292 - Maps

ñoco!

.

.

.

daddy!. look!. a map!

.

yeah. the map of our world

.

let's show it to mum

.

it's not necessary. she lives within

.

.

.

:::Pos 292 - INT 030/090710 – Maps
:::photo: 060723 - Líquenes en el Pico Salvaguard - Bagneres de Luchon / Benasque - Pirineos franceses
:::Sony Cibershot P1 - f/5.6 - 1/540 seg - 30 mm*
:::Link: Spanish version - LMA 094 - Mapas

269 - I knocked on heaven’s door

.

I was in a small village, close to the only city on the northern shore facing south; I was intent on photographing a small and simple, but lovely blossom, when a dazzling glint drew my attention away. I held the camera away from my face and carefully studied the lens. It was spotless.

I glanced up at the sun, but failed to detect anything out of the ordinary. I resumed my efforts to capture a magical moment from that flower, but once again caught a glimmer, rather brighter this time. I let go of the camera and glimpsed at the sun. Nothing, there was nothing to see.

When I was about to pick up the camera, which I ended up failing to do, I detected a glow from the corner of my eye. On turning my head around, there it was, hovering above the flower shrubs, about two meters high. My countenance paled.

I am a non-believer. I believe in nothing... or virtually nothing. Had I believed in anything at all, I would have said it was an angel, which stood the same chance of being male or female since no distinguishing features were evident.

I distinctly understood I was being told with a charming smile, despite no perceptible movement of the thin lips, “go, seek and ye shall find”. Yes, that’s the message that sank in, “go, seek and ye shall find”.

I felt dumbfounded. This couldn’t be happening to me. Where should I go? What should I seek? What would I find? Moreover, who was that creature? Would I have to ascribe it an identity and acknowledge its existence?

I could accomplish nothing else that day. Well, actually I did do something. I spent the remainder of the day mulling over what had happened. To me, a sceptic, an intractable agnostic.

I had knocked. Yes, I had knocked. I had knocked on heaven’s door, although convinced there is no heaven, rather, persuaded that there is hell on earth, interspersed with heavenly instants at the most.

A door had opened. There it was, this apparition, smiling its charming smile. Repeating the words, “go, seek and ye shall find”. I envisioned a hazy scene. Momentarily, I felt like I was standing on the Moon or Mars maybe.

Next morning, I was heading out to Lanzarote without any conscious aim; once there, I sniffed each and every volcanic stone, following an unknown trail. I penetrated the earth’s entrails and bathed in the volcano’s warmth until I utterly dissolved through the pores in my skin...

I came back to myself with the strange feeling that I had sustained a gratifying experience. That was it.

Once again, I knocked on heaven’s door. Rather unnecessarily, since the apparition awaited me at the doorway. Repeating “go, seek and ye shall find”. Yet again, I envisioned a hazy scene. I was under the sea, naked; surrounded by many people quite different from me.

Next day, I was flying to Toba in Japan, without any apparent reason; a reception committee of petite women welcomed me there and escorted me to an inlet; however, I still remained in the dark. We submerged underwater where they taught me the free diving technique, which I quickly grasped.

They were experts, having been raised to extract the best pearls from the seabed and they told me that one day death would meet them there. They were happy and smiled all the time. I reciprocated the best I could.

They bid me farewell. In their view I had learned all I needed to know and they prompted me to embark on a quest where nobody else had before.

I knocked on heaven’s door. This time nobody was there to meet me. There was only a silvery sign that read: North – island – chilly – underwater. It made no sense to me. Only the word north provided any clue.

I decided to leave it to fate. I took the road and stopped the first car I came upon. It was heading north. Days elapsed and, by some fortuitous happenstance, all cars I hailed were bound north. That’s how I eventually reached a shore with a tiny island off the coast. Later, I found out it extended barely over 30 square kilometres.

At the beach, the water was at nearly freezing point. Of course, I mused, this is the North Sea, how could the water be otherwise. On the other hand, the indications on heaven’s door started to make sense.

Recalling my Japanese friends, I undressed and plunged into the water. Indefatigably, I swam in unusually translucent waters. I was all alone. No coloured fish. No coral reefs, nothing at all. Just fine white sand.

I don’t know how much time elapsed, but finally I caught sight of it. A distinct shimmer. Perhaps the same one I had noticed when I was photographing the blossom.

From the bottom of my heart I was grateful to my Japanese masters for teaching me the art of free diving. There I was, effortlessly holding my breath without gasping, timelessly, while beholding...

