Amador, Actor
© from the text Amador the Actor: Eva Latonda 2010 © from the illustrations: Maru García, 2010
About cerebral palsy
The cerebral palsy is like an injury in the brain that affects lots of babies all over the world.
Although it does not hurt, it makes moving or standing a complicated task. There are people who use crutches. Others use wheelchairs. These people, who are just like you, find it hard to control their muscles, which is why sometimes they find it hard to speak.
In a different way than you, they are able to learn lots of things that make them very happy. If you know someone with cerebral palsy, do not hesitate to become their friend.
You will find a companion who will know how to appreciate you like no one else.
This morning I got up with a headache the size of my cousin Nacho's ball.
It is not a normal ball.
I do not know what it measures exactly, but it really is huge. Or that is what I think...
The truth is I think everything is huge.
When I was born my parents were told that I would find it difficult to walk and talk, so I have to spend a lot of time sitting down.
But I don't mind, because at this height everything is bigger and prettier.
You must be asking yourselves why my head hurts. It is because I was up late going over my role. AH! Forgive me, I have not told you that I am preparing to be an actor and that today is the opening of my first performance.
My mother says I should look for a more stable job (I think she would like me to do something else for a living) but I don't think I can, I have the stage in my blood and I do not intend to stop until I have been in all the theatres in the world!
In the school play, the one we are doing today, they have given me the main role.
I am going to be the Little Prince! Do you know that story that Antoine de Saint- Exupéry wrote ? It is great. I can completely identify myself with the character. Yes, I definitely think I am like him and that makes it easier for me to pretend to be him, of course.
We have everything prepared: the wig, the clothes, the script but my nerves are betraying me.
It is my first play and I am shaky, nervous and at the same time I am happy and joyful, so it must be normal for my head to hurt. That is what daddy keeps telling me.
I guess the Little Prince must also get headaches. With the baobabs growing in his planet, the cleaning of the volcanoes, the needs of his delicate rose... that must be why he left to travel the universe...
Like the Little Prince, I really want to travel and see new places.
Although I have everything that I want right here, with my mother and my father and of course with my cousin Nacho, who, besides a big ball, has a considerable-sized body.
Nacho is always with me. When he laughs, it is like thunder, but soft.
We have agreed that he is going to come with me when I am on tour. He almost always knows what I am thinking without me even saying a word!
Like the Little Prince's fox, he looks at me with eyes from the heart, which is the only way to see the truth.
That is why, when I need cheering up, Nacho knows and he whispers very slowly in my ear:
Amador, you are the best actor.
And at that moment it is as if I can hear the public in their seats, whispering and clearing their throats. They are waiting for the show to begin.
When the lights go off and the curtain opens, everything will have started for me.
The End
