From dust we came and to dust we shall return

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Del polvo venimos y al polvo volvemos

From dust we came and to dust we shall return
I arrived in town at about 1:00 pm. The streets were deserted and dusty as if a hurricane had blown everything away. I got out of the car to see if I could find anyone inside those few houses that looked like they would collapse with the slightest breeze.

The houses were empty, only a few famished dogs posted on the sidewalks, they raised their heads, sniffed me and continued with their heads down, tucked between their legs. I went to the square in the middle that divided the streets in two to sit down. There I would wait for as long as it took.

I had been told to ask for Hortencia Bracho, that she would know how to answer the question that had made me travel so many kilometers. As I sat on one of the few cement benches that still remained, I saw how a group of women came walking in the middle of the dust.
Good morning. I am here to talk to Hortencia Bracho," I asked when the women were close. One of them, the oldest, looked at me and asked with some suspicion:

_Who is looking for her and what for? -she said and all the women looked at me.
I am Angito, Gualberto's son. Before he died, he told me to look for Hortencia here, she would know who gave birth to me. -At that moment I saw how a shadow crossed the women's faces. Then one of them asked:

_So Gualberto finally died? May God forgive him all his sins! -she said and spat out a spittle that the earth consumed entirely. He was about to say something, when another of the women pointed:

_Hortencia died long ago. She left without seeing your eyes, that's why she died with hers open. The sun was strong and I took a handkerchief out of my pocket. I ran it over my face and a layer of dirt stained the cloth.

So Hortencia died? -I asked doubtfully and my voice sounded stupid.
That's what we say: she died. Gualberto knew she would die. If I left her here, Hortencia would die as we all die.
I looked at them again without knowing what to say and for a time that seemed like an eternity. They were serious, their eyes transmitted an infinite pain, long, dragged for centuries; but also a peace, a feeling that sheltered them and made them eternal and invisible.

I would like to know where she is buried," I dared to mention.
Nobody knows that. Here we all die without knowing where. We just start dying and one day we disappear. You see all that dust around the houses," I looked at the barren, ashen sky and the gray cloud that enveloped everything, "all those are lives that are wandering all over the place," they said and went on their way as if somewhere someone was waiting for them. I got into the car and before starting I looked in the rearview mirror: there was not a soul anywhere, just a ghostly dust that looked like a human procession.