...the most beautiful pearl ever conceived.

Who could dream up such a pearl in those cold waters?

I lost track of time. My eyes were completely fastened on that pearl. Beholding the pearl transformed my life. The world changed colours. Flowers became more beautiful, mountains higher, music more melodious, ordinary food more delicious... Everything a delight for the senses.

I was slowly dying. Day after day I would submerge to gaze at the pearl. My pearl. It never occurred to me to remove it. It was in its proper place.

Little by little, the sea filled up with multi coloured fish. The coral reef emerged. Water became warmer. I didn’t need to surface to gasp for air. My skin was breathing for me. I just needed to contemplate the pearl. To know it was there. That was enough.

One day, out of the blue, the water turned murky, very dark. It happened suddenly. I never found out the cause, but I did know the effects. There were no more corals or coloured fish.

I could no longer hold my breath in that inferno, oxygen was now scarce. Were I to attempt seeking a reason further below, my death would inevitably hasten. I was slowly dying.

Now, closer to death, I remember. I remember I once had, without possessing, the most beautiful pearl in the whole world. Now, to etch the memory clearly in my mind’s eye, I engross in Vermeer’s painting, the Girl with a Pearl Earring, to the accompaniment of Lisa Gerrard’s Whale Riders, while I slowly continue to die.

*

P.D. Dedicated to the pearl, my own Pearl

And yes, I eventually managed to take the picture of the blossom

*

This new version in English is a translation kindly rendered

by Giuditta - Centro del Corazón ©

///Post 269 INT 029/090413 - I knocked on heaven's door - WAST 070321
///photo: 070629-C2120 - Feijoa Selloana - Estambres / La joven de la perla - Veermer (de Internet)
///links: Versiones en Inglés - Gallego - Francés - Árabe - Chino

242 - Closed

closed, closed, closed
a thousand treasures it keeps in

closed, closed, closed
they will be soul experiences

children’s memories
passed letters
borrowed words
closed, closed, closed
a thousand treasures they keep in

that right now they are nothing

.

.

///Post 242 INT 028/090205 - Closed
///photo: 080603/C6230 - Camino de Santiago - Foncebadón - León
///link: Spanish version - Cristal Rasgado - Cerradas

239 - Manifiesto Solidario - Internacional

Imagina...

un grano de sal no hace salado el mar

une tu grano esta formidable iniciativa

nacida en el blog de Cornelivs

para salar los océanos de la injusticia

únete

hasta que se convierta en un clamor universal

*

SPANISH - ENGLISH - FRENCH

MANIFIESTO POR LA SOLIDARIDAD
·
··
···

QUIENES SOMOS

Los que suscribimos este manifiesto somos ciudadanos en el pleno uso de nuestros derechos civiles, y titulares de la soberanía popular, de la cual emanan los poderes del Estado.

Los firmantes nos dirigimos a todos los ciudadanos del mundo, conocedores de la situación de pobreza, hambre y enfermedad en la que se encuentra gran parte de la población humana en un momento histórico, como el actual, en el que se disponen de los suficientes medios políticos, económicos y científicos que pudieran solucionar estos problemas.

Este manifiesto tiene vocación de universalidad, y va dirigido a toda la humanidad, a cada ser humano que habita el planeta, para que tome conciencia de la terrible situación a la que se enfrentan millones de personas y de alguna manera actúe en consecuencia para terminar con esta insostenible situación. Por ello la versión original en español será traducida a diversas lenguas, pues nuestro propósito consiste en hacer oír la voz de la opinión pública en los lugares en las que se toman las decisiones políticas y económicas del mundo.

A QUIÉN NOS DIRIGIMOS:

Nos dirigimos a la clase política gobernante de nuestros países; así como a los más altos mandatarios de las Organizaciones Internacionales, tales como la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, y a los Presidentes y Gobiernos de los países más poderosos económicamente de la Tierra.


LES MANIFESTAMOS:

1.- Que este texto tiene su origen en la constatación de la extrema situación de necesidad y de hambre que sufre una gran parte de la población de la Tierra y en el desigual e injusto reparto de bienes que existe actualmente en el mundo. Entendemos que la ecuanimidad y la armonía en el mundo tienen por base el reconocimiento de la dignidad intrínseca y de los derechos iguales e inalienables de todos los miembros de la familia humana, por lo cual es inadmisible que una gran parte de la población mundial tenga que enfrentarse a una realidad tan precaria, a tal grado de injusticia y desigualdad, a tanta hambre, pobreza y desnutrición.

