Demand

Anderson dropped by on his horse today. Asked how Andrés and Renan were and I told him he had knocked on the wrong door. I directed him to the farm Taurinos where he used to live until the beginning of this mess, the right place for him to get updates on the kids' situation in the Sanctuary. He himself seemed an alien coming to town for the first time ever.

"Could you possibly give me a glass of water?"

"No, I've told you all while your partner and Andrés can't come in no one of you comes in, drinks water or the like. I won't be repeating this as I'm no voice recorder."

"But Miss Grisam, I got nothing to do with this mess…"

"Neither do I and see what they have done to me and to my house."

Later on, the classic visit of master Danilo and I wanted to know about the party in the forest. He said the kids were happy to see them all there, but were in an ever-worsening situation. Renan got to have blood drawn by the mosquito bites. The wound was so wide it let blood ooze out of it. Not yet recovered from the incident with the bell that drained a handsome amount of energy from him, now that's what he was dealing with.

"If you can't find out what happened there in the Sanctuary, I dunno… Lord, it does hurt to see the two that way."

Even master Danilo, much on his own way, urged me to find a solution to the issue. A shadow of sheer dismay passed me by. He told me he had been to the farm Taurinos in the morning. Duílio was off to town. Arthur dropped by and tried to reproach both Aparecida and himself for celebrating Andrés' birthday in the forest. As a trustworthy guardian of the region's traditions, master Danilo told Arthur that he had no right to prevent families from celebrating their children's birthdays anywhere. I was revolted at Arthur's attitude and gave master Danilo congratulations on his.

"He was lucky "sêo" Duílio was not there as it would be a coil."

"You are full of temperance, were it me I'd have shouted at him. By the way, we'll have a good talk when I see him shearing the fences here."

"But go slow, "sá" Stella, let's not complicate things further…"

"What about the man who asks for cigarettes? Did he show up again?"

He smiled and said he didn't, at least on that night, either in the Sanctuary or at home. I asked him if he could enter the Sanctuary. Master Danilo said he could.

"Ever thought of taking him a pack of cigarettes at that place in the forest?"

He was all pale. I had never seen him pale like that. I asked him what was so scary about it. He said that if he did that he'd be smoking again.

"So automatically?"

"Maybe."

He told me he had to smoke at least three cigarettes while he was there; the man would show up and he'd give him cigarettes and would talk to him and smoke together with the man.

"Isn't it better to smoke and try to keep low consumption than being haunted in the forest and even in your house?", I tried to analyze costs and benefits.

He stopped for long time when only the sounds of the afternoon were heard. The moos and barks in the distance, distant hens and roosters, birds in their eternal jam sessions, the whole. Eventually he said he really didn't want to smoke again. I thought I was doing him harm advising him to smoke.

"What if you only smoked the cigarettes of the ritual?"

"I dunno, I'm a bit afraid of liking it and acquiring the habit again. That is the heart of the matter."

I stated that if there was at least a ghost of a chance that this didn't happen it would be worth trying it. He had to agree. Our look turned to the plant. Mine because I had to study it until I fell. His because his followed mine.

"I can't look at this plant anymore. I can't understand how it can help, just can't understand it, master Danilo."

I was a bundle of nerves. The news about Arthur trying to reproach people on the farm Taurinos and master Danilo got me all nervous and angry, adding to all my recent frustrations and the situation of the kids in the Sanctuary. The countryman smiled kindly as a Chinese wise man. Said some things took long even being before our own eyes.

"I already know what happened in the Sanctuary", he declared, leaving me astonished, "I took your steps even in the dark and saw that what happened to you there happened to me too. I showed the kids and their families what it was."

"So what was it?", I just couldn't wait.

"I can't tell you because it'd void the demand. The Celestial Gardener would create a worse demand instead. Only you have the power of solving the demand without voiding it. If you say what happened it solves the demand and it ceases to exist. If I say what it is, or anybody else does, the demand is voided and turned into a worse version. Heaven forbid!"

"But how could they ever know you gave me the solution?"

"They'd know because the demand would be voided, "sá" Stella. They wouldn't see me give you the solution, of course, but they'd know you didn't get to the solution yourself because the signs of the demand being voided would be very clear to them. There's also the risk that the kids remain in the Sanctuary forever."

"How horrific!"

That urged something in me. A sense of responsibility that I had never felt for two kids I didn't know in the beginning of this year. Now everyone knew what it was, everyone but me. I remembered again when they made me recall the ceremony in March. The situation was indeed the same. I recall how long it took me to remember what "I" did in that ceremony.

Master Danilo said he was taking off. He was going to town to buy cigarettes.