Obscure Police

Adriano came to my house to talk to me in the morning. I brought up yesterday's subject and told him about what went on the day before yesterday; then he told me what he knew about the frontier police Renan stood for. As a careful guide whom I needed badly to live unafraid in Taurinos for the time to come. And that time would come for sure.

"He rides his horse round the city limits", he said, "he always uses a black horse and is always in black, head to toes, wearing black boots and spurs, when he is "working". So townspeople usually call him the Obscure Police, though they never say it to his face because he hates that nickname and wants to fight on the spot whoever calls him that. Renan rides at night and looks for outsiders in town, especially those who have been in town for some time. If you have the bad luck of being outdoors at night and seeing him pass you by all in stark black on a black horse, you'll know it's him chasing someone in the dead of the night."

I didn't understand what Adriano meant by bad luck at all and decided to tease him indirectly.

"Yup, maybe I can stop him on the road and ask him who it is he is chasing, no?"

"No, no, no, never ever do it, course not!", he seemed pale and frightened by my idea, "'Tis a very bad idea to stop him in this situation on the road at night. It's not even a good idea to stay on the very path he is about to pass by. If there is someone in town at night in this situation (what hardly ever happens, since people always stay home on nights like this), the person has to step aside and leave for anywhere that is far enough from the road. They only get back on the road when he's far from there. Renan is not very friendly even in broad daylight in his normal self, you know. At night, passing by on his horse, even in the distance it is easy to tell it is him. People hardly ever go riding here in Taurinos at night. Besides you can't go wrong when you see him. Curiangos on the side of the dirt roads will jump to the shoulders and disappear in the road side bushes as he passes by even though he won't tread on them being on the middle of the road anyway. Those night birds won't ever do it, just do it because it is him and because they feel what the situation is. Even the ground shakes in a weird way. If you put your ear right on to the ground, you'll hear eerie sounds you could never imagine true."

I was simply stunned. Definitely there were lots to learn about Renan, whom I thought to know way better now. I told Adriano that it reminded me of a text about secret societies in Nigeria I had read from some Russian Marxist authors, from a book called African Religions — Traditional and Syncretic. Such societies carried out cerimonial processions through obscure streets in Lagos and people on the streets had to go back home quickly in case they were on the way of these processions. Restaurants and local commerce had their doors shut by people coming long before the procession passed them by. People caught by the procession on the street died the eeriest and most terrible kind of death on the spot despite not being touched by anyone from the procession. As though it happened by autosuggestion, people died by themselves. In the very state of Minas Gerais, I told him, it had a lot to do with the shutdown of commerce on days on which there were funeral processions on the street as they passed in front of the shops. Adriano heard what I told him with attention and seemed to be stunned by his turn.

"But my goodness, it is very much like what happens when you pass him on your way on these nights. It is not so violent as what you just told me, and natives of Taurinos won't die anyhow, but crossing him on the road at night is jus' weirder than weird. It gives you the strangest goosebumps all over, some fucking bad nightmares at night, we wake up to find ourselves coated in cold sweat, feeling suffocated and stuff…"

"And he always waits seven days to…"

"Not always", Adriano was quick to cut me short, "if he has already warned you, there's no second warning. If the outsider offends anyone in town, or himself there's not even a warning, let alone forgiveness. Then he makes the outsider suffer hell on Earth before he… well, you know what I mean. Sometimes it takes him one whole night torturing the goddamned. And why, if it's bad for a native to pass him by on the road in this situation, I'm afraid to imagine what is waiting for an outsider. Heaven forbid one gets caught."

There was a pause. I couldn't think of anything logical to say; offered him a cup of coffee and milk and put things to eat on the table, bread, farm butter and all that jazz. My mind had been a real whirlpool since the day before yesterday and now it all only got worse still. The description he gave me of Renan was very close to that you can find in many little towns in the country of Brazil of a headless mule. Said to be the concubine of a Catholic priest, it was a fantastic being under the form of a headless mule venting fire through its nostrils and forever galloping across the darkest dirt roads of the countryside towns. I commented to him that what he said seemed like the description of a legend and how weird it was it was a tradition that had started three months ago or so, since February this year when I first came to town. A legend, a tradition of less than three months??? Adriano didn't seem to understand what I was talking about or didn't seem to know exactly what to answer. I explained that it was like what had happened to the town itself, of me creating a millennial past for Taurinos that dated back to a neolithic Brazil. He then seemed to understand it better explained that way and, besides, it was really more or less the same thing.

