment, I just turned around full of embarrassment. 

Playing dumb is something that I have done several times in my life, I admit it, but in my mind, I cannot remember any case as obvious as this one. 

And I don’t consider myself as someone who is politically correct, but in some moments, I keep my composure. At least he clarified that there was no need to keep it and, in that way, made obvious that he and I were never friends.