Welcome back! Explore Natura brings you a new story featuring the quirky character Andresín. Join us on this new adventure and stay home with Andresín's adventures.
The stork
Azucena Street was a typical village street, with very polite neighbors who greeted each other every morning, and well, a bit gossipy too. Among its hundred or so houses, most were shared by families who considered themselves almost like siblings. When a problem arose, everyone knew about it and everyone tried to help. Sometimes simply out of a desire to understand the nature of the problem more than anything else.
Andresín was born and lived at number 7, on the ground floor of a tenement building where nobody dared to leave the street door open.
The boy's voracious appetite was well-known, and the family's food supply would undoubtedly be at risk if he were to enter. Aside from that, everyone loved him because he was always willing to help others, especially if there was a treat or two at stake.
Around that time, at Doña Juana's house, her eldest daughter, Juani, was about to be visited by the stork. This always made Andresín uneasy. He'd always had more contact with young boys than with boys his own age, and he'd been treated as such. The children became teenagers, and he regressed to the previous generation.
Therefore, the story of the stork, which was repeated every time a girl was about to give birth, was a daily occurrence in her childhood. Her mother, Tomasa, preferred it that way, since the topic of where babies came from was something her father should have explained to her, and now that he was gone, it made her uncomfortable.
So, pregnancy after pregnancy on that busy street was blamed on the stork, and Andresín became the area's chief birdwatcher. The bird had to be found, no matter what.
–And mother, what's coming, day or night?
–Oh my! What a little animal you are, son. Do you think a stork is an owl? Storks only fly during the day.
The young man's tilted head and corresponding grimace demanded an explanation for the imminent question: –And then –Andresín asked– why did you tell me last month that the stork had slipped in through Marimar's bedroom window?
"Son, because storks don't knock on doors, they'll have to enter through an open door, and Marimar's house had a window.".
"Very well, but when I arrived at the gossipy little circle you had set up, you said that whatever it was, the water broke at one o'clock and that the child was born at four in the morning. Either it was lost or it was an owl, you tell me.".
Tomasa was a woman who knew how to divert her son's attention when he asked something that was not easy for her to answer, but the topic of the children's origins made her uncomfortable and her voice even broke.
–Bu… bu… bu…
–Mother, stop pricking, you sound like a hoopoe.
"Show some respect to your mother, Andrés Pérez!" she protested angrily. Partly because she didn't know how to answer his question.
"It's just that when you get nervous you start to stutter, and I don't know why you have to get nervous. I only asked you that, like a bird that flies by day, you arrived at dawn. That's all.".
"Well, Andrés, he probably arrived during the day and they wouldn't realize where he left the child until that time of night. I don't know, I wasn't there.".
"But…" the young man hesitated, "doesn't the stork announce when it's dropped the baby? Imagine if it wets itself! Poor thing. Shouldn't it sing or chirp so they know?"
–Andrés! You're making me so nervous! I'm sure he warned them and they didn't even notice.
"Right!" he said, sounding unconvinced. "So how do they know he broke whatever it was that had water in it at one o'clock? If he went in at one, how come they didn't see the baby until four? I think the stork thing is for babies born during the day, but those born at night will be brought by an owl.".
"Andrés! Have you ever heard of an owl bringing children back? If it did, someone would have seen it. For example, the night watchman who's up all night.".
"That's no good to me. Don Osorio, when he puts on his night watchman's uniform, has already stopped being one two hours ago. He doesn't notice, I assure you, Mother.".
"Well, cart drivers, they don't drink. Besides," Tomasa interrupted, "I don't know why I'm stooping to your level talking about sticks. Storks bring babies.".
–¡Inchi!
Don't you call me "inchi" like I'm talking nonsense, okay? Or I'll take off my shoe and smash it on your ass. You scoundrel!
"Well, Mother, you get what you deserve. You know what? I'm going to keep a watchful eye on the house until the stork arrives, and if an owl comes, you'll find out I was right.".
Tomasa closed her eyes, raised her head to the sky, and thought that it was hopeless. After all, she wouldn't see the owl or the stork. But there was one good thing about it: as long as she was watching the windows, she wouldn't be plotting another one of her schemes or raiding the refrigerator of some unsuspecting neighbor.
Having said this, and having heard that the baby would be born that same day, she took a cloth bag that her mother used to go for bread and stocked up.
–A wedge of "cured" cheese, the spicy kind, a loaf and a half of bread, eight chorizo sausages, a small blood sausage with chorizo, and a loaf of salami. With this and two liters of juice, I'm all set. That way I don't have to move except to go to the toilet.
And with that bag almost bursting, he sat down under Juani's window.
The morning slowly passed by, boring if it weren't for those delicious dishes and the stork not appearing.
Every time Tomasa passed by the kitchen window, she saw her offspring with his head fixed on Juani's house, chewing nonstop.
"What a burden!" he exclaimed, and, shaking his head from side to side, continued with his work.
It was almost noon when Andresín began to move his legs, his knees tapping together. At first, it was somewhat slow, but after a while the movement became excessively exaggerated. Andresín was urinating.
"Damn," he said to himself, "I'm about to pee. I'm sure if I go to the toilet, the stork will sneak in.".
