Specters

Andrés, Renan and I went to Anderson's hardware store. Renan complained about a volume in his back pocket which was bothering him. He drew it out and it happened to be a small plastic bag of coarse salt. I stared at him and didn't understand a thing. He looked embarrassed as he held the bag with the salt in his hand. We walked in the store and felt air being pushed around as if someone passed us by running; an air that we found to be cold and weird as it passed.

Another thing we found really weird was that Anderson was in his normal as he waited on us. He didn't seem the same who was standing at the main square yesterday, causing people to faint and have convulsions, according to what I was told later. He was the same locksmith and shopper everyone knew in town. Every time someone met the children here they were in a different aspect. The city followed to the rhythm of such aspects. Or specters?

The locksmith claimed not to remember being in armor at the square. I thought he was being disingenuous, but noticed no contradictions in what he said. "It might be true as well", I told the kids as we left the store. Andrés was distrustful of the blacksmith's answer but also impressed with the difference between today's behavior to that behavior he had been showing lately. Renan said nothing at all. He was staring at his riding partner's eyes all the time.

At night, master Danilo dropped by for a visit. He hadn't shown up the day before and looked anxious to find out what had happened next. Now I could perceive master Danilo much more involved in the life and issues of the community. Maybe he eventually felt he had no way other than helping. Involved in the story since the beginning, master Danilo has deciphered a lot of Taurinos to me (and still does). He asked about Renan, whom I had left sleeping in his room.

"I was appalled at that story with "sêo" Anderson and his thumb", the countryman said as a start, still feeling alarmed at what he had heard from Andrés at the Mithraeum, "but this is not his thing, "sá" Stella. "Sêo" Anderson might have his faults but doing something like this against his little friend he never would, you know."

They noticed his look and knew, like I did, they had seen it before. He got interested in the subject Guilherme had talked about with me and Adriano on the island.

"So they had already seen him like that, "sá" Stella?"

"The most incredible is that none of us remembers where we saw it happen."

He was thoughtful for a moment. Said there wouldn't be much he could add as questioning at least in that moment. He had been away from the events for moments, trying to get CEMIG to install electricity in his ranch. And they finally did; now his house had electric energy. He invited me over for some coffee one of those days, what I naturally accepted, before we went back to the subject.

"And even if there's nothing physically wrong with Anderson, something happens with this bell that makes one mentally sick and the other physically sick. If we stop to look and pay attention, Anderson is physically intact and is mentally sick. On the other hand, Renan is mentally intact and is physically sick."

"So you think the issue might be the bell?"

"I think so. But if we look again, it is a vicious circle. If they don't fix the bell, they'll have no energy. If they have no energy, they won't fix the bell."

"Well, if you think back I think that before entering the Police, "sêo" Anderson was still in good spirits. He was such a level-headed hard-working lad, respectful of his elders, responsive, bright, always smiling, no? Lord, never saw that lad smile again."

"Yup, I guess the Obscure Police did him a hell of a harm. Much of this behavior might have come from this anger for having the Police "foisted" on him."

"You say much. But maybe it isn't all."

"Yes, for me that's the heart of the matter."

He stared at me as if he considered another facet of the issue, what he really did, "but if you look from the side of the Police, their ritual is dark, heavy and violent to the extreme; when you do that to bulls it's another thing. But those things are shaped like people and sometimes it can make a helluva impression on the lad. And he is older than Renan, so should stand these things better than him, but then again it might be the personality, not the age that is important."

I agreed with him, found it to be a very lucid analysis. Yes, the ritual was the starting point (or the time preceding the ritual was).