Roses Against the Wind (Rosas contra el viento) (tale from El vigilante de la salamandra)

A man discovers that his centenarian grandfather hides a model train set with an unimaginable secret: it can transport him to a world where he lives impossible adventures and loves… until reality begins to seep into the kingdom of fantasy. An unsettling and magnetic story from Spain’s most acclaimed horror author.

The narrator visits his centenarian grandfather every day, a lonely man living in an old apartment whose life revolves around a vast model train layout presided over by the Adler locomotive. Among hills and miniature landmarks from around the world, the grandfather places a tiny figurine identical to his grandson inside one of the train cars. Soon, the narrator discovers that by closing his eyes, he can “travel” as that wooden double, journeying through distant cities and landscapes with lifelike intensity.

The journeys become addictive, taking over even his office hours. He suspects that his grandfather knows the secret too—something confirmed when he finds a youthful replica of the old man within the miniature world. He then recalls the argument that forever broke the relationship between his father and grandfather: on his wedding day, his father received as a gift a set of figurines of himself and his bride, which he threw down the toilet in anger. From that day on, he was never able to dream again.

Determined not to travel alone, the narrator asks his grandfather to create his ideal companion. Shortly afterward, Teresa—the receptionist from his office—appears in the train car, inexplicably drawn to him in real life as well. Within the miniature world, they share a perfect romance, traveling daily through ever-changing sceneries: from Rome to Oslo, from Beijing to Paris, Istanbul, and the windswept plains of Patagonia, where together they plant roses against the wind.

But one day, a rat invades their journey, destroying the train and carrying off the grandfather’s figurine. The attack echoes in the real world: the narrator and Teresa feel physical pain, and the grandfather dies in violent convulsions, as if his life were being torn from within.

Alone and devastated, the narrator realizes that the magic dies with its creator. He sets fire to the model, keeping only the figures of himself and Teresa—now condemned to a real world stripped of the fantastical geography that once united them. The story closes with a haunting image: like the roses they planted in Patagonia, their love—and all that is beautiful—seems destined to be scattered by the wind.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Félix J. Palma is a Spanish novelist and short story writer, recipient of the Ignotus Award for Best Novel, the Luis Berenguer Prize, and the prestigious Ateneo de Sevilla Prize, among others.

The story Roses Against the Wind moves seamlessly from wonder and intimacy to suspense and drama, balancing the epic and the emotional, and leaving a lingering melancholy reflection on time and loss. It is part of the short story collection The Salamander’s Watchman.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Film, TV Film

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish