- Do you need any help?
- Oh. I hoped you
would come. I'm afraid of what they can do to me.
- They will not do you
any harm. Why would they?
- I need to get back
to the island, but I cannot see the boat around.
- Boat? I don’t know
of any boats. Why don’t you go by car or bus? It’s so much easier.
She looked at us with a strange expression, as
if she did not know what I was talking about.
'The poor woman must have
Alzheimer's. We better try to help her. She looks so old’, I thought.
- Come with us.
I offered my arm to hold and she accepted the
help, walking between us, leaning on both our arms. She seemed calmer then.
What was she afraid of, anyway?
The men hardly noticed that we were leaving the
place, with the strange woman next to us. They were busy with something else.
Once downtown, after crossing the bridge, we dropped
her off at the bus station terminal, so she could take the bus to Ribeirão da Ilha, where she said she
lived. I paid her ticket, as she did not have any money with her. Before walking
on through the gate, however, she turned around and hugged both of us. Then she
put her hand in the pocket of her dress and took a small artefact hanging from a
fine black cord she had in it. She gave it to her and told her to wear it for
protection against all illnesses. That
amulet was very powerful, she said.
I said nothing. I just looked at both of them, imagining
the things people still believed in the 21st century, but I was glad that she
was well and grateful for the small gesture we made. We live in such a strange
time. Sometimes I miss that naive belief in witches and other fantastic beings
we used to have in the past times.
We stood at the gate of the terminal until we
were assured she was safe aboard of the vehicle that was going to take her back
home. She kept her eyes on us, as if to be certain we were still there. We waved
one last time and left.
***
An old woman, dressed in black, walked the
streets of Ribeirão da Ilha, searching
for a certain house. She looked rather lost, for the place was very different
from that she once knew. In the difficulty of locating herself, she tried to
talk to the people who passed her by, but little attention was paid by those
who hurried along the streets of the neighbourhood, busy with their own things.
A young man finally gave her the indication of the
street that led down to the beach, where there was an old house, with a very worn
out and stained rooftop. The house was painted white, with blue windows and
easy to recognize. It was not far, just a few steps ahead of the church and there
was a flowered rose bush in front. That description seemed to satisfy her, for
her little black eyes widened a little, with a different glow, and a pleased
expression lit her wrinkly face.
As soon as she reached the church street, she immediately
recognized the house. She walked to gate and called, her voice half-stricken
with age and from her thirsty dry throat. Although she had called only once, the
door was soon opened and a very pretty girl came out to meet her.
The young woman kindly welcomed the stranger thinking
she was a passing by beggar. The old woman smiled at her in a rather awkward way
and held out her left hand. The girl returned the greeting without saying
anything, but with an open smile, as if she recognized an old friend. The old
woman smiled calmly.
- You're one of us.
You know why I'm here...
The girl nodded slightly, still smiling, and
invited her inside. As the door closed, thunder rumbled not far away and dark
clouds covered the late afternoon sky, flashing lightning in the distance.
I woke up with a start.
- What was that?
***
- I've made a research
about the witches on the island.
- Ah yes?
- Uh-huh ... It's
interesting, but I read that a lot of what was said about them was based on old
beliefs that had passed on through the generations and some were not more than stories
people tell...
- Like all the folk
tales.
- I think a lot of people
have been deeply harmed by the wickedness of others.
- As always: evil,
ignorance and fear.
- And interest.
- That's right!
- Could our 'friend'
have been one of them? She looked rather frightened and afraid of those men.
- I don’t know.
- Why do people do these
kind of things? Why would they take pleasure in harming others?
- You're old
enough to know that the human being is extremely complex. Envy, fear and
ignorance can cause immense damage. You´ve read about the ‘Dark Ages', haven’t
you?
- I read it was one of
the worst times in human history. Many witches were burned alive. It was enough
for one person to have thoughts contrary to what the Church wanted them to
think, to be accused of witchcraft, and to be condemned. I know that many
books, with very important information, have also been destroyed by then. Many
innocent people were accused, convicted and killed.
- Until recently it
was believed that witches were mostly hunted during the Dark Ages, but research
and documents proved that it was at the end of that time and the beginning of
the Modern Age, already in the Enlightenment, when Protestantism was created.
Did you know that many of the things that people asserted about witches'
powers, such as flying on brooms and the like, were hallucinations from a
rye-growing fungus that would later be used to synthesize LSD? Rye was stored
for a long time and fungi grew freely. When they made the bread, they never
bothered to check anything. It was a difficult time and they were not going to
throw the cereal away at the cost of not having anything to eat.
