Antonio and Alfonso, the story of a pact between two policemen that Clint Eastwood could have imagined

Antonio Subires

arrives at the portal like every day.

He calls the intercom and the door opens after saying his name.

Walk down the hallway to the elevator and wait.

He does not usually go up the ladder.

"Enough shoe soles I've worn out," your

must think

.

When you arrive at your destination, you don't have to press the bell.

The half-open door invites you to enter.

He is one of the family.

And so they have been shown for more than half a life.

Alfonso Fernández

is waiting for you sitting in his

Wheelchair.

Despite being groomed, he lets his wife give him one last brush up.

"Have a good time, handsome"

Listen before heading out.

Look at Antonio and a smile replaces a greeting muted by Parkinson's.

Fucking disease.

It has not stopped robbing her of strength since she was diagnosed.

Little by little, silently.

What an ungrateful sunset.

He, who spent his whole life kicking the streets, now needs help with everything.

But that is how they have been given, and whoever thinks he is going to hand over the spoon without fighting, is that he does not know him.

"Let's go on patrol!"

Antonio snaps as he pushes the chair out into the street.

The sun sets in Malaga, as almost always, although it is not down.

We will have to look for the shade, because the

daily walk

it is non-negotiable.

They walk at their own pace and the most recent events, with which the conversation starts, soon give way to memories that transport them to the past.

At a time when they were a couple of twenty-somethings, full of illusion, doubts and responsibilities, with the dream fulfilled of becoming

national police

.

A period in which they would begin to write a story of friendship and camaraderie that remains intact a decade after hanging up the uniform and whose essence is a gentlemen's agreement that they promised to honor every day and that they never wanted to fulfill.

A story of values ​​you could have imagined

Clint eastwood

.Running

1973

when the two officers met for the first time.

They had both been destined for the old

Malaga provincial prison

and when they met they quickly hit it off.

There they were five years in which they witnessed the evolution of their respective life projects.

Brides, weddings, christenings and a funeral.

Life itself. But we both "wanted to be street," and they began to volunteer for any service in which they had to exercise their legs.

"Citizen security, door control, football matches and Renfe", where they would develop most of their careers, except for a parenthesis in which Alfonso was assigned to the Police Station of

Torremolinos

.

Three decades patrolled

side by side, covering their backs, helping each other when problems got worse.

Many moments to remember, but one above all.

A conversation that would remain engraved in Alfonso's mind and that he managed to keep safe from the advance of the disease.

The essence of companionship.

A handshake

The 90s had just begun and Spain's advance towards modernity was threatened by the murders of the terrorist gang

ETA

.

No one was safe.

Cowardly shots to the back of the neck and indiscriminate bombs that also killed a group of agents and children who, seconds before, were playing carefree. Transport terminals were a priority objective, so surveillance and protection measures had to be extreme in an area such the

Costa del Sol

.

And in the middle of that target that the train station, the airport or the Malaga port had become, the two friends were. "That day I was fed up, very tired of carrying the

bulletproof vest

so many hours, "Subires explains. Like many colleagues, he was subjected to constant pressure that increased during the intermittent trickle of attacks and there were moments of weakness in which he would have liked to send everything to hell. And that was one of them." I told Alfonso that I wouldn't put it on anymore, "and whatever God wants to happen. He still remembers his reaction:" He stopped and blurted out: 'We're going to make a deal here and now.

If one of you gets sick, the other will help and care for you.

It will be by your side when you need it, whenever it is. '

And now,

grab the vest

". Antonio was perplexed, processing the words of his friend, until his partner returned to the conversation urging him:" Is that okay? "." I answered that I agreed and asked him if we signed any paper so that it would remain constancy ", but" he said no, that a handshake was enough,

as in the villages

"" I put the bulletproof vest back on and continued patrolling with Fernández. "Day after day, year after year, until time imposed its logic."

retired in 2006

, 20 months before me, "he recalls, before specifying that this farewell did not dilute their friendship and, although they no longer saw each other on a daily basis, the contact was maintained.