2.- Que consideramos que dicha situación es intrínsecamente perversa y no admisible ni moral ni éticamente, dado que todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales. Igualmente, tenemos presente que todos los ciudadanos del mundo tienen esos derechos desde el mismo instante de su nacimiento y no como una promesa futura cuya conquista dependa de la realidad política, social o económica de sus países.

3.- Que defendemos que es completamente injusto, inmoral y un crimen humanitario punible ante los tribunales internacionales y la Historia que, en pleno Siglo XXI, existan seres humanos que pasen hambre en el mundo, y que mueran por ello. Que es un agravante de ese crimen que, existiendo las leyes internacionales suficientes, así como los medios técnicos, económicos y científicos para corregir dicha situación, los que ejercen el poder en el mundo no lleven a cabo las acciones necesarias para solucionar lo que generaciones futuras calificarán de verdadero genocidio en el que serán culpables todos aquellos que, teniendo los medios para solucionar el problema, no los hayan empleado.

4.- Que consideramos que esta injusta situación es contraria al Derecho Natural, a los Derechos Humanos y a las normas de la más elemental ética, y entendemos que ha llegado el momento de que la voz de la opinión pública exija de sus gobernantes el final de tal estado de cosas.

5.- Que el presente manifiesto no es un manifiesto utópico; y que tampoco es un manifiesto político, ni se pretende con el mismo la instauración de un nuevo orden político o socio-económico mundial, ni ningún menoscabo del tejido empresarial, sanitario y social del mundo desarrollado, sino la más elemental justicia con los desfavorecidos.

POR TODO ELLO, EXIGIMOS A NUESTROS GOBERNANTES:

1.- La adopción de medidas inmediatas y urgentes para paliar tal situación de hambre, enfermedad y desnutrición en el tercer mundo. Consideramos que tales medidas no constituyen una utopía, sino que son perfectamente viables y posibles.

2.- Mantener el compromiso de cumplir los Objetivos del Milenio que, establecidos por Naciones Unidas en el año 2000, definen los principios a los que ha de ajustarse la actuación de los países y del sistema económico internacional para superar, con el horizonte fijado en 2015, las injusticias que aquejan a la humanidad.

3.- La realización de acciones solidarias sistemáticas con los países más desfavorecidos y que se establezca un orden lógico y humano de prioridades en la política económica, con proyectos inteligentes que creen riqueza y puestos de trabajo en los países afectados, facilitando un desarrollo sostenible y un progreso que les ayude a la consolidación de una red sanitaria, económica y social estable que haga posible el retorno a una situación de partida igualitaria.

4.- Que se tomen las medidas necesarias para que los países ricos destinen una parte de sus presupuestos a la creación de riqueza, de empresas y de fuentes de trabajo en los países afectados; así como la adopción de un acuerdo internacional, que debería subscribirse en la ONU de obligado cumplimiento para los países desarrollados.

5.- La implantación de un código ético que regule la estrategia de las empresas multinacionales, así como la eliminación de los paraísos fiscales y la aplicación de la tasa Tobin, ú otra similar, a las transacciones comerciales internacionales, que permita crear un fondo de solidaridad gestionado por Naciones Unidas.

6.- No aceptaremos simples declaraciones de principios que no se traduzcan en políticas concretas. En definitiva, APELAMOS al sentido de la generosidad y humanidad de todos, y fundamentalmente de la clase política internacional económicamente poderosa.

Desde la tierra que espera y cree firmemente en la Solidaridad que construya un mundo mejor y más justo, a 30 de enero de 2009"

MANIFESTO ON BEHALF OF SOLIDARITY.

WHO WE ARE

We, the endorsers of this Manifesto, are citizens on total use of our civil rights and holders of popular sovereignty, from where State Powers are emanated.

We, the signers, aware of the situation of poverty, hunger and illness in which great part of the human population lives despite being in a historical moment, as the current one, where sufficient political, economical and scientific means are available so as to solve these problems, address to all world citizens.

This public declaration is a universal calling which heads for the whole humanity, to each human being that inhabits this planet, for them to become aware for the terrible situation that millions of people have to face and, somehow, to encourage them to act accordingly, to bring to an end this unsustainable situation. This is why the original version in Spanish will be translated to different languages, since our intention is that the public opinion´s voice is heard in those places where political and economical decisions are adopted.

