Eden

Woke up to knocks on the brass knocker down there. It was no earlier, no later than seven in the morning. It was Guilherme asking me to get dressed and follow him. I did it and the Teixeiras took me to the road next to the track that led to the Sanctuary. Guilherme asked me to wait on the road with his parents and disappeared into the track. There was a dead silence among the three adults. An engine was heard and it was the Conselheiros coming our way down the road.

They stopped by us and asked how things were going, seemingly anxious to see it end. Then, more people joined, Anderson, Bruno, master Danilo. After some thirty minutes, Guilherme emerged from the bush helping his younger brother to walk. Andrés seemed in better conditions than Renan, but not much better. We helped get the two in the cars. They'd go directly to Varginha "I can see our lives will be spent taking these children to hospitals forever and ever" said a murky Duílio as he changed gears and hit the road for the neighbor city. I simply could not believe the state the kids were in. So I felt how attached I had grown to all of those little creatures in eternal conflict. A tear rolled down my face and others followed it too.

When I looked around there were only me and master Danilo left on the road. We were walking to my house, he was leading his horse by the bridle. Still a bit far from my house we could see Anderson and Bruno on their horses and one more horse tied to the fence. When we arrived I had no way of recognizing my house. We two stopped in front of the gate, full of astonishment. The most approximated view was one of a Garden of Eden.

Small cascades, lakes, dream landscaping, small bridges almost like a Japanese zen garden. Wonderful flowers blossomed offering luxury colors and petals where humming birds came to feast. Life, life and more life. Anderson and Bruno had gotten off their horses and stopped with us in front of the gate. We two watched it all in awe when Arthur came from behind a bush in his blue dungarees and saluted us with his luminescent smile.

"Those seeds were not that bad, Miss Grisam", he said still smiling, "they were my gift to you. I hope you like this little piece of paradise. I created it with a lot of love because I knew you were never going to let us down and would solve the issue in the Sanctuary. Now I hope you can open Bruno's and Guilherme's too, they took long to choose and find them gifts."

Arthur stopped talking at last. I said nothing. There was a huge pause. He was in suspense, looking at the others, not grasping what was going on, not knowing what to expect.

"Was there anything left to do, anything you still need me to do?", he cut it short.

"I need you to remove this garden from here."

"What???", I glanced around and only expressions of astonishment and perplexity surrounded me. Anderson came to try and talk me out of it, but I told him not to try and make things even harder for me because they were already being hard enough.

The boy heard me appalled. Colorless in the face, he said, "but I give you such a marvelous gift and you want me to… want me to… want me to remove it???", he glared at me.

"The garden is wonderful, Arthur. Under any other circumstances it would be a dream come true getting a gift like this. I'd feel like I was chosen by the gods and this would be heaven to me. But I know what came to pass so that this garden could blossom here and far from reminding me how valid the experience really was, it'll only remind me how hard their sufferance was in the forest."

Anderson, master Danilo and Bruno stared at me at the top of their perplexity. Arthur glanced at them and they glanced back at him seeming frightened, as though they could not believe it. I'll have to feel how hard it is to turn down a gift around here.

"I can't accept the garden the way it was given to me. Were it the same situation with you and you left the Sanctuary like that…"

"They incurred all that happened to them, Miss Grisam! They did it wrong, they deserved it all! And still dragged you to the demand with them!!!", Arthur goggled at me as if he were about to turn to an animal.

"I know. I was in favor of the Celestial Gardener, found his demand to be fair, but I don't agree with the way I was separated from the kids. Don't agree with the psychological pressure on me, making me believe my house was threatened with collapsing together with the houses of two families I have known well in this town. I don't want to have a garden that will remind me of all of this. I want my house back to what it was before all of this confusion, Arthur. It hurts me to get rid of all this wonder, of all your beautiful creation, but this garden has to go."

Arthur sat down on the lawn and buried his head in his crossed arms. His body started to shake. I motioned to bend and try to comfort him in some way, but I felt a violent jerk in my two arms and it was Anderson and master Danilo frightened, holding me to prevent me from doing it. I glanced at them, confused and when I looked at my house again there was no more garden, no more spikes, no more Arthur, no more Bruno. Only Anderson and master Danilo still holding me by the arms.

"If you can let go of my arms it's already time to."

At home, late at night, I opened the gifts from Bruno and Guilherme. The boxes were strangely light today. When I unwrapped the boxes and opened them it was easy to find out why they were so light. There was nothing at all inside the boxes. I trashed the wrapping paper and the boxes.

Meire appeared on MSN and wished me a happy new year, not minding time was not the same here and there. Through her webcam, she showed me the fireworks that saluted the new year of 2011 through her house's window. I looked up the date in my computer. It was July the 23rd 2009. I started to weep without a reason. It was a shitty night for a shitty day after all. I said goodbye and disconnected.

It should be nearly midnight when I heard the sound of an engine outside, coming to a stop in front of my house. Thought it was Duílio coming to bring news. I went to my window with the lights off and looked outside, screened by the window curtains. It was no Conselheiros. It was Teixeira family's car. Guilherme came out and motioned to open the gate but stood still when he saw all the lights out. He was staring astonished, lost, at my house, the fence all around from the outside, and seemed to not understand anything at all.

"But didn't you say Arthur was going to set a garden at that place?", it was "sêo" Octávio speaking from inside the car.

"But he was supposed to! I swear he was, Dad… We decided on that together!", the little kid was puzzled, looking all around. He entered the land, took a tour around the house and returned as puzzled as he was before, "but just what happened here???"

"Guilherme, come on in and let's go home, it's late now", the father seemed to be growing real impatient, besides the frustration of not seeing the promised garden.

I felt sorry for the confused and desolated little kid down there. But he'd learn what happened with the others anyhow. I didn't show them I was awake. The boy went back to the car as confused as he had been when he stepped out of it. I went to bed to try and sleep a wink less than sure whether the Police was on duty tonight, would patrol it here and wake me up once again.