The Big Rocks (Part 1)

- What do you mean, big rocks?

- Itá, in Tupi-Guarani, means rock and gûasu, means big...

- Was it named by the Indians then?

- I'm not sure, but it makes sense. But my favourite thing about the place is the funny local legend.

- What legend?

- About the witches...

Her interest increased.

- Oh, tell me, please. I want to know everything about the legend.

- It is said that the witches of the island wanted to have a big party and they chose that beach because it was the most beautiful in the area. They invited all the fantastic beings...

- Who were those?

- The werewolves, the vampires, the headless mule and even the Curupira, Boitatá and all the other beings of the local folklore...

- Wow!

- But they did not invite the devil deliberately.

- Why?

- Because the devil smelled of sulphur, and because, in his arrogance of superiority, he always made the witches kiss his tail to show submission to him.

- Ugh! Disgusting!

- Yeah.

I laughed and continued. I loved that audience of one person only.

- When the party was at its best and everyone was enjoying themselves, guess who shows up, very angry, and thundering his disapproving resentment...?

- The devil?

- Exactly. He was very enraged indeed, and to punish the witches, for having left his majestic person aside, he cast a curse and turned them into rocks... big ones... that have been stuck there ever since. Those are the ones you still see today…

- Oh!

- That is why the place was named Itaguasu, or big rocks.

- That's not true, is it?

- It's a legend... It's mythology. Of course you believe what you want, but it's a funny and interesting story anyway.

I heard the sound of thunder. Apparently we would have rain that hot night.

With the flash of lightning, her eyes grew wide, half lost, as if she were imagining the story she had just heard in detail. I let her imagination run free.

Another lightning. That one fell closer, for the thunder was louder and the time between lightning and thunder very short. I remembered the science classes at school.

- Let’s go back in. The rain does not take long to fall.

- Yes. Let's go inside.

She hurried in, as if she were afraid. I laughed.

The thunder continued, and in a short time we had a summer storm, one of those powerful ones. I, to say the truth, liked the summer storms, for they cleaned the air and refreshed the earth.

Another lightning was followed by a very loud bang. That one fell very close to us and took the electricity of the whole street off. It had probably hit a utility pole, in the neighbourhood. It was not too early, so I decided I would go to bed, instead of waiting for the electrical energy to come back. Everything would be normal again in the morning after all, so I did not have reason to worry.

I fell asleep almost immediately as soon as I laid my head on the pillow. I did not think I was so tired.

I had a strange dream, about the big rocks on the beach. In my dream, one of the rocks had been struck by a powerful lightning and had opened in two halves. The rock was hollow and shaped like a person had been dug into it. I found that very peculiar. I was still examining the inside of the boulder when I heard someone behind me saying,

- I waited so long for this moment.

I turned around and saw a very thin woman, dressed in black, with her misaligned white hair half hidden by a black headscarf. I thought of one of those figures I had seen, as a child, of a mourner. Her skin was so wrinkled it looked like an old parchment.

- What moment?

- It wasn’t fair. It was not fair at all.

She repeated the sentence, not answering me, but squinted her dark eyes, as if to see me better. She lifted her skinny hand and touched my face. Her fingers were frighteningly cold.

- It was not fair at all. No, it was not.

She shook her head and turned away, walking down the beach in the opposite direction to my house. I could still hear her mutter that strange phrase as she walked away, absorbed in her own world and shaking her head in a disconsolate way, her body slightly bent forward.

- Not fair... not fair at all...

***

- I had a strange dream.

- Me too…

- It must have been that talk last night and the storm.

- Probably…

Her eyes seemed to wander away. She must be remembering her dream.

She picked up the mug with newly-brewed coffee and walked over to the porch, watching the beach from the distance. The water was placidly reflecting the blue sky above. She stared for a few minutes in one direction, as if she were watching closely what was happening. I walked over to her side and looked in the same direction.

A group of men, close to the place where the boulders were, seemed to be busy with something at the water's edge. They were standing in a circle, around what I thought was a dead animal, probably dragged by the sea to the beach after the storm last night.

- It must be some animal brought by the tide.

- Yes. But it's not what I'm looking at. Look a little farther ahead at the figure behind the other rock, as if hiding from the men.

- Where?

She pointed her finger at the area behind one of the immense boulders, the one that looked most like a human shape, with a head, formed by a round stone that lay on top of a larger one, which seemed to be the body. One of the so called Itaguasu witches.

- Over there!

Behind the big rock there was a person, half bent and dressed in dark clothes. The impression we had was that she was hiding from those men for some reason. What impressed me most was the resemblance to the character I had dreamed of the night before. But my surprise was still to become greater, from the moment I heard:

- She looks like the old woman I dreamed of last night...

- What?

How could it be possible that the two of us had dreamed of the same character in the same night?

- Seriously? I also dreamed of a woman like that...

- This is all very strange! Or, it's a big coincidence. Let's go down there!

- OK. Let's go!

***

- Something is not right.

- What?

- I don’t know. I feel such a painful sorrow...

- You still got the amulet?

- Yes, why?

- Throw it away. Throw it into the sea.

- But she said…

- It does not matter what she said. Throw it away. That's what's influencing you. It is the power of suggestion.

- We helped her and she gave it to me as a gift. I cannot do this.

- Then I will. It was a poisoned gift, that’s what it was. She filled your head with her bullshit.

I plucked the amulet from her hand and, going to the water's edge, I threw it out into the sea. From the strength I used, it would be practically impossible to rescue it if for some reason she wanted to. The waters of the bay were calm and the fact of throwing the object way beyond the zone where the waves formed, would make any search very difficult, if there were any. I went back inside, with an air of satisfaction stamped on my face.

- It wasn’t fair. It was not fair at all.

- What?

She looked at me very strangely, as if her mind was not really there. She shook her head disconsolately, looking through me, her body slightly bent forward.

- Not fair... not fair at all...

***