I brought up the case of the two men that had been killed and how it had been reflected in the physical world outside, in Santos and São Vicente. Adriano had his eyes wide open as saucers when he heard that, as though it were big news to him. I showed him Meire's emails too. He asked if I had shown them to Renan and I said so.

"Great Mithra, this is insane", he looked at me without being able to believe, "did you ask Andrés about it?"

"Not yet, but I'm going to. But what does not match the description you have given of the Obscure Police is…"

"Miss Grisam, don't go saying this name here and there, you'll end up letting it out near him and it'll be hell you know."

"Well, anyway it does not match what you said about him doing things at night. See, the first of these men was killed at dusk and the other in broad daylight in the afternoon…"

"Well these two were special, weren't they? If what you said is true, both knew you personally, no? I don't know what difference it can make, but I think this is the difference. At least this is the only thing I can think of."

For want of a better explanation, I stuck with Adriano's. I could have asked Renan himself yesterday, but my goddamned memory fades so fast, it betrays me when I most need it. It has always been this way, it seems.

Laptop is open and on. MSN is open and my status is online, waiting for no one that could imagine I was still alive. I let my online status apparent so everyone could see. Can this open a new era for the communication between the living and the dead?

Endless night outside. The sky is riddled with stars and the Milky Way spins lazily following Earth's rotation. I heard a horse on the dirt road in the distance. Renan? No one rides here at night, I was told. I went to the night outside, left the porch of my house heading for the dirt road. The sound of the horse came in a slow crescendo, it was no gallop, but a steady and continuous prance of one coming in a decided speed. Will I see that Obscure Police passing me by at last? Only in this crazy town will parents let a ten-year-old ride the city limits on a horse alone at this time at night. Let alone the other even more insane things he does. But this is Taurinos and in Taurinos, even it being in Minas Gerais, things go on differently.

And the horse came closer to where I was standing. It wouldn't take long until it came to view. And when it finally came in contact with my eyes, it was not Renan, at least not as short as him. It took me some time to recognize who it was; it turned out to be master Danilo when he stopped the horse close to me. He wasn't expecting me to be on the road at that time and was as surprised as he was happy to see me. He got off the horse smiling and we exchanged greetings. I hadn't seen him in a while. He told me he found my house to be very pretty.

"You haven't been to my house anymore, so I came by to pay you a visit", he said with a smile, "have you missed those cups of coffee?"

"For sure. I was really planning to visit you soon, but it was nice of you to come by and see my old new house."

I showed him around and he admired every detail of the house. He took long praising Duílio's and Adriano's dedication to its construction. In the kitchen, I put some water to boil so I could make him some coffee and while I got the coffee powder to fill the skimmer we talked about the subject of these days. Like Adriano he was scared at the news of what happened in Santos and was quick to recognize their implications.

"Obscure Police, huh?", I asked. His reaction echoed that of Adriano earlier in the day. He said it was not a good name to use.

"The young man gets a bit upset when he hears this, you know. Once he threw a bottle at Célio da Dica at Zé of the Depths' bar downtown. Now, the weirdest thing was that Renan was at the square when Célio called him the name and went to the bar to have it out with him. They had to take Célio to Varginha right away. Now how could he have heard that???"

I was puzzled like him, but decided to test the potential of the Obscure Police just the same.

"But he wouldn't do me any harm, would he? If he does it all to protect me…"

"No, he wouldn't do you harm, but would give you a hard time, worse than what you get when you cross him on the road. I once met him on the dirt road near the town limits. By the way, it's no good to be roaming there at night, because that's exactly the place he patrols. I spent the whole night having weird nightmares, sweating like there was no tomorrow, drooling like there was no tomorrow; I even threw up once and you know he's very respectful to me. Now people overdo it sometimes, it's enough to sit down by the road or come to the shoulder and shut your eyes. You still get a strange sensation inside, but its none compared to seeing him pass you by. He soon realizes it's a native to Taurinos, won't mess with you at all."

"Would you stay on the road again to see him?"

