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Gerardo Naumann
There are many places that are open 24 hours. They are not bars, restaurants, hotels or pharmacies. I am not even referring to hospitals that are required by law to stay open. There are places that stay open 24 hours to make the future available in the present.
What is the future going to be like? Will we have time machines where we can leave the winter season behind? I continually think about the future, but I don't imagine how it will be in concrete terms. I know there are not going to be cars that do tricks like the Jetson's car. But, what will the future be like? For example, how will nightlife be in the future? Will buses pass every seven minutes at all hours of the night? What about offices? Who will clean them if they are open 24 hours?
The night is cool. Everyone is coming and going. I get on my bike and ride over to the library. At the entrance is a coffee machine that sells coffee for 75 cents. Is this the future? Cheap coffee from a machine? I don't know. A man working at the front desk tells me that the computers are down. But, he says, I can use the old system: The card catalog. I go to the card catalog that is organized alphabetically with letters on the front of each box. The time in the library gives me the craving to eat some ice cream. It's a warm summer night. It's the perfect time for an ice cream. Will there be warm ice cream in the future? There should be something like that in the future. But, in the library, there isn't even cold ice cream. There is, however, the card catalog with the words "ice cream" on it and I decide to some research. There are two articles on ice cream from the Clarin newspaper. I ask for them at the desk. At this hour, there aren't many people and all the newspapers are available. I read the news articles concerning ice cream. One is somewhat interesting. It's from the 1990's. It's about the increase in ice cream consumption. The other is even more interesting. I imagine a cone. Mine would be with two scoops of chocolate. Anyway, the article says that Phillip Morris wanted to dominate the ice cream industries. The company wants to "rip the teeth" from Nestle and Frigor. Two things: First, I thought that Phillip Morris made cigarettes. Second, I really never heard the expression "ripping teeth". There are few people in the library. Six or seven people are sitting down at the tables. Two or three others are reading or studying. The rest are sleeping. A long time ago, I used to come to the library religiously, but nowadays I don't.
I decide to leave the library. Outside I feel refreshed. The night breeze does me good. I walk down Callao and cross Rivadavia. On the left hand side, I see a sign boasting that the place is open 24 hours. I stop. It's a pie and sandwich place. It's called La Fabrica. In the window, there are pies on display. I ask for information on the establishment. They give me a brochure which lists all of their different pies. The bottom reads, "You bring your imagination, we'll do the rest." It's close to 2:30am and people are streaming in. A woman buys some sandwiches. A man buys a cake for his son whose birthday is tomorrow. Is it an emergency? Did he forget about his son's birthday and is he happy that this bakery gives him the opportunity to buy a cake in the morning so that he will not forget? Does this signal that there will be more security in the future? I don't know. I continue with my bike ride. They told me that the chain of Megatlon gyms has some branches that are open 24 hours. One of them is on Rodriguez Pena and Santa Fe. I head on over there. I continue on Callao crossing Corrientes. I remember that years ago, at Corrientes and Viamonte, there was a produce and fruit stand open 24 hours. I arrive at the corner. The produce and fruit stand no longer exists. Now, the space is being rented. On the same block, in front of the old locale, there is an ice cream shop. I go over to the vendor and ask him what happened to the fruit stand. He replied to me that it disappeared because of the crisis. I asked him if he remembered if people bought produce and lemons at 3am. "Yes", he told me emphatically, "They bought vegetables, fruit and everything at all hours". I thought about the possibility of making a fruit salad in the early hours of the morning. I thought there probably would not be many takers for fruit salads in the middle of the night. However, if there are customers interested in cakes and pies, who knows? Of course, it's not right to give a young kid a fruit salad for his birthday. That will not satisfy him. The cake, absolutely.
I continue my trip. Suddenly, I am in front of Megatlon on Rodriguez Pena between Santa Fe and Marcelo T Alvear. Here, gaining entrance is more difficult. You have to be a member. But, since I am an accredited journalist, they let me pass. It's my first time in a gym. Many times I see gyms from the outside with people lifting weights, on bicycles, or running on treadmills. There are very few people at the gym. The place is brightly lit and you hear music of all types in the background. Gym music. It feels like day. There are activities. Many activities. A lot of light. Music. A lot of music. Only when I stick my head out the window, and I look around at the dark building and stores do I realize that it is night. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I knew that just a few meters from my apartment, there are people running and exercising. In the gym, everything is "alive". I try to lift a weight that Cesar picked up. I pick it up one time. Twice. I can't do the third. Cesar is with Charly. The two are policemen. They tell me the time they went to work in La Cumbre of the Americas and that they drank a lot of beer there. Charly wants to lose some of the weight from all those summer outdoor barbecues. Afterwards, I talk to Nicolas. He works as a stripper and must take great care of his body. He is comfortable to go to the gym at this time of the night. He tells me that sometimes he does a show and afterwards he comes to the gym. Leo is a waiter and he has been coming to Megatlon for six months now. Elsa is a lawyer and she comes to relieve the stress from her job. I walk around the machines without being bothered. It's strange, but I feel a sense of calm here, and I don't know why. Perhaps I found something I have been searching for on my journey. If I think about the future like a place where there are no limits, these places are representatives of the infinite possibility of the future. The library, the fruit stand that I didn't see but remember, the bakery, and Megatlon gave me examples of a future that is attainable.
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