WHOM DO WE ADDRESS TO?:

We address to all the politicians who rule our countries; as well as to the highest heads of International Organizations, such as The United Nations, and to presidents and governments of the richest and most powerful countries of the world.


WE DECLARE:

1.- That this text has its origin in the certain fact of the extreme situation of the needs and hunger a big part of the world’s population suffers and in the current unequal and unfair distribution of the properties existing in the earth. We understand that the equanimity and the harmony in our planet must exist based in the acknowledgment of the equal, inalienable and intrinsic dignity of all the members of the human family, that is why it is unacceptable that a big part of the world’s population has to face such a precarious reality with this level of injustice, inequality, hunger, poverty and malnutrition.

2.- Since all human beings are born to be free, we believe that this situation is particularly evil and unethical. We also plead that all citizens in the world must have these rights in the same moment they are brought to life and not as a future promise to be reached depending of the political, social or economical reality of their homeland.

3.- We defend what is utterly unfair, immoral and a humanitarian punishable crime before the international courts and the History that right in the 21st century there still exist human beings starving in this World and dying because of that. It is an aggravating circumstance that, existing enough international laws and technical, economical and scientific means to correct the aforementioned situation, those who have the power in the world do not carry out the necessary actions to solve what future generations will only describe as a real genocide in which they all will be guilty for having the means to solve the problem, but not using them.

4.-We consider this unfair situation to be against the Natural Law, the Human Rights and the procedure of the most elementary ethical principles, and we understand that the moment has come in which the voice of the public opinion demands from their leaders the end of such state of affairs.

5.- That this is neither a utopian nor a political manifesto, and it does not expect the founding of a new political or socio-economic world order, nor any damage to the business, sanitary or social network of the First World, but the most elementary justice with the underprivileged.

BECAUSE OF ALL THE FACTS AFOREMENTIONED, WE DEMAND OF OUR LEADERS:

1. To adopt immediate and urging measures to alleviate such a situation of hunger, illness and malnutrition in the Third World. We think that such measures do not represent any utopia as they are perfectly feasible and possible.

2. To maintain the promise of fulfilling the Millenium Objetives which were established by the UN in the year 2000. These Objectives define the principles that the countries and the international economical system must follow in order to overcome the unfair situations humanity suffers towards the year 2015 (as it was agreed).

3. To perform systematically acts of solidarity towards the countries in an unfavourable position and to establish a logical and human order of priorities in the economical policy, including intelligent projects that create wealth and jobs in the aforementioned countries, offering sustainable development and progress to help them to consolidate a permanent social, economical and health service network that makes it possible for them to start from an equal position.

4. To take the necessary steps so that the richest countries allocate part of their national budgets to create wealth, companies and work sources in the aforementioned countries, as well as to adopt an international agreement, which should be compulsory for the developed countries and signed in the UN.

5. To implement an ethical code that regulates the multinational companies strategy, as well as the elimination of the tax havens and the application of the Tobin Tax —or a similar one— to the international commercial transactions, that will allow to create a solidarity fund managed by the UN.

6. We will not accept simple declarations of principles that are not transformed into specific policies. In other words, we appeal to everybody’s sense of generosity and humanity, especially from the ones who belong to the international ruling class that have the economical power.

From the Earth that waits and believes firmly in the Solidarity that can build a better and fairer world, 30th January 2009.

MANIFESTE POUR LA SOLIDARITÉ

QUI SOMMES-NOUS

Les adhérents à ce manifeste sommes des citoyens en plein usage de nos droits civils et titulaires de la souveraineté populaire, de laquelle émanent les pouvoirs de l'État.

Les signataires nous nous adressons à tous les citoyens du monde, informés de la situation de pauvreté, de famine et de maladie dans laquelle se trouve une grande partie de la population humaine dans un moment historique, comme l'actuel, où l'on dispose des moyens suffisants tant dans les domaines politiques, économiques et scientifiques qui pourraient résoudre ces problèmes.

Ce manifeste a une vocation d'universalité et s'adresse à l'humanité entière, à chaque être humain qui habite cette planète afin qu'il prenne conscience de la terrible situation à laquelle sont confrontés des millions de personnes et d'une certaine façon agisse en conséquence pour mettre fin à cette situation. Pour ce faire la version originale en espagnol sera traduite en diverses langues, car notre intention est de faire entendre la voix de l'opinion publique jusqu'aux lieux où se prennent les décisions politiques et économiques concernant le monde.

