Night and day

Anderson called me this morning. When I got to the farm Taurinos to make some coffee, Andrés told me he had gotten the same call.

"Well, Renan made a nice mess in his store, no? Anderson is real mad. But I don't know if I think he's correct and not Renan, you know. Now about Renan's methods, this is something we should discuss but I open my mouth to bring on the subject and all will fall you know."

What happened was that Anderson decided to summon a meeting for the Council of Taurinos' Ancient Society. He suggested that master Danilo took Adriano's place for the meeting, since the latter was still in hospital. Andrés thought that not even master Danilo would come (he was at the hospital in Varginha exactly visiting Adriano), but he did know clearly his brother's position. I did not see any hindrance for the meeting either. Renan was the last one to be summoned. He called us here following the call he got from Anderson so he and his brother were coming to the meeting. Whenever we were summoned to a meeting of the Council, the telephone here wouldn't stop ringing until all of the Taurinos had called the Conselheiros' farm. The policeman was the last to call.

"What do you think Anderson intends to do with the meeting?"

"Are you worried? You didn't treat his store like glass exactly", replied Andrés.

"No, no, not worried at all. I was just curious and thought I'd ask you", retorted the tiny voice on the other side of the wire.

Andrés told me about the talk with Renan winking mischievously at me, "he has already seen he found more trouble than he would imagine. Anderson had never summoned the Taurinos for a meeting before. Renan was certainly not expecting him to."

Renan would defend himself by attacking Anderson, if it was what I figured. I believed he would want to turn the meeting against Anderson by charging him with the obligation of joining the Police.

"Renan is smart, he might do it really", he agreed.

Three in the afternoon and even master Danilo came to the meeting. I had found him on time downtown, getting a lift from Duílio, just back from Varginha visiting Adriano and I put him in the picture. At least the events that had happened to me and Andrés these days, he knew all about Anderson's store (news, of course, run throughout the town spreading like wildfire). The countryman stared at me with wide-open eyes and called me insane. It was the first time he had had such a hard-nosed approach to my deeds. Maybe as if to give me an idea what I was trying to handle. Yes, I spent my life playing with fire and it seems I'll spend the Eternity doing the same.

"Wasn't it enough for you to invite him at night? You had to be on his way at a clearing? And you still opened your eyes to see him in front of you in the middle of the night, with his figure growing more and more solid every day? It seems you have lost your mind, "sá" Stella!"

I told him I never subscribed to legends and superstitions like that, wanted to see it all for myself. Master Danilo was impatient; said he felt sorry for Adriano when he saw him in a hospital bed. Even considering the lad has been greatly improving his clinical picture. He asked what more I needed to understand that there were no legends and superstitions in Taurinos. Only a magic and random reality as any dream you might have. Funny how what he said matched and even seemed to echo the words of Renan yesterday morning. I thought of the cheese bread bowl in my kitchen. From the ten loaves there were there, ten were left though Renan alone had eaten five of them. How could it be possible far from the reality with the dream-like trait the two were trying to describe to me?

It's four o'clock. The Mithraeum, the paramount temple of Taurinos' mithraists, was full with the Council. Bruno was there, wide awake to the events around him, eyes full of curiosity and so was Arthur, whom we hadn't seen much of lately. Anderson sat a bit far, but not completely. Master Danilo and I sat close to each other to be able to exchange some ideas on the matters of the day, (though we knew we wouldn't be able to talk a lot in private during the meeting).

Andrés directed the works this afternoon. He explained the two, Anderson and Renan, that any disrespect towards a member of the Council would incur the cancellation of the meeting altogether. He added that by "a member of the Council" he also meant the two, for obvious reasons.

"Our brethren Renan and Anderson agree to address the members with civility, thus avoiding the possibility that their demands are deemed void by this Council", concluded the Oficiant.

"Where is the book?", inquired Renan, glancing at Bruno as soon as he finished agreeing to the terms.

Bruno hit himself on his forehead.

"Great Mithra, I forgot about it, it's at home, it was my turn to bring it here!", the boy was ashamed of his negligence.

"No harm done for the meeting", assured the Oficiant, "the book will record everything anyhow, here or there."

The Oficiant said that Anderson had called the meeting and was the first to speak. After him, the members of the Council that wanted to speak would raise their arms to be allowed to do so. No remarks would be allowed during the core of members' speeches. After everybody agreed to the terms of the meeting, Anderson started speaking.