- Seriously?
- Can you imagine the
things that misguided and ignorant minds could do, say and accuse, under the effect
of hallucinogens?
- But not all witches
were evil. There were those who were also midwives, specialists in herbs, in
prayers... Some of our ancestors that landed here, with these
"specialties", escaped persecution in Europe.
- I can’t say for sure
whether the majority were good or bad, but I know that even today, insecure,
envious, evil and ignorant people raise slander against each other and people
take those for true facts, without even verifying the origin of the information.
Just go to social networks and you have a million and a half examples... and we
no longer need bonfires to burn modern witches.
- All you need is a
'click', a 'like', a 'share' or a comment...
- See? This is worse
than fire on dry straw. And the fire burns everything in a very short time,
because everyone always want to post an opinion about what they do not even
know anything about.
- True. It's worse
than mass hysteria. I read about the legend of a very beautiful woman who was
accused of witchcraft on the island because she bewitched the men and walked
alone at night, tied knots to the clothes that were hanging to dry and also cut
and tied up the fishermen's nets...
- A beautiful woman "bewitches"
men... In fact, it is they who are bewitched, but you know very well how a woman
can do a lot of "damage", if she wants to.
She laughed. She knew very well what I was
talking about.
- And as jealous women
can defame a good girl, out of sheer spite... or men, out of rejection. There
is no limit to human wickedness...
***
- It was so kind of
her to give me this amulet. Luck is always welcome.
- Be careful with the
things you believe in.
- It has nothing to do
with what I believe, but with kindness.
- Even so. Be cautious.
- I'll be... Will it
bring luck in love, too?
She looked at me with a smile. I just raised my
eyebrows in a sign of mistrust and disapproval. She laughed.
- I knew you'd make
this face.
She headed toward the beach in quick steps. She
was not going to wait for an answer, anyway.
I stared at the balcony as she walked along the
beach with her feet in the sea water. She looked like a child. She stopped near
the big rocks and stared, as if examining them. Those stories of witches seemed
to be the fascination of the moment, and the big rocks, the point of greatest
interest.
I laughed. It is always good to have curiosity
in less ordinary things and think and draw conclusions about the things you
read.
***
We were sitting on the porch, watching the
lights reflected in the sea at night, as we used to, when the weather was fine.
The coffee mugs lay empty on the coffee table. We were lost in thought without
necessarily speaking. Each one occupied with their own thoughts... or almost...
with those immense rocks as the framework.
- Do you remember the
first thing she said?
- Nope. Do you?
- Of course. She said,
"I hoped you would come. I'm afraid of what they can do to me."
- Ah. She was scared,
as you know.
- Yes, but I was
referring to the "I was hoping you would come." How could she hope we
would come? How could she know?
- It was just an
expression of what she wanted.
- Was it?
- You don’t want me to
think she knew, do you? This story has already gone too far. Do not impress
yourself more than necessary.
- What if she really
knew?
- How could she know?
Did she read a message sent by email or chat? I can’t imagine that woman, so
old, with a computer in her hands... nor with her hands on a computer.
I realized that she was not amused by my joke,
so I did not continue the conversation. After a few minutes, when she seemed to
be thinking far away, she commented again.
- This story still
will not let me sleep.
I remembered my dream and questioned her.
- Have you been dreaming?
Any awkward dreams?
- Kinda.
- Have you dreamed or
not?
She turned and looked at me directly and
seriously.
- I have.
I listened attentively to the dream, which was
identical to what I had had. Impressive how the stories were so alike, even in
the small details. There must be some plausible explanation for that.
We were both impressed by the conversation we
had had, we knew the place, we had discussed details... but for which reason
the dreams were identical in the smallest detail, I still could not say.
I kept my silence and that was enough to throw
a little more firewood to the stake of doubt and imagination. That little smile
was a sign of victory, but she thought I did not notice it.
- Don’t you think we
should go to the Ribeirão da Ilha and do a little research?
- Subtle... very
subtle... but I think we should, yes.
***
- Anybody home?
She laughed at my display of knowledge of the
local culture.
- What? Is it not like
this?
- Yes, it is. Go
ahead.
The old blue door was opened by a very pretty
girl. I recognized her the moment she smiled. Apparently we had the same
thought, for both of us smiled with satisfaction. The house was the same... and
the girl too… just like in our dreams.
We had so many questions to ask, but even before
we opened our mouths to say or ask anything, we saw the black-clad figure coming
from behind the young girl.
- Come in. We were
waiting for you.
***
