Ferdinand

Opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the table top, half obscured by my crossed arms' shadows. When I tried to raise my head, felt something slightly pull my hair. I pulled it back and raised my head to look. My hair had gotten bound by the plant when my head landed on the tabletop from gazing so much at the damn vegetable.

When I looked at the plant again it was like I had always known everything. The visits of the Caipora, his compliments about my hair and his advice that I should fasten them, the strange visits of Anderson, his inquiry about a constellation no one else would find in the sky. All of a sudden, out of the blue everything seemed to make a hell of a sense. I remembered Arthur as the Officiant of one of the meetings in the Mithraeum telling me to gaze at the plant until my head fell on the table. How he could ever know the distance between my head and the plant so I could let my head fall on the table and have my hair bound to the plant I'll never find out. And I don't even know if I give it a damn.

I called the Feletti. Arthur's mother, D. Carolina answered the call and said he was off to Varginha with his father. I called Bruno and Guilherme but if they weren't in Varginha themselves too they were not at home either. I was anxious to see Renan and Andrés released from the Sanctuary and just couldn't wait. But I thought I was going to have to. If "the boys from the other side" took long to go home, the two would only be released on the following day.

I thought about going to master Danilo's. It was far, but far better than staying here alone walking like a lion in a cage. But a distant sound of a horse took my attention. It was a crescendo, what indicated it was going to pass in front of my house. At that time, if it weren't the Police it would be master Danilo. I opened the door and went to my gate to look at the road. From a distance, I saw the horseman reflecting the shine of the stars. The sounds of the night ceased to manifest: it was the time. A chill covering the whole body warned me it was no master Danilo at all. Warned me that if I stayed where I was I was going to seriously regret doing it. I got in my house quickly, turned off the porch light; I shut the door and my eyes while Anderson passed in full gallop flooding everything around with a stuffy and terrifying atmosphere. The gallop was still heard from a distance when I opened my eyes again. Went back to the porch. Another horse was heard. This time it was master Danilo.

"Lord, didn't even know Anderson would be on duty tonight. Had to go off road to avoid passing by the Police, "sá" Stella", he told me as he got off his horse.

He smiled and changed subjects, saying that he needed no effort to read by my expression that I had finally come to a solution. I hugged him, happy for accomplishing this task and putting and end to all of this torture. He seemed embarrassed and I found it to be so cute.

"How do we get the kids out of the forest?"

"We'll call Arthur tomorrow", the countryman replied.

"Tomorrow? Why not right now?"

"I don't know if we can take them away from there. I mean, if I can. We shouldn't risk more trouble over this demand now that everything has been solved."

My anxiety for a while stopped me from seeing how reasonable he was really being. Yes, but wasn't he the guardian of the traditions?

"I know the traditions", he argued, "but the Celestial Gardener has his criteria. I adapt to them to describe these traditions. It's not the traditions which adapt to the description I make of them. Much of what I said about the Obscure Police has changed a lot in a few weeks."

"Do the forces get the children always in groups? Is this also a tradition?"

He failed to grasp my question's meaning. I explained that both the Obscure Police and the Celestial Gardener were groups in the general group of the seven kids. Were those traditions that were incorporated by them?

"Yes, it simply happened like this. It happened because it happened. And because each one had a mood for this or that which was related to this or that force. Taurinos' forces of nature use these children as a channel through which they can manifest and dialogue with the community. Now if it's always in a group, I don't know. At least for now I really don't know."

I spoke to him of how Anderson had seen himself and he said I had already told him about this. I asked if I also had told him Anderson appeared here to tell he had seen himself armed in the forest and had been having nightmares about it. The countryman goggled at me, eyes full of astonishment.

"My goodness", and he crossed himself, "armed on top of it all?"

"Well I didn't see him armed at Horns Falls, master Danilo."

"Lucky you are, lady!"

"No, I mean it seemed weird he saw himself armed when I didn't."

He was thoughtful for a moment. I told him about Anderson coming at night and how we were gazing at the sky and I had him asking me about a constellation whose name had to do with hair and how everything was related and directed to that subject.

"Anderson didn't seem to see a reason why he should be gazing at the sky, master Danilo. Don't you find it weird in people here?"

"No. People in Taurinos are worried about surviving until tomorrow and maybe until next week. Mineiros here are not like the others in other towns. They don't let themselves be taken by the nature of the place. As bulls, gazing at the ground, seeking the grass they're browsing. They're not like Ferdinand the Bull, contemplating the beauty in things."

I felt sorry for the boy for some moments. I remembered Renan, he himself clueless as to why that sky was over his head. Poor strange children from a town that is as strange.

"Does it happen to the "boys from the other side"?"

"I have no clue what you call the "boys from the other side"."

"It is what Aparecida calls Arthur, Guilherme and Bruno."

"This happens to everyone of them. They are one thing, the energies they direct are another. Although he is in an aspect of him that is the Obscure Police, this aspect carries all of Anderson's energy, for instance, the energy of his emotions and personality of the guy Anderson Nascimento Caldeira that is Brazilian, Mineiro and a native of Taurinos. Therefore, there's not much to be told apart."

"Renan said something alike these days."

"Yup, "sêo" Renan is a bit of a hothead and all, but much in his own way he knows a lot."

The sound of a horse in the distance coming our way. Master Danilo said it was probably the Police. I already prepared to come in and turn off the lights when master Danilo lay on the ground and positioned his ear close to the soil but never touched it; told me Anderson was not armed. The sound of the gallop grew in time and the horse got in our field of vision. It was Anderson, still in black, but fortunately not armed. He came up to us, got off his horse and greeted us two with a smile.

"Good evening, Miss Grisam! Good evening, master Danilo!"

He said that the night before gazing at the stars did him good. Had no nightmares after looking at the night sky. Said he had never stopped to enjoy all that beauty and that he felt good as he had never felt before. I was happy for him and said I too had solved a problem. He hugged me spontaneously, seeming happy to see me come to a conclusion.

"Did you know what it was, Anderson?"

"I guess even the Mayor knew about it, Miss Grisam."

"That's what I said, "sá" Stella, it was you who had to find out about it. Maybe even the people of Varginha and region might know what it was, but you were the only one expected to unlock the vault."