"Our store is one of the few activities my father and I have to guarantee our survival", he said looking at everyone around, no exceptions, "everybody in town knows me as a blacksmith, this is no news for anyone anymore. I'll go directly to the point: our hardware store was attacked by the Agent on Monday. I want to state I know the reason why the Agent is looking for me, I understand he is tired of looking for me. What I don't understand is why our store had to pay the price, since it is not only mine, but my father's too. And we have strouggled with a lot of sacrifices to have the little that we now have. My father has struggled much more than me and didn't deserve to start a working week sweeping the splinters of a shop window that was costly for him and made him work much more than he should so we could have a better store, better facilities to wait on the costumers that we have that are you, the people of Taurinos. My father told me he was promised a new shop window by the Agent to be paid by his father, "sêo" Teixeira. It's not just about material damage. "Sêo" Teixeira will certainly not pay the bill of the sadness and frustration my father felt when sweeping his work of years turned to splinters on the sidewalk."

Silence feel upon the Mithraeum. Only exhausting and ventilation fans working could be heard. Serious faces, no one dared to enter the discussion with the smallest remark. I looked at Renan and he was sober as I had never seen him in a meeting of the Council. Not even when the Big One threatened the town with the Law of the Bulls could I see him so grim. Anderson's speech was as grim as Renan, but emotive. Aimed to convince us from the point of view of a working class member and the hard fight for survival granted to all of them democratically if not indistinctively. And his words did convince me. They got down deep in me, even when I knew that was the line of reasoning he was to adopt to expose his ideas on Renan's deeds. The problem didn't lie on the fact Renan had been hard to him. It lay on the fact Renan was harder still on Anderson's father that had nothing to do with all of the chaos. Parents here — and I learned it as soon as I first set foot in Taurinos — had little to do about their children's behavior. Children have always ruled over this town, as master Danilo told me one day, referring to his own childhood in town when he himself was one of the seven handlers for the ceremony against the Law of the Bulls in Taurinos. There was now no way of getting his father involved in the story. He could never participate in the decision making; would he have to pay the price for each one of the decisions? But I saw the meeting was to be a headache for both lads, this I knew for sure.

The Oficiant asked Anderson if he had anything else to add. Anderson wiped his tears off his face and said he only wanted to beg Renan to turn on him, not on anyone else, "those are matters between you and me", he sniffed, "it's me you want, Renan; leave my father and all that belongs to him out of it."

The policeman heard it all in silence. Uttered no sound. In a certain moment, he even swallowed hard. So far, he had behaved like a gentleman during the meeting. Mentally he seemed to prepare to counteract what was going on; it was plain to see that he felt a circle growing tighter and tighter around himself. He seemed to have been hit by his friend's emotional plea. I thought I had seen his lower lip tremble during Anderson's speech, but could it be my mind playing games with me?

The Oficiant made sure Anderson had had his say and warned Renan that Anderson was not the only one to file a complaint in the meeting. Guilherme and Renan looked at him, Bruno and Arthur glanced at me. Apparently our night adventures had already turned around town in people's everyday gossip life, but it was hard to tell at that moment. Master Danilo raised his hand and said he'd speak for Adriano. The Oficiant gave him permission and he stood up. The Oficiant told him him the permission wouldn't extend to standing. He apologized with a smile, took his seat back and started.

"It's no news in Taurinos that in this moment Adriano is like chained to a hospital bed in Varginha" the old countryman said, "because he has suffered once again for his naïveté at telling this region's stories. This in a special moment for our community where nothing was supposed to remain obscure any longer for anybody here", I saw Renan shake and tremble, dying to respond at the very mention of the word "obscure", and saw the Oficiant stretching his neck to watch him, ready to intervene at the smallest sign of insubordination from Renan, "I understand that the policeman doesn't like the moniker that was given to him by "sêo" Anderson, but nothing ever justifies what I saw in that hospital room. "Sá" Aparecida told me he was getting better faster than expected. I thought I was a lucky man for not having seen him before today. I felt like crying for the state I found the lad in. So, I ask this Council, on behalf of "sêo" Adriano, that "sêo" Renan should explain why such hate of a moniker that was created to describe so well what goes on on the limit betwen Taurinos and Varginha. Just saying someone got a moniker cannot be the cause for so much sufferance. The policeman might find right what he did to "sêo" Adriano, but even if he deserves well everything he is living through now, he is punishing his mother too that has nothing to do with all this. He is also punishing his father that will have to do witout half his family for two long weeks. In the Brazilian Constituition there is an article that says clearly that '…no penalty will be applied to anyone else but the convicted'. Please, I beg this Council to not agree with him if he says all this sufferance for this family is happening for no reason. To not agree with him if he says all this sufferance for Dica's family is happening for no reason at all."

