Muerto de risa
La risa llenaba su boca, la alegría inundaba su ser. Mauricio recordaba con gozo sus días pasados, reviviendo sus mejores chistes concienzudamente. Las carcajadas eran ruidosas y largas, lágrimas felices le recorrían las mejillas.
Si alguien hubiera dudado que el viejo estaba loco, aquella escena definitivamente lo habría convencido. Ese viejo no había dejado de reírse y contar chistes desde que era un niño. Las mujeres más serias que tuvo las mató un ataque de risa. La gente le tenía miedo, se contaba que en un bar sus tres enemigos murieron víctimas de los chistes de Mauricio.
A veces le traían viejos desahuciados para que los matara de un chiste, la primera vez se murieron también los que trajeron al viejo. A partir de entonces, cuando Mauricio empezaba el chiste lo dejaban a solas con el enfermo, hubo un viejo medio sordo que no se murió del chiste.
Para Mauricio la vida era una broma, mientras más graciosa era mejor. Sus chistes reflejaban el mayor sentido humorístico visto nunca. Hubo quien tomó somníferos para no morir de un chiste de esos, pero al despertar murió porque se acordó del chiste.
Un día un joven regresó al pueblo, de carácter inteligente y serio, se rumoraba que había jurado no reirse nunca, luego de que su madre muriera víctima de un chiste de Mauricio. Nunca sonreía, miraba a Mauricio con tanta sobriedad que rayaba en la sequedad y el aburrimiento.
Chiste tras chiste Mauricio tentó al muchacho, quien lo miraba atentamente y sin parpadear. Nadie nunca había jugado tanto con el entusiasmo del viejo, insistió en que el joven se quedara en la casa. Le contaba más chistes, historias graciosas y cualquier cosa que hiciera reír a un hombre. Al muchacho parecía entretenerlo el entusiasmo del anciano, aunque no se le movía la cara.
Un buen día, Mauricio se dió cuenta de que sus sentidos lo habían traicionado. Aquel joven muchacho, era en realidad un muñeco de madera, bien pulido y pintado.
Todo el mundo lo había dicho, pero ya nadie creía que iba a suceder. Mauricio murió de la risa.
Nadie supo que había muerto hasta que desahuciaron a otro viejo. Por eso en su lápida, en lugar de esa fecha descansa una singular frase: "Muerto de risa"
Dead with laughter
Laughter filled his mouth, joy flooded his being. Mauricio remembered with joy his past days, reliving his best jokes conscientiously. The laughter was loud and long, happy tears ran down his cheeks.
If anyone had doubted that the old man was crazy, that scene would definitely have convinced him. That old man hadn't stopped laughing and telling jokes since he was a child. The most serious women he had ever had were killed by a fit of laughter. People were afraid of him, it was said that in a bar his three enemies died victims of Mauricio's jokes.
Sometimes they would bring him old men who had given up on life to die from a joke; the first time, those who brought the old man also died. From then on, when Mauricio started the joke, he was left alone with the sick person; there was one old man who was half deaf who did not die from the joke.
For Mauricio life was a joke, the funnier the better. His jokes reflected the greatest sense of humor ever seen. There were those who took sleeping pills so as not to die from one of those jokes, but when they woke up they died because they remembered the joke.
One day a young man returned to town, intelligent and serious, rumor had it that he had sworn never to laugh, after his mother died victim of a joke of Mauricio. He never smiled, he looked at Mauricio with such sobriety that it bordered on dryness and boredom.
Joke after joke Mauricio tempted the boy, who watched him intently and without blinking. No one had ever played so much with the old man's enthusiasm, he insisted that the young man stay in the house. He told him more jokes, funny stories and anything that would make a man laugh. The boy seemed to be entertained by the old man's enthusiasm, although his face did not move.
One fine day Mauricio realized that his senses had betrayed him. The young man, was actually a wooden dummy, well polished and painted.
Everyone had said so, but no one believed it would happen anymore. Mauricio died of laughter
No one knew he was dead until another old man was evicted. That is why on his tombstone, instead of that date rests a singular phrase: "Dead with laughter"