And the poor boy began a terrible war against nature. At first, he tried to concentrate on the child's arrival through the air, but his eyes kept glancing at his knees, which had begun a dance that seemed impossible to stop.
So he took a piece of cheese he'd been saving to share with the stork and began to devour it. It seemed to be working. His legs were still moving, but he seemed to have lost the urge to pee. So, nibbling on that piece of cheese, he continued his watch over the neighbor's room.
"I'll definitely get it," he said, flashing a half-smile as he pushed a new piece of cheese, perched on the edge of a piece of bread, into his mouth.
But as is often the case, happiness is fleeting, and just when it seemed his legs had slowed to give way, Concha, the downstairs neighbor, turned on the tap to wash her husband's underwear, which always came home covered in grease. The good man was a tractor mechanic, and she preferred to give them a good scrub by hand with the lye soap she made from leftover fried oil. It was the best!
And while that stream gleefully hit the base of the sink, Andresín's torment returned in a furious rage. Then, the young man's kneeling motion became violent. So violent, in fact, that with his hand on his privates, he shot off towards the toilet. The faster he tried to finish, the more urine came out, undoubtedly due to the long time he had been holding it in.
If he left quickly, he returned even faster. His mother, who hadn't missed a single detail of her son's ordeal, breathed a sigh of relief, for in that brief absence she had seen the light that would help her with the stork issue. As soon as Andresín returned, with a sad face, she said to him: "Life can be so unfair sometimes, my son. You're gone for just a moment, and the stork arrives, and you didn't even get to see it.".
"But Mom," said the boy, his eyes wide and his expression one of obvious disappointment, "why didn't you tell him to wait? It was just a pee.".
–Look Andrés, do you really think that with all the children that poor bird has to deliver, he's going to wait for you to finish in the bathroom? Who knows how long you'd take.
"Good heavens, Mother! Now who knows when she'll bring another child into this house. Well," the boy resignedly said, "So, what was it, a boy or a girl?"
–How do you expect Andrés to know? I haven't left the kitchen.
–So how do you know the stork has arrived? You can't see Juani's window from the kitchen.
Tomasa huffed and puffed. Her son kept asking questions about a topic that made her very nervous.
I constantly had to be careful what to say so I wouldn't put my foot in it. -Didn't you hear?
The flapping? I, who did hear it, looked out the door and saw it flying away.
"Damn it all!" protested the boy, clapping his hands together. "Well, I'm going to finish the last piece of cheese I have and go see the boy.".
"Very well, son, mu…" He hadn't finished what he was thinking when he realized that Andresín couldn't go see the baby because he hadn't been born yet. "I don't think now is a good time. The mother will be very tired and in pain. It would be better if you came to see him next week. And we'll take her a biscuit while we're at it.".
–Mmm, how delicious! –she exclaimed, licking her lips. –And I ask you, Mother, why is Juani tired and in pain? Do we have to fight the stork to take the baby away from her?
Tomasa sighed again and, not knowing what to answer this time, turned to her son who was standing in front of the patio door.
"Well, imagine, Mother, if instead of during the day, it arrives at night and you have to fight the owl. Have you seen the talons they have? After all, you've been lucky.".
Tomasa closed her eyes.
–Well, next time he won't get away even if I have to do it all over myself. Mother, what were you saying about a cake?
Follow the adventures of Andresín that Explora Natura brings to you every day.
Antonio Pestana
Antonio Jesús Pestana Salido (Cabra, Córdoba, 1970) es ornitólogo y fotógrafo de naturaleza andaluz, especializado en aves y en la interpretación del paisaje mediterráneo. Desde niño ha estado vinculado al estudio y observación de la fauna, y lleva décadas recorriendo los espacios naturales de Andalucía, especialmente la Subbética cordobesa.
Es fotógrafo de naturaleza premiado a nivel nacional, ganador del primer premio del concurso de fotografía de naturaleza Carl Zeiss (IV edición) con una imagen de digiscoping de piquituerto común, además de otros reconocimientos en concursos especializados de fotografía de aves.
Como ornitólogo de campo ha participado en proyectos de seguimiento y conservación de aves, especialmente rapaces y aves esteparias, y ha sido coordinador provincial en Córdoba de los censos de aguilucho pálido y aguilucho cenizo. También es presidente de la asociación naturalista Abanto, dedicada a la divulgación y conservación del patrimonio natural.
Es autor de varios libros sobre fauna ibérica y cultura popular publicados por editoriales especializadas, entre ellos “Las aves ibéricas en la cultura popular” y “Las rapaces diurnas ibéricas en la cultura popular”, obras que recopilan refranes, creencias y tradiciones relacionadas con las aves en la cultura popular.
Además de su trabajo como autor y fotógrafo, desarrolla actividades de divulgación y educación ambiental, guiando salidas de naturaleza, impartiendo talleres de fotografía de aves y colaborando con centros educativos, asociaciones y proyectos de turismo de naturaleza.
She regularly works with schools, designing wildlife observation activities adapted for primary and secondary school students. She also collaborates with companies and associations on birdwatching tours, teaches nature photography courses, and participates in the design of natural areas.