Renan swallowed hard again. It was hard to tell how much lead he had really expected, but it was evident it was not that much he was getting. The Oficiant again made sure master Danilo had had his say and went on to speak for himself. Described the night at the clearing and the appearance of the Agent behind us and more, his permanence at the spot and his positioning in front of us. Guilherme stared at his brother in disbelief. Bruno seemed to get the goosebumps all over. Master Danilo only shook his head, not understanding a speck of all of the madness. Arthur gazed at Renan, as if he was scanning his little friend for his innermost reasons.

"I understand that the policeman needs energy. But I also understand that each and every Taurinian has got the right to step out at night and contemplate the sky unafraid that a force that exists in town to protect it and its citizens threatens their moral and physical integrity. In my case, both were put under attack. The fear got me a nose bleeding that stayed in me for some two or three days. In the case of Miss Grisam, the moral integrity was, though she did contribute meaningfully for that."

I raised my hand so I could inscribe to speak. The Oficiant said I could start. I briefly told them I opened my eyes to look at the Agent of my own volition. Described the image that remained as a part of my eyes for long and still pursued me everywhere, haunting me in the corners of my own house, at the porch, every time I stepped on it.

"I'm not describing these things to make matters worse for brother Renan", I said turning my eyes to him, "I'm describing these things to give this Council a solid idea of the power existing within him and other forces that act in this town of which I haven't got the slightest clue, beyond all we have already identified. I want to ask Renan to explain the reason for so much hatred that surrounds this moniker, however. He must justify clearly before this Council the reasons for so much aggressiveness. It's least he can do for the people he has attacked. I must say he once visited me on his way to work, but it was part of an agreement between him and me and again, it was carried out entirely of my own volition. It only doesn't include the night on which he tortured both Adriano and me on account of such moniker."

There was a pause. The Oficiant asked me, amid the mortal silence around us, if I had anything else to add. Renan breathed confusely, ofegant from his seat, gazing at me, apparently confused between my defense and my attack. I told the Oficiant it was all I had for that moment. The Oficiant said Renan was the next to speak, if no one else had anything to add to the discussion. For some time, he waited for anyone's manifestation. Asked Guilherme, Bruno and Arthur if they agreed with the requirement that Renan justified his actions. They did. The Oficiant allowed Renan to start speaking. It was plain to see he struggled internally in search of something to do with the right to speak that had just been granted to him.

"Brethren from the Council", ele noisily cleared his throat, bringing the Council in the eyes, "every Taurinian knows I'm not the one for beautiful words. I have been a man of action since I was born and so I decided to protect our town, first from the cattle thieves that showed up in town and then from every single threat appeared in Taurinos ever since. I didn't know what could happen to me for doing what I did — to be given this power and to be tied to doing what I do for the town now — but now I know it's all for real. And for good."

Anderson was tense. Waited for his own dose of lead. Saw his little friend build his defense brick by brick and knew that, though not being "the one for beautiful words", Renan would know how to defend his points of view.

"It's no secret that the weapons I used to rid the town of the cattle thieves were all borrowed from Anderson. He lent me the weapons at my first request, I never needed to insist."

Bruno, Guilherme, Arthur and master Danilo turned their eyes to the blacksmith; the latter perceived the looks but give none back to them. All his concentration was on Renan.

"Anderson created this moniker for me, but never told me why. I understood it was an insult, because the power dominated me but didn't dominate him. It was like he was resistant to the power, something I could never afford to be. It was like he said indirectly that I wanted to have gotten that power and managed to. The moniker soon spread around town. As I was dressed like that whenever I went out at night to patrol the town, people didn't take long to start calling me the name he had given. It hurt me and still hurts the same way nowadays to see that my friend hid and — wasn't it enough — gave me that moniker, when he was exactly the one who should join me and do this work together with me" explained Renan, staring at Anderson with his most defiant look.

Anderson gazed at Renan, in desperation and shook his head as if he silently tried to deny all of that, tied to the rules of the meeting until he was too desperate to hold himself back, "this is not true, I didn't create the moniker to…"

"Brother Anderson is breaking the rules set for this meeting", the Oficiant cut him short abruptely with a stern look in his eyes, "I beg him to use the example given by Brother Renan, who heard everyone here without a word until he was given the right to talk by this Council as an example of discipline to be followed."

