The end of the world

Everyone, in their own way, at a certain tense moment, has been able to glimpse what seemed to be "the end of the world".

There was no fire and no commotion. Nor was the earth cracked into two dramatic halves. There was no disturbance. It was afternoon; the sun, slanting westward, illuminated a day like any other. From inside a stopped cab with its doors open, a tropical melody could be heard: it was cheerful, catchy, romantic. Some, seated on the sidewalk, waited; others, close to them, lying down, agonized. A wiry nurse was talking to a group of women. With no one able to do anything, death, again and again, defeated life. In front of that hospital in the Lima district of Ate, in mid-2020, I swear, I could glimpse the end of the world.