Marta Iguaren, PhD in Math, was about to turn off the computer at her office when she received a message on Facebook that read: “Hi, my name is Marta Iguaren and I’m ten years old. I write from the past. First of all, I am glad that in the future I will be skinny and cute. I love the photos in your wall. Can I add you as a friend?”
Marta wasn’t amused by the message. She left the office pissed off and asked his employees who was the author of such awful joke. Everyone looked at her blankly. She went back in, sat down in her seat, and spied the profile of the other Marta. She saw five pictures of her childhood and got really scared.
Those photos were gone; she had broken them a long time ago. In all the pictures she was wearing those awful glasses that had tormented her during her elementary years, a broom hair and crooked teeth. Oh, how she hated those pictures! Especially one in which she had a massive jowl… who could be so mean to do this joke? Marta responded angrily: “Whoever you are, what you are doing is not funny. Get those pictures of me offline right now. Moron!” The other Marta replied quickly: “Don’t get mad… I just wanna be your friend. Please, tell me when did you start to look so cute. That guy in your cover, is he your boyfriend? He is gorgeous.”
Marta Iguaren smiled.
“Stephan, is this you? Cut it. Where did you get those pictures?”
The girl answered after a while: “No. I told you I’m Marta. Who is Stephan? Your boyfriend?”
The mathematician broke: “What you are doing is a crime against privacy! If you don’t tell me who you are, I’ll call the police.”
The girl said: “Again. My name is Marta, I am ten years old, my parents are called Laura and Eduardo, and I live in the fifth, in front of the golf club. "
The mathematician wrote with anger: "You can find that information anywhere, you idiot!” The girl replied: “I have a dog called Poodle. Yesterday Dad took me to the garage, alone, and said that Poodle was going to die this week. Have you heard about that?"
Marta Iguaren was speechless.
The girl continued: "Poodle is my only friend in school because nobody talks to me. And if does, it is only to make fun of me. Poodle, instead, when I arrive in the afternoon, jumps and wiggles his tail. I've known him since I was born, but now he doesn’t have the strength of before, nor can he see because he became blind. I cried the entire afternoon, but now I see that you have 671 friends on Facebook, and they're all cute, so I'm feeling better now... " Wrote the girl in chat.
The message flashed a long time on the monitor. Marta Iguaren didn’t respond quickly because she couldn’t stop crying.
"Thanks for the compliment," She said with tears all over her face, "but I'm actually not so pretty; I upload photos where I'm made up. And from all those friends only three are real. The rest I hardly know. Now tell me, who are you? ".
“ I wont tell you who I am anymore. I’ve already told you three times and you have me sick with that. Can I ask you a question?”
The mathematician replied that yes.
"When did you started to lose weight, when did you stop wearing glasses, and when did your teeth get all perfect?" She wrote very fast, with lots of spelling mistakes. "At about twelve I stopped eating crap, because I started to like boys and none of them wanted to dance with me. At thirteen I got a good stretch. I stopped wearing glasses at fourteen, when I started using contact lenses and about my teeth, I give all the merit to my dentist.”
"There is something I can’t understand," said the small Marta. "I was seeing a lot of pictures of you at home ... I know you live alone, that you eat strange things and you take pictures of them, that you go to parties, and you travel to many places ... But I’ve never seen a picture of you with your current dog. Why don’t you have photos with your dog? That’s sad.”
Marta, the mathematician, said, "I just don't have a dog." The girl responded, "That's impossible! I know I will always have a dog. I knew it since I was born ... I can’t live without a dog. "
Marta was puzzled. It was true: in her childhood, she swore to everyone that she would always have a dog. Why had she forgotten about something so important?
"I have to go, Dad is calling me for dinner," said the girl.
The mathematician only managed to write: "Bye".
She was alone in her office, without really knowing what had happened. At six o'clock she left work and instead of going straight home as usual, Marta passed through the veterinary and stood in the window looking at some puppies. There were four: a cocker, a beautiful white one with a funny face and the youngest of all, which looked at her through the window. She stayed with the last one. Marta returned home with the puppy in her arms, gave him milk and named him Poodle the II.
Then she sat down, opened her laptop, and accepted the friendship solicitation of Marta. And started a new chat " Marta, are you there?" .
On the other side no one answered.
"Marta? I'm at home, and I want to tell you something. "
No reply.
The mathematician went to the photo gallery of the girl and stared at the second picture, in which she was ten years old, with a messy hair and crooked teeth. She looked a long time: it was the photo that she had hated the most during her entire life. Then she searched for the blue button and pressed it as hard as she could: LIKE.