Á QUI NOUS NOUS ADRESSONS:

Nous nous adressons à la classe politique gouvernante de nos pays, ainsi qu'aux plus hauts mandataires Des Organisations Internationales, telles que l'Organisation des Nations Unies, et aux Présidents et Gouvernements des pays les plus puissants, économiquement parlant, de la Terre.

NOUS LEUR MANIFESTONS :

1.- Que ce texte émane de la constatation de la situation extrême de besoin et de famine que souffre une grande partie de la population de la Terre et de l'injuste distribution des biens existants aujourd'hui dans le monde. Nous entendons que l'impartialité et l'harmonie dans le monde ont pour base la reconnaissance de la dignité intrinsèque et des droits égaux et inaliénables de tous les membres de la famille humaine, raison pour laquelle il est inadmissible qu'une grande partie de la population mondiale doive affronter une réalité si précaire, à un degré tel d'injustice et d'inégalité, à tant de famine, de pauvreté et de dénutrition.

2.- Que nous considérons que dite situation est de façon inhérente perverse et inadmissible ni moralement ni éthiquement, étant donné que tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux .De la même manière, nous n'oublions pas que tous les citoyens du monde ont ces droits dès leur naissance et non comme une promesse future dont la conquête dépend de la réalité politique, sociale et économique de leurs pays.

3.-Que nous défendons qu'il est absolument injuste, immoral et un crime humanitaire punissable devant les tribunaux internationaux et l'Histoire que, en plein XXI ème Siècle, existent des êtres humains qui souffrent de faim dans le monde et qui en meurent. Que c'est une circonstance aggravante de ce crime qu'existant les lois internationales suffisantes, ainsi que les moyens techniques, économiques et scientifiques pour corriger cette situation, ceux qui exercent le pouvoir dans le monde ne réalisent les actions nécessaires pour résoudre ce que les futures générations qualifieront d'authentique génocide dont seront coupables tous ceux qui tout en ayant les moyens pour résoudre ce problème ne les auront pas utilisés.

4.- Que nous considérons que cette situation injuste est contraire au Droit Naturel, aux Droits Humains et aux règles de l'éthique la plus élémentaire et nous pensons que le moment est venu que la voix de l'opinion publique exige de ses dirigeants la fin d'un tel état des choses.

5.- Que ce présent manifeste n'est pas un manifeste utopique; ni un manifeste politique, ni nous prétendons avec ceci l'instauration d'un nouvel ordre politique ou socio-économique mondial, ni aucun discrédit des réseaux entreprise, sanitaire et social du monde développé, sinon la justice la plus élémentaire envers les plus démunis.

POUR TOUTES CES RAISONS , NOUS EXIGEONS DE NOS DIRIGEANTS:

1.- L'adoption de mesures immédiates et urgentes pour mettre fin à la situation de famine, de maladie et dénutrition dans le Tiers-Monde. Nous considérons que de telles mesures ne constituent pas une utopie, sinon qu'elles sont parfaitement viables et possibles.

2.- Maintenir le compromis de remplir les Objectifs du Millénaire qui, établis par les Nations Unies en 2000, définissent les principes sur lesquels doit s'adapter la conduite des pays et du système économique international pour surmonter, avec comme horizon 2015, les injustices dont souffrent l'humanité.

3.- La réalisation d'actes solidaires systématiques envers les pays les plus démunis et que s'établisse un ordre logique et humain de priorités en politique économique, avec des projets intelligents qui créent richesse et emploi dans les pays affectés, facilitant un développement soutenable et un progrès qui les aide à consolider un réseau sanitaire, économique et social stable qui rende possible le retour à une situation de départ égalitaire.

4.- Que les mesures nécessaires soient prises afin que les pays riches destinent une part de leurs budgets à la création de richesse et d'entreprises et de sources de travail dans les pays affectés ; ainsi que l'adoption d'un accord international qui devrait se souscrire à la ONU et d'application obligatoire de la part des pays développés.

5.- l'implantation d'un code éthique qui contrôle la stratégie des entreprises multinationales, ainsi que l'élimination des paradis fiscaux et l'application de la taxe Tobin, ou une autre de semblable quand aux transactions commerciales internationales qui permette de créer un fonds de solidarité géré par les Nations Unies.

6.- Nous n'accepterons pas de simples déclarations de principes qui ne se traduisent en politiques concrètes. En définitive, NOUS FAISONS APPEL au sens de la générosité et de l'humanité de tous et fondamentalement de la classe politique internationale, économiquement puissante.