The Parkinson's haze

Antonio cannot specify the exact date on which he learned that his partner had fallen ill.

"I would say that

five or six years ago

"He comments diffusely." They did some tests "and the diagnosis was clear:" Parkinson's. "A degenerative disease with an uncertain evolution that soon began to show its worst side immobilizing his legs. He was by his side during the hard process in the that the body stopped obeying him, and stepped forward when Alfonso's wife - "

the great heroine of this story

"- he began to have difficulties to cope with all the extra work generated by caring for a dependent person. So he decided to lend a hand and became his friend's companion for a walk. Since then, every morning, he began to travel to his They both walked the streets while reminiscing stories of the past. Fernández began to have serious problems speaking, "but we understood each other." They joked remembering how they played if the train coming from

Alora

it would arrive on time and which neighbors would get off it every day.

"They are very good moments, where we are happy." They had been "patrolling again" for three months when Alfonso turned to his friend and with difficulties asked him: "Subires, do you remember the promise we made?

30 years ago

s? "Antonio, surprised, did not know exactly what he was referring to, but he could not help but smile when his partner refreshed his memory and thanked him for coming to see him every day." Have you had me test all this? time? ", replied a Subires sarcastically who assures that he will keep his word as long as he has the strength:" Beyond the pact we made, being by my partner's side at this time is an obligation, because for me it is

as if he were my brother

"Aware that the situation is complex, he cannot hold back his tears when asked if he is preparing for the day when his friend - who is in his 80s - leaves." I would have to, but I don't want to, "he replies. , to add that "

I would rather die before

, because I don't want to experience the trance of seeing my partner leave. "On May 4, 2017, Antonio participated in a tribute organized by the delegation in Malaga of the Association of Retirees of the National Police of Spain (Ajpne). It should have been one more among all the agents who had already left the body, but Alfonso insisted that it was not the case. With the difficulties derived from his illness, but with the help of his family, he wrote a letter that was read in public.

"to my best friend and partner"

, in it he reviewed the value of friendship and commented how, "those patrols that we still had to do, have become wheelchair rides due to the illness I suffer."

"For that, both my family and I, we want to thank you with all our heart and leave it in writing

in case I lose my mind

"" May God pay you back in health. "

"Many of our colleagues are part of our family"

"Personnel called me to sign the documentation. I returned the belt and the pistol and they told me that I had to hand over the badge. I opened the wallet and put it on the table. I went out and went to my group. When I saw Rafi and Jero , two of my classmates, I was about to collapse, so I told them that I was going to have a coffee. But what I really did was go into the bathroom and get sick of crying. "

he remembers his last day in the National Police as his first.

One of the best Homicide investigators at the Malaga Provincial Police Station, wrote a good part of his career in the Basque Country as an escort for

.

Now, hanging his uniform, he is still linked to his "other family" through the Association of Retirees of the National Police of Spain (Ajpne).

An organization born to support all those agents and family members who may find themselves in difficulties in the most vulnerable section of their lives. Its manager in Malaga is

, who has managed to get more than 400 officers to unite to claim, among other issues, the pharmaceutical copayment or decent pensions for police widows. Currently they have about twenty beneficiaries, whom they help in different areas.

"There are those to whom we give a voucher so that they can make it to the end of the month, because they don't even have enough for the bus; we have gotten a wheelchair for another colleague who has an amputated leg; we give administrative and legal advice to many others; Who needs accompaniment, we let him know that someone cares ", explains Navas, who laments the certain abandonment suffered by the agents when their professional life ends." Sometimes we have the feeling that a part of society is suspicious of the police and that causes a certain isolation ", the consequences of which are manifested when they retire and loneliness is shown in all its harshness.

"Many of our colleagues are part of our family, because we have passed

", she adds," and we cannot allow them to be alone "" That is our philosophy, that's why one of our volunteers took three colleagues to her house for dinner who had no one to spend the night with.

". Francisco Navas explains that the story starring Antonio Subires and Alfonso Fernández is one of the many forged in the heat of Ajpne, where reunions" always end in

".

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