TELL THE TRUTH
I remember finding them all gathered, as if something had drawn them there. As if something had to happen. But what? I may have been missing something, something really important, something essential for the occasion…
Yet everything was rolling normally, as we say. I guess I did not understand everything for, while the stories narrated in all formality were simple, almost trivial, they had their way of making them sound flamboyant as if truly exceptional. Marginally allegorical.
That way of theirs made me continue my observation. I had, therefore, to get closer, as I could not believe that such ordinary things called for so much formality. I then noticed something that would prove quite helpful. Those people were certain that everybody else (except for themselves, who stood out probably due to their formal outfit, but knew one another anyways), anyone who was there, was part of the staff. Some sort of servants who attended to their needs, and as any wise servant should, were obliged to foretell their master’s desires.
So for example, a master who upholds his privileges will never say “Pour me some more wine, please”; but sharply: “I have hardly any wine left”. The rest must follow their due course. Otherwise… Otherwise, I do not know…
So, I shrewdly mingled with them, I shall not reveal the ploy used of course, not before the time is ripe and the people cordial enough.
Thus, I started wandering, eavesdropping.
Revelation.
Without further ado or unnecessary details, what I heard opened up my way to that special cosmos in which you do not have to explain or justify anything. Anything whatsoever. It is so, because so it is. Acceptable, say in a religious context, or for the birth of a philosophy. Or for pure instincts.
They were not talking about anything of the sort. Wait! They are talking about me. Hold on… No, now they are talking about you. In preposterous detail. They are also saying something about the ancients. Nah… No, no, I heard of sacrifices and got confused, they are talking about us again.
- Everything will happen in good time, I believe, we have crossed the strait, something is coming into sight…
- I have hardly any wine left…
But he had to leave for a while, you know, something personal, a confidential phone-call…
- An obligation I just have to attend to…
It just so happened that I had eaten the previous day, we had also received the ration of a neighbor who had left, as we were told, yet the list had not been updated. The children had eaten at grandma’s, the month was young you see and so she still had food.
They say it does not matter how big the dog is, but how big the fight is in its mind. Now I know it is like that, not because that’s how it is, but because I stopped him with the ease of steel and the certainty of a maniac. He could not shout, he just froze. He would not make it, anyways. Even if I felt sorry for him, it would not be enough…
- Tell the truth, you mother-fucker, for once in your life…
- For once in your life, tell the truth.
- I am leaving now, but I’ll be back.