The blacksmith was silent and ashamed. I clearly saw the half smile on Renan's face when he heard the reproach to Anderson's attitude. The young blacksmith was under pressure. He knew the meeting ultimately targeted him, not Renan. If not this meeting, another. Little did he know that he was only prolonging his slow, extremely stressful and painful agony. Renan knew, in his turn, he had much more to lose than his friend in that meeting. He knew well he'd have to let go of his rings to at least keep his fingers.

"If Brother Renan has got nothing else to add to his words, we could, with the consent of this Council, give Brother Anderson the right to speak", the Oficiant cut short.

"Nothing else for the moment", said Renan turning his eyes to the Oficiant. I waited to see if Renan was going to use the same vocative, "brother", to address the Oficiant. I thought he wasn't going to, even if it was to comply with a formality.

"Brethren, it's true what Brother Renan affirms when he says I never told him why the moniker was given to him. I was unfair to my friend; he deserved and deserves to know why. I was unfair to my friend when I let it all go so far as to be questioned in a meeting of the Council of Taurinos' Ancient Society to tell him why I created that moniker. It was not too serious, though it was not a joke at all. I wanted to describe power he got from this night of Taurinos to protect its borders and its population. I also wanted to describe the mystery of this grim profession and the very condition he was in to exercise that profession. I want to make it clear that I created that moniker more as a tribute, not because he is my friend, but as a tribute to someone who had the guts and the determination to do what I never dared to do and should have done."

The Council, though not apparently indifferent, didn't look completely moved by his explanation. Strangely enough, Renan did. That gave me an idea of how much he yearned and struggled to believe his friend. Of the high hopes Renan still held that one bright day his older friend would join him.

"I want to propose that the Council consult brother Renan about whether he accepts this explanation or not. If so, I propose that the name of the institution be the same as the moniker suggested by Anderson", said the Oficiant, being immediately granted the permission, "so let's hear it from Brother Renan."

"I accept his explanation, brethren", he turned his eyes to the blacksmith that was beside himself so ashamed he was, "I also accept the moniker and that it be made the official name." And Renan showed both his hands open, repeating a gesture I've seen Andrés perform and that stood for honesty within the community of Taurinos.

I cast a meaningful look at master Danilo. Renan was winning the fight with Anderson. He would accept everything, flexible and well-behaved as he had never been seen by the community; soon Anderson was going to be deemed insubmissive, not Renan anymore. Guilherme had astonished eyes turned to his younger brother, unable to believe what his ears insisted on clearly showing him. Savagery toward the moniker turned into sheer tenderness. Sheer obedience, good will.

Renan submitted to everything proposed in the meeting. According to master Danilo's proposal, he'd pay for the shop window by working for a week in Anderson's hardware store, sweeping, cleaning and doing whatever was necessary, what didn't excuse his family from paying the damage he caused. Bruno suggested that he bore a badge with the name of the corporation on his night uniform, a distinctive that had to be created by the same creator of the moniker. The proposals met more resistance from the blacksmith than from Renan, who asked his friend to effectively make the badge. Arthur proposed a person-to-person apology by Renan, visiting all those victimized for using the moniker that the policeman once considered an insult and apologizing to them, on behalf of the Obscure Police, by looking at them all in the eyes, a proposal that received enthusiastical approval from master Danilo. Renan accepted it immediately. The Oficiant proposed rules for his night rides, more specifically forbidding him to stop by citizens of Taurinos when he was on duty. Renan promised to comply with the proposal unconditionally.

Anderson was stunned. Humiliated as he was, Renan was still the winner of that round. The young policeman had managed to turn the table over the blacksmith, he had managed to use the meeting called by the blacksmith himself to expose him definitively as insubmissive and weak. Anderson had only the role of a fugitive left for himself, someone who refused helping his community the way he should. The Oficiant granted him the right to speak but the poor lad was way too confused to say anything meaningful, it seemed. Asking the members if there was anything any of them would like to add, the Oficiant called it a day.

Anderson still had to put up with Andrés saying (in private but nothing I could not hear), "dude, that young lad has made mincemeat of you in the meeting… And your start hadn't been that bad at all, huh?"

Three ideas | The boy with the thorn in his side

Radio Universal: Obscure Police