For a while, she stood mesmerized, smiling. Then, she closed the computer and went to play with her dog.
Never forget who you are.
Marta wasn’t amused by the message. She left the office pissed off and asked his employees who was the author of such awful joke. Everyone looked at her blankly. She went back in, sat down in her seat, and spied the profile of the other Marta. She saw five pictures of her childhood and got really scared.
Those photos were gone; she had broken them a long time ago. In all the pictures she was wearing those awful glasses that had tormented her during her elementary years, a broom hair and crooked teeth. Oh, how she hated those pictures! Especially one in which she had a massive jowl… who could be so mean to do this joke? Marta responded angrily: “Whoever you are, what you are doing is not funny. Get those pictures of me offline right now. Moron!” The other Marta replied quickly: “Don’t get mad… I just wanna be your friend. Please, tell me when did you start to look so cute. That guy in your cover, is he your boyfriend? He is gorgeous.”
Marta Iguaren smiled.
“Stephan, is this you? Cut it. Where did you get those pictures?”
The girl answered after a while: “No. I told you I’m Marta. Who is Stephan? Your boyfriend?”
The mathematician broke: “What you are doing is a crime against privacy! If you don’t tell me who you are, I’ll call the police.”
The girl said: “Again. My name is Marta, I am ten years old, my parents are called Laura and Eduardo, and I live in the fifth, in front of the golf club. "
The mathematician wrote with anger: "You can find that information anywhere, you idiot!” The girl replied: “I have a dog called Poodle. Yesterday Dad took me to the garage, alone, and said that Poodle was going to die this week. Have you heard about that?"
Marta Iguaren was speechless.
The girl continued: "Poodle is my only friend in school because nobody talks to me. And if does, it is only to make fun of me. Poodle, instead, when I arrive in the afternoon, jumps and wiggles his tail. I've known him since I was born, but now he doesn’t have the strength of before, nor can he see because he became blind. I cried the entire afternoon, but now I see that you have 671 friends on Facebook, and they're all cute, so I'm feeling better now... " Wrote the girl in chat.
The message flashed a long time on the monitor. Marta Iguaren didn’t respond quickly because she couldn’t stop crying.
"Thanks for the compliment," She said with tears all over her face, "but I'm actually not so pretty; I upload photos where I'm made up. And from all those friends only three are real. The rest I hardly know. Now tell me, who are you? ".
“ I wont tell you who I am anymore. I’ve already told you three times and you have me sick with that. Can I ask you a question?”
The mathematician replied that yes.
"When did you started to lose weight, when did you stop wearing glasses, and when did your teeth get all perfect?" She wrote very fast, with lots of spelling mistakes. "At about twelve I stopped eating crap, because I started to like boys and none of them wanted to dance with me. At thirteen I got a good stretch. I stopped wearing glasses at fourteen, when I started using contact lenses and about my teeth, I give all the merit to my dentist.”
"There is something I can’t understand," said the small Marta. "I was seeing a lot of pictures of you at home ... I know you live alone, that you eat strange things and you take pictures of them, that you go to parties, and you travel to many places ... But I’ve never seen a picture of you with your current dog. Why don’t you have photos with your dog? That’s sad.”
Marta, the mathematician, said, "I just don't have a dog." The girl responded, "That's impossible! I know I will always have a dog. I knew it since I was born ... I can’t live without a dog. "
Marta was puzzled. It was true: in her childhood, she swore to everyone that she would always have a dog. Why had she forgotten about something so important?
"I have to go, Dad is calling me for dinner," said the girl.
The mathematician only managed to write: "Bye".
She was alone in her office, without really knowing what had happened. At six o'clock she left work and instead of going straight home as usual, Marta passed through the veterinary and stood in the window looking at some puppies. There were four: a cocker, a beautiful white one with a funny face and the youngest of all, which looked at her through the window. She stayed with the last one. Marta returned home with the puppy in her arms, gave him milk and named him Poodle the II.
Then she sat down, opened her laptop, and accepted the friendship solicitation of Marta. And started a new chat " Marta, are you there?" .
On the other side no one answered.
"Marta? I'm at home, and I want to tell you something. "
No reply.
The mathematician went to the photo gallery of the girl and stared at the second picture, in which she was ten years old, with a messy hair and crooked teeth. She looked a long time: it was the photo that she had hated the most during her entire life. Then she searched for the blue button and pressed it as hard as she could: LIKE.
For a while, she stood mesmerized, smiling. Then, she closed the computer and went to play with her dog.
Never forget who you are.