Kuki miler
09/30/2020 - 16:31
Clarín.com
Culture
The lady made her way through the cloud of people trying to take a picture with
Quino
, who was trying with difficulty to leave the Ediciones De la Flor stand at the Buenos Aires Book Fair, after having signed books -and some pieces of paper- for more than three hours.
He imperatively insisted that he had waited a long time, since we had already learned that one of the guys from the stand had to stand at the end of the queue, an hour before, to tell the public that
Quino
had to leave and ask them to please come back another day.
Quino
, with his usual shyness, appealed to the sensitivity that made his most famous character so lovable: "Ma'am, I've been here for three hours, I'm very tired and I'm hungry,
don't you care how I feel?
"
The woman responded with the same arrogant attitude with which she had gotten there, "And the truth is that ..., but will you sign the book for me?"
"Ah, well ...
selfishness for selfishness, I'll take mine
,"
Quino
said
, kind but firm, and left.
I suppose more disappointed than your reader.
Years later, with his eyesight very impaired and difficulty walking, it was he who called me - against all odds - to tell me
that he wanted to go to the Fair to sign
.
Some of us would sit next to him, to share a beer and chat, orienting his hand from time to time: he could sign from memory, just as he had learned to write in the dark "so as not to forget the ideas that occurred to him when he was dreaming ", but sometimes, in those days, I no longer recognized where the white of the page was.
And all the public.
Quino and Kuki Miler at the 2012 Book Fair. Photo Fernando de la Orden
Quino
, genuinely modest, did not feel above anyone, but
neither was he willing to be passed over
.
He did not allow the use of his characters without his authorization, because he was clear and consistent in his convictions and ideals.
He was not quick to draw, because he was meticulous and self-demanding for his work, and demanding (as was Alicia, his enormous ally and life partner) for those of us who took care of spreading it.
He never finished believing what we all thought and said about him, about his genius, but he knew that the people who went to look for that signature, sometimes a cartoon, had affection for him, affection, and I know that he wanted to give back, especially
when he began to feel that any year could be his last
.
As good people from Mendoza, we shared a passion for good food and good wine and, as a seal of the deep feeling that united us, we called each other in diminutive:
Quinito, Kukita
.
When, during an event, I perceived any sign in my eyes or gestures, I called the next day to ask: what happened to you last night? Because I was a careful observer of realities and feelings.
He was my beloved, loving, tender, unconditional and supportive friend, beyond being our emblematic author for 50 years ... a true privilege.
There remains the joy of knowing that it is irreplaceable, because that makes it eternal.
Although I already miss him.
PK
Look also
Words, tweets, drawings and emotion to fire Quino
Goodbye to Quino: how were the last hours of the creator of Mafalda