Depuis la Terre qui espère et croit fermement en la Solidarité qui puisse construire un monde meilleur et plus juste, le 30 janvier 2009.

LINKS

GALLEGO - CATALAN - HEBREO - JAPONÉS - ITALIANO

:::::
:::::

///239 - INT 027/090130 - Manifiesto Solidario
///Ilustración: Encarna y Jesús
///música: Imagine - Varios autores
///enlace: Blog de Cornelivs

216 - Winter Solstice

let's celebrate the solstice

light wins the battle

darkness pulls out

the new year is announced

let's be pleased by winter solstice

with peace and solidarity

with the red colour of hope

*

thanks AiYiYi, my English corrector

>>Post 216 - INT026 / 081217 - Winter Solstice
>>photo: @444-070224- Winter Solstice - 3828
>>música: Amazing grace - Choose your version

207 - Aurelio the Clean

+

+

+

After the war was over. After all dead men and cripples. Coming out from the hunger and misery, full of hate. The victor’s hatred.

A village lost in the mountains.

Aurelio.

Bad communications. From the nearest capital… first by train. The slow and jolting wood train. Then, by the local coach with such a pompous name. The Convenience. Finally, half an hour walking among tracks, shortcuts and paths that crossed forests and clearings.

Aurelio.

Few inhabitants left or came into the small village. In order to arrive there, a walking tour through the forest, which refreshing in summer allowed you to hide the hardness of the ascending forest track but it became sad and wet in winter short days.

Before arriving, the train wound the river of the poachers and it returned the water stolen below into steam cotton. Oaks and chestnut-trees were dressed up in autumn covering with their leaves other poachers’ traps. The coach drew wavy lines sewing the mountain, lines as the ones Mrs. Enriqueta ordered to draw on the slate cracked in its corners.

Aurelio.

Far away, while rickety boots were protesting by the footpath pebbles, smoke from dry firewood painted clouds in the greenish sky by the sparkle of high meadows. Semi-wild horses trotted emulating those that they would never see in the white sheet with its own light. Stolen kisses and shots in 36 millimetres of celluloid.

Aurelio. Imprecise age. Maybe 58. Maybe 68. Impossible to say.

Paquita the Lame, served the green wine, recently extracted and cloudy. Wine scratched to the hillsides. And a string of chorizos threaded by herself… and a loaf of bread made by her grandmother. Hard crust to sharpen knives and gnaw persistently. The occasional traveller… had tea. In the meantime he listened to what he was told about.

Aurelio lived with a complete family. A married couple and their four children, the grandparents and the disabled brother of Paquita the Lame, that everybody said he was mentally handicapped.

Aurelio and the nine of them didn’t form a ten.

The mountain stretched up from those humble houses. Looking up, towards the vulture kingdom, they knew everything necessary to organize their day.
The first snows of winter demanded the mending of the woodshed (Aurelio misspelled it the few times he talked)

Nobody knows how he came to the village. Not even his adoptive family could remember when he had entered their lives. Neither had he known.

The stable.

The stable was one of the most important places in the house. There, the nine family cows were kept. Amarela, Brown, Cinnamon, Africa, Greyish, Blonde, Aurora, Emerald and finally, Daisy. All of them, the nine, understand by their name and they didn’t need the goad, a spiked stick used for urging them. Urging those pretty cows with such evident names? Africa was named after a grandfather’s niece called America, fruit of the emigration. He was that way, he didn’t say that Daisy was named after an old girlfriend he had when he was serving in the Military Service in Melilla.

The stable was one of the most important places in the house. These nine creatures were kept for the sustenance of other nine godforsaken creatures. There it was milked. There the calves, which would suppose an extraordinary income in such reduced economy, were given birth. There the future chorizos and blood sausages were kept.

The stable was one of the most important places in the house. There, in the back corner, on the right, all the members of the family should leave their tributes. They didn’t know about the cities conveniences but, after all, they didn’t have to go outside under the inclemency of the weather in hard days.

The stable was one of the most important places in the house. Aurelio lived in that stable, at the back on the left; next to the pair of rosy pigs with a fixed deadline. Rosy pigs which didn’t know the purpose of those dry branches from selected bushes that should burn their skin soon.

Aurelio didn’t speak. He went out of the stable in the mornings and he sat down in front of the house on a granite stone bench facing the sun… the days that it wasn’t raining. Soon, the grandmother brought him a chipped bowl with fine slices of leftover bread soaked in full cream milk, without being even strained. He ate it calmly. He rested the bowl and the aluminium spoon on the stone bench and left. If it was raining, he sat down on another granite bench under the east balcony, where the water couldn’t reach.

