13x22 Los Desmayos De Dona Nieves-las Manzanas-... (2024)

The doctor writes a prescription for chamomile.

Nieves sits in her rocking chair. The room is dark. Forty-seven apples line the sill. They are beginning to hum—a low, green sound, like a refrigerator full of secrets.

And then: the faint.

She never eats them. She lines them on her windowsill. The birds refuse to touch them.

Last Tuesday, a boy threw a rotten apple at a dog. Doña Nieves, two streets away, dropped her groceries and collapsed onto a pile of plantains. The boy was grounded. 13x22 Los desmayos de Dona Nieves-Las manzanas-...

Nieves touches her chest. Her lips part. A small gasp, like a bird falling from a nest.

She stares at the window. An apple tree is visible three blocks away. She swears it just moved closer. The doctor writes a prescription for chamomile

To be continued… or forgotten. Doña Nieves isn’t sure which is worse. [End of 13x22]

The town has begun to notice. Every time Nieves faints, an apple appears in her closed hand. Not the same apple. Different sizes, different shades. Once, a golden one that smelled of cinnamon. Forty-seven apples line the sill

“I saw one without a stem,” she whispers.