The Fate of Martín (Part VI)

The work at the foundation was very different from everything he had done until then.

Don't worry - one of the lawyers told him - let people tell you everything and then we'll see it together, ask whatever you want.

And so he did. He attended to a woman who had been assaulted by her husband, who needed a restraining order for herself and her children and to initiate a lawsuit for alimony against him. This took more than two hours, and it was the boss himself who helped him. Another case was attending to a worker who had been unjustly fired during his medical leave. And so he saw about 12 cases that day. Tired and even anguished by the diversity of cases and the drama of each situation, apart from his ignorance about many of these topics, he barely had time to eat lunch and had to limit himself to eating a chicken sandwich and instant coffee.

That night, he reconciled with his wife, and they apologized to each other, but something had already been broken.

Every day that passed at work, he became more enthusiastic. He was finding meaning in his profession. It was an overwhelming job, but stimulating and satisfying.

His boss told him that he seemed like a rare bird in that office, due to his demeanor, formal way of dressing, and always being well-presented. "Rather dead than simple," he used to say, always provoking laughter among those who listened.

Martin's life had changed definitively. The central thing was that he had acquired awareness of how little he was, of the insignificance of his existence, of his growing loneliness. He confirmed it with lacerating pain at that time: almost no one called him, almost no one showed solidarity in his fall, his friends didn't invite him out, he no longer went out to play soccer, and his social life was reduced to nothing. Now he didn't even attend Magdalena's boring and lengthy family gatherings.

Meanwhile, in parallel, the story that mattered continued its course, and one day he found out that the Prosecutor of the capital had decided to formally charge his former boss, from the legal division, the general secretary of the government, and three high-ranking officials. The national deputy involved was removed by the Constitutional Chamber of the Constitutional Court, and the Governor removed the State Secretary.

In a long interview in the Sunday edition of the city's main newspaper, his minutes, emails, and representations were published extensively, and his irreproachable ethical conduct and the baseness of his former bosses in trying to blame him for the mess of the purchase and sale were commented on. It was a small and insignificant moral triumph, but very necessary, especially for his parents.

Magdalena felt relieved, but didn't say anything else. Martin only wanted to know what his in-laws and brothers-in-law thought, but he never found out.

But Martin's wife was more interested in another matter: that he find ano...