Ragged boys and patched girls, with clean sun-dried clothes on the grass of the nearby river, were heading for the school. In the first floor, the chestnut wooden floor and big cracks allowed them to sigh the animal heating provided by another stable. They recited the seven times table, the Spanish rivers and the litanies of Our Lady. Aurelio knew it and he glanced shyly. When they went out of the school, they punctually, peeped out the large meadow. From there they could make out an ascending track on the other side of the valley. The coach was going to go past and they would be able to see the dust it rose, to hear a distant purring and if they were lucky, the sound of a loud horn. It was the same ritual every Thursday. Thursday of the Convenience.

The bell tolls. A person’s death toll. Six. A woman. Aurelio is supposed to hear it from some place. No. Aurelio doesn’t go into the church. Nobody remembers to have seen him there. Don Jacinto, so nit-picking, never dared to tell him anything. He, who never let anybody to move a hoe, a toothed shovel, a cart of oxen… in the day of the Lord; even if the harvest got lost by hail, storm or hurricane-force winds. He never told him anything.

It was said that Aurelio got lost in the beech forest, the vast beech wood in the northwest where he talked to strange deities. Nobody found him in the forest. Nor in any other place.

He didn’t appear at the granite bench until after lunchtime. He sat down and waited. There was always somebody who offered him a drag of black tobacco and sometimes a complete cigarette rolled with the remainders of cigarette ends finished off. He never thanked.

At sunset and after eating another bowl of milk with sliced bread that the grandmother offered him, he moved to the back of the stable having previously checked that all the members of the family had passed by the other corner, the one on the right back. Then he lay in his dry grass bed compressed by the pass of his history.

A 25 watts bulb lit his existence when it was switched on. A tiny window announced him of the sunrise.

None of the four children of his adoptive family talked to him. They only smiled at him. None of the village children talked to him. They only smiled at him. None of the children laughed at him, nor threw him a stone as they did with others. None of the village dogs barked at him (the dogs didn’t smell him). Not even the dogs of the hunters, who occasionally stopped in a nearby store-bar, smelled him. The Civil Guard didn’t question about him either. Everybody knew him. Later on, everybody realized they didn’t know him.

One day, when the grandmother took him the bowl of milk Aurelio was not there. She placed the bowl on the granite bench and went away to make some butter with the cream gathered from the cows’ milk, the pregnant cows during the previous days. She beat it and beat it. She washed it. And she wrapped it in a cloth. She would have enough for some days. Not many, since everybody liked it on a slice of bread with some sugar. And she would keep a little to fill some apples she would bake soon.

The milk was cold in the bowl. Some flies went around the rim of the chipped bowl looking at both sides of their precipice. A gang of children came back from school. They had been talked about the Moors and Don Rodrigo. And about Viriato. And about Bellido Dolfos. And about a brave Leader with an ermine cloak and a sword in his hands. And they were also said that Don Jacinto would wait for them in the afternoon to talk about Purgatory and Limbo (he had talked about Heaven and Hell the previous Thursday).

She commented with her daughter something about Aurelio. Both of them thought he would be in the beech wood, with its leaves now yellow reddish contrasting with the intense green of yews and hollies.

They found Aurelio on his straw bed, lain on his back, with his hands on his chest, his fingers intertwined with his thumbs up pointing at his eyes, eyes that gave off a special light. An incipient smile which could advance a great laughter.

There was no great surprise. Many people said he was already very old. Others, mercifully, said that to live the way he was living he had been lucky enough passing away like that, peacefully (or so they thought). Some others started questioning about his origin and his past, questions which remained unanswered.

There was some commotion in the house. After so many years sharing the stable, human and cows’ excretions, flies and smells, two daily bowls of milk… they wondered if Aurelio was a member of the family.

Yes. There was consensus. He was.

The two men of the house took his body to the best room they had and placed him on the bed which they had previously covered with some curtains.

The two women of the house undressed him and started to get him ready and make him look presentable for the neighbours to come and visit him. The surprise was great.

Naked, just as he came to the world, they observed his white skin, so white that it resembled the Guijarrón snows, the peak that presided over the village. And not only that. After so many years living in the stable, his body didn’t smell. It smelled of …nothing! The dogs didn’t smell him. They understood it now. On the other hand, his ragged clothes were absolutely clean. When they tried to comb him, his jet-black straight hair was, clean! There were no nits or lice as the children or they sometimes had. The same happened with his long beard, who cut it? They realized now it always had the same size.

