The Sound of Things Falling

Aura makes dinner the night before Antonio plans to drive to La Dorado—a city in the Magdalena Valley between Bogotá and Medellín—where Maya lives. While cooking, Aura tells Antonio that she bought something but doesn’t say what. Later, while they’re watching TV, she shows Antonio a vibrator that she bought earlier that day. She says that her religious upbringing made her feel ashamed to buy it. Aura says it’s for both of them, and Antonio says it’s not. Antonio feels embarrassed. Aura says she loves him and that it’s been three years since his accident. She says she thought Antonio would be happy that she bought it. Antonio feels tired and like he needs to take a painkiller. Early the next morning, he leaves for Maya’s house before Aura or Leticia are awake.

By the Alto Del Trigo, Antonio hits fog so thick he has to turn on the windshield wipers even though it’s not raining. As he descends toward Guaduas, the fog lifts. Eventually, he arrives at the front of the one-story white house he is looking for. No one comes to greet him. The door is open, and he walks inside. Before he can yell to see if anyone’s home, he hears someone whistling. In the distance, he sees what looks like a gigantic person dressed in white, and it seems like they need help. He walks outside, past a dilapidated swimming pool. When he reaches the person, he sees that it must be Maya. She takes off a mask and says she was in the middle of inspecting the beehives when Antonio arrived.

Maya is about the same age as Antonio. Her hair is clumsily cut and styled carelessly. She invites Antonio to come with her to see the beehives and helps him get into a beekeeper’s suit. Antonio asks how long she’s had this hobby, and Maya corrects him and says that she makes her living from selling honey. She explains that she dropped out of the university and left Bogotá when she was 20 and that she’s never regretted it. She says she was in Bogotá for the worst years of the violence and that she hates the city. Antonio says he understands. Maya says that everyone their age who was there during the 1980s would understand. When Maya left Bogotá, in 1992, she came to her parents’ property in La Dorada, which they bought when Maya was born. Maya then inherited the property when they both died.

When Maya and Antonio reach the beehives, Maya sprays the hives with smoke. She takes off the lid of one. Antonio instinctively raises his arm to guard himself against the swarm he thinks will come, but the bees are calm and subdued. Maya talks affectionately to the bees as she checks the hives. After Maya has finished her rounds, she takes Antonio back to the house. When Antonio takes off the beekeeper’s overalls, he realizes how much he was sweating inside the suit. Maya fetches a wicker box from another room and sets it at the head of the table. She asks Antonio how well he knew Ricardo, and Antonio says he only knew him for a few months.

Antonio says he didn’t know anything about Maya; if he had, he would have tried to keep the black box recording from the plane to give to her. Maya says she has the recording now. She went to Consu’s house, and Consu gave it to her. Maya says the first time she listened to the tape, she almost couldn’t take it, but since then, she’s listened to it 20 or 30 times. Antonio asks Maya what is inside the wicker box, and Maya says that’s what she wants to talk to Antonio about. She says that the box contains letters, photos, and anything else she has been able to track down about her father. Now, she wants Antonio to describe his final days to her in as much detail as he can remember.

Maya says she found out that Ricardo died by seeing a story in El Espacio, a tabloid that she’s always hated. Antonio says it’s always seemed strange to him that the wife of a pilot died in a plane crash. Maya responds that it’s not so strange if you know certain things about Ricardo. She then shows Antonio a magazine article from 1968 that includes an interview with the survivor of a plane crash in 1938. That survivor was the man who would later become Ricardo’s grandfather. Maya explains that the magazine was the first gift her father gave her mother. Ricardo intended the gift to be a guide for Elena to help her understand both Colombia and Ricardo himself. Antonio then reads the 1968 article.

The article describes Julio Laverde, Ricardo’s father, walking in Bogotá in 1938 on the day of a plane crash. Julio is attending a celebration for the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding and is accompanied by his father, Captain Laverde, who served in the war against Peru. Captain Laverde points out the flags in the city to Julio and explains the significance of the flags’ colors. The father and son go to the Campo de Marte, where a military flyby is scheduled for later in the day. Captain Laverde is excited about the flyby because Captain Abadía will be flying in it. Captain Laverde is convinced that one day, Abadía will be the greatest pilot Colombia has ever seen, and he especially wants his son to see Abadía fly.

When Captain Laverde and Julio are in the crowd, a general sent by the president finds them and walks them to the presidential grandstand. When they arrive, Julio sees President López and President-elect Santos talking. The planes then appear in the sky. They look heavy but move gracefully. Julio is transfixed. People in the crowd point out Abadía’s plane. He hears a nearby man say that he’s going to leave, and his wife says that he’ll miss the best part. People begin to applaud, and Julio claps too. Abadía’s plane flies past the crowd and then comes back, headed straight for the spectators. People wonder aloud what he’s doing. Julio sees President López gripping a handrail tightly.    

To no one in particular, Captain Laverde says that Abadía wants to grab the flag flying over the presidential grandstand. Spectators’ faces are frozen in fear and surprise. As it moves closer to the crowd, the plane falls to the ground, crashing into the diplomatic stand and the stairs of the presidential grandstand. Then there’s an explosion followed by chaos. Those closest to the crash are killed almost instantaneously. Julio yells to his father and tries to say that he’s in pain. Julio and Captain Laverde are then taken to the hospital. Julio has been burned by oil across his face. The president visits Julio in the hospital while he is asleep. No one knows exactly what caused the crash, which killed 55 people in total.

At Maya’s house, it’s almost night. Mosquitoes have come out. Antonio won’t be able to make it back to Bogotá at this point, so he decides to stay that night at Maya’s house. Maya asks Antonio if there’s anyone he has to call, and Antonio says no. Maya says that she needs Antonio to tell her everything about Ricardo’s final days; no one else saw what Antonio did. Antonio asks if Maya will also tell him what he wants to know. Maya doesn’t answer, but as they both settle into their respective hammocks, Antonio begins recounting all the details he can remember about Ricardo’s final days.