El Sombrero Rojo (The Red Hat)

San Telmo

El Sombrero Rojo

(The Red Hat)

A little story by Sam Krisch

One afternoon, three men sat in a café. One man wore a red hat. He told a story to his friends:

When my grandfather was young, he fell in love with a woman five years older. She was married to a much older man, a doctor. After he finished his medical studies, he was a colonel in the army. He ran his house like the army and did not permit his wife to leave the house without his permission.

My grandfather, a gardener, began an affair with the married woman. The lovers would meet in the afternoons when the housekeeper went to the market and on Sundays when the doctor visited his patients.

One Sunday, the doctor came home early. The lovers heard him, and my grandfather dressed quickly and went out the window. He was able to escape without being noticed. In his haste, he left behind a red hat. The doctor discovered it. His wife told a fanciful story and while it was logical, the doctor knew that the hat belonged to the gardener.

The doctor, because of his grief and shame, became very sick and died. The woman married the gardener and they had a son. My father was that son and he gave me this red hat.

His friend, a man who had much humor, raised his glass. He said: “Let us drink to the Red Hat, symbol of great love. Also, let us drink to my brother who last year sold it to you for ten pesos.”