"On that night in particular, there was little I could do, because I mistook his horse's hooves' sounds for mine. Don't ask me how this craziness happened, the sound should have doubled but I was too distracted to give it any thought. When I realized what was going on he was already passing me by. But if I can avoid it I will, for Mithra's sake!"

"Did Renan apologize to you, master Danilo?"

"Renan is not the one to apologize, "sá" Stella. Passed him by that's your tough luck. Once I told you he's not a plaything. We had met very recently, remember? I told you the boy was mean. I wasn't joking or overplaying it. I know what I say and why I say these things."

When I put the coffee pot on the table, the characteristic sound of someone coming online on MSN was heard. God, it was Meire online! I had my best friend online on MSN! I just can't believe it. Neither can she, by the nervous tone of the message she sent me.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get in this profile?", was the message followed by a furious emoticon. Master Danilo understood little or nothing about emoticons, but did know how to read well. He regarded me with a serious look of one who perceives well what is going on on the other side.

"Meire, it's me, your friend Stella", I typed in a hurry, "it might seem weird to you, very weird, but it's really me, believe me…"

"You goddamned bastard hacker! I have just come from my best friend's burial. How can you be so mean as to laugh at people's desperation? Leave her profile alone, you bastard! I'll report you to MSN, I promise I'll do it right now!"

I couldn't stop to think of how wonderful it was I was communicating with her in this situation. I had no time. She wasn't about to give me any time nor would I be able to blame it on my good friend for acting like this. I felt like crying a river. For everything that had already happened to me on this long and strange journey, a journey that would never come to an end or take me anywhere else. Meire's words got me back to the condition of a deceased one that has tormented me so much lately and that I have attempted to get out of my mind unsuccessfully so far. Master Danilo seemed sad to see me that way and tried to help.

"Try to say something to her only you two would know and no one else, "sá" Stella. Perhaps it helps. It's really hard to believe this is actually going on, it must be being very painful for that poor woman."

I liked the idea — why couldn't I think of it before — and typed fast:

"Aren't you going to ask me if Paulo has come back home as you always do when it's been a while since we last met?"

Meire is typing a message, said the status bar under the chat window. It felt like an eternity until she finally sent it in.

"How come you know such a thing? You must have read about it in my friend's blog, no? Because I read it there. How come, you even research to be able to pester people who are fucked-up enough!"

I was distressed. Speaking about our quarrel over the Mexican boy wouldn't be any better. It was on the blog too. I regret having shown her the blog. Should have kept it as a secret. When I was about to give up trying, a ray of light seemed to illuminate me.

"Meire. Request my webcam. I'll show you who I really am."

"Course I will. I want to see the face of the bastard who's playing with serious matters like my feelings and the memory of my best friend!"

Another eternity. Master Danilo looked at me between curious, interested and solidary. He wanted to know how that would end. I wanted too, much more than him. After a period that felt like a geologic era, her request came; I gave her permission and waited. The webcam showed me and the interior of my kitchen. I request her webcam and the permission came soon. A bewildered Meire appeared in front of us, baffled at what she saw on her webcam. Master Danilo only admired these things of technology that he didn't understand and didn't seem to be willing to learn about. Once he even confessed to being confused by the profusion of buttons and commands the computer bore. Meire did know that world of computers, but not the world her webcam now showed her. To her I was in Santos in my kitchen. Through the audio, I explained to her I was in my kitchen but not in Santos any longer. She wondered how it could be possible. I told her it was a long story.

"I saw, I did see you lying in that horrible box, Stella", her face showed tears rolling down, "I saw it when they lowered that fucking casket down into the earth, I swear I did see it!"

"I know you did, my good friend. I do believe in you. I'm happy to know now you believe in me too."

It was hard to explain my condition to her, not dead, not alive, not a zombie, suspended in a Minas Gerais that was parallel to time and space she lived in. I asked her the date on her computer. She said it was April the 6th. Assuming I was ahead of her in time, I asked her if it was April 2009. Much to my surprise, she said it was April 2010. I looked at master Danilo and he regarded me with astonishment at all of that. Weren't he a true-born Mineiro, he'd think he was going crazy at seeing someone communicating with someone in the future. I told her we were in 2009 and she seemed to echo master Danilo's astonishment.

Frontier patrol | Roll the bones

Radio Universal: The Day Of Creation