Aurelio, on the bed, was separated by a double door with translucent pieces of glass from the house dining-room, where many neighbours were now having some food and chatting about the dead man. It was a simple conversation since all of them agreed they didn’t know anything about him.

The children from the village had gone up to the boundaries of the Guijarrón, from where the sea could be seen in clear days. And that day was a specially clear one.

Don Jacinto ordered the bells to be tolled with the toll for a man.

click photos

+

It might happen, and it happens that this story is based on real facts.

The locations could be in any mountain village of Cantabria, Asturias or Galicia.

It’s likely that some characters could be still alive.

+

+

///INT 025/081127 - Aurelio the Clean
///foto: 1/ A los pies de Cucayo - 2/ Subida a Tresviso
///foto: 3/4 Ventana y Tejado en Cucayo (Cantabria)
///música: Thomas Newman - Any other name (Cualquier otro nombre)
///Spanish Version -> Cristal Rasgado - Aurelio el limpio

182 - A glass fishing-boat

*******

It is a minimal store, the kind of store nobody is interested in.

Apparently, the man had been working hard since many years ago.

He had the illusion of doing a glass fishing-boat… and he managed it. He invested all his time, and also his savings to design it. Many years of savings. Yes. It should be something special for the great project he had in mind.

The thing is that he managed it. He managed to have his glass fishing-boat.

That man had many contacts in Africa. Precisely a specialized technique had been developed there to mass-produce those fragile boats… but any of them made of glass, which was something unthinkable even in the world of dreams. To dream you need true references on which to support dreams. They, those of the continent, had many resources, but any of them a real one, or at least, one on which you can make a dream of that kind.

The man, whom I will call Nelson, for example, had contacts and I suppose that they were those who, with a complex framework of animistic synthesis and religious syncretism, managed that very important people from developed countries with resources to make dreams come true answered affirmatively to Nelson’s invitation, an invitation proposing a singular trip. It seems obvious that such a trip should be done on the amazing glass fishing-boat.

And Nelson’s wished day came. He had them all in the beach. The one from France, the one from Spain, the one from Great Britain, the one from Italy, the one from Germany… Thus, a list of important leaders who believe they rule men’s destinies.People without a decent name but easily recognizable by the mass media.

Recognizable, Nelson thought, but not knowable because of their disfigured souls.

Seated on the ground, without protesting, taking the trip as a game, thinking about the great amount of goldfish and corals they would be able to see, those men, also a woman, masters of all the things, were enjoying what it seemed a promising trip. It was obvious that all African magicians were exercising well their distant power since nobody objected anything… Never.

It was a singular trip. The transparent floor let them see the reality of that ocean. There were no goldfish or corals.

Corpses and more corpses were swimming under their feet. I prefer not to describe their exact condition. The details, I mean.

Well opened eyes were talking to a group of men who would be mentioned in History books in the future. Accusing eyes, with enough tears to salt the sea. Yes. I know I had written it before, that there are tears which salt the seas we know. It is a reality, I like to remind it.

The transparent roof of the fishing-boat, since it was submerged now, allowed them to see hands, hands moving freely indicating Utopian destinations. Bellies with their fruit withered. Feet trying to run on deserts of water. Water within water. Minds liquefied and vanished in the air of lost dreams.

They went around the coasts. The African, the European… the coasts. And more corpses. Dead men and women. Died corpses without an expiry date.

When the trip finished, Nelson said goodbye politely to them. He did not say anything to them. Nothing about the great effort he had made to offer them, with that trip, the gift of his life. He did not ask them for anything. He smiled to them once again.

They all went away to their important occupations. Some of them had to sign who knows what to regulate immigrants. To prevent them who knows what. To avoid something.

Others had a great meal agreed, nineteen dishes, they had been told, with the one from the United States, the one from Russia, the one from Japan… and that way the large list of those who…

They were all very busy. They were happy since apart from eating they would plant a little tree.

Nelson waved them goodbye, with his white palm of his black hand. He saw his black face reflected once more in his glass fishing-boat and he knew what he had to do.

Submerged with his glass fishing-boat, he turned into water to go in search of his people and get dissolved among them.

What could he tell them now?

· · ·

182·INT024·080729 · A glass fishing-boat  ©2008   402071227-001-Santander-La Magdalena-w ©2007

· · ·

translated bt AiYiYi, my friend

Spanish version here