- Of course he knew it.
We were screaming his name all along the beach line!
- But he called him
Mephos.
- I’ve made a little research
about it. It is Greek and means something like 'absence of light'. It is in the
explanation of the origin of the name Mephistopheles, in the Faust allegory. It
makes sense when we refer to the cat’s colour.
- He was a very
strange man. It's a good thing that our little friend was not taken from us.
- It was not his
intention. He wanted us to be scared.
- I was… I am!
- I know you are, but
it makes no sense looking scary and not saying what he wanted, after all. I
have the impression that we will see each other again.
- Then I hope Mephisto
is around. He makes me feel safer.
- He was very restless...
aggressive... and he is such a docile animal.
- That's why I want
him around.
***
- I’ve found a few
things about our four-legged little friend. He belonged to a very old woman and
he's been in her life for a few decades now.
- Oh, really? You know
they do not live that long...
- Apparently there has
been several generations of the same breed of black cat. What they told me, and
I do not confirm, was that when the cat got old, she would choose one of the kittens
that look more like their father, from the litters of seven kittens, and give him
the same name. It was like the reincarnation of the cat-father and thus keeping
his job as the woman’s protector. They say that an envoy of the devil is nowadays
after the puss, for some reason.
- Does that make any sense?
- I think there's a
lot of myth in this story, because it was told by the fishermen and their wives.
I think we should go back to Ribeirao da Ilha and find out some more about this
mystery.
- Seriously? Shall we
really?
- We need to
investigate a few things, about a certain woman; a very old woman and her
pet... and something else, maybe...
***
- You came some days too
late. She passed away on the day of the storm. It was early evening when the
rain began. She lay down to rest and did not wake up ever again.
- Oh! How sad. What a tragedy
it is!
I looked at my daughter and she soon realized
what I was not going to say out loud. The fact was that it happened about the
same time and day the cat came into our house... and into our lives.
- A few days ago, a
strange man came in here asking for her. He was... scary, not to say worse, but
he got nothing from me, as he was too late as well.
The girl described the stranger and we realized
that it was the same man we had seen on the beach. He had asked a lot of
questions about the old woman and about a cat that should belong to her. A
black cat.
‘What did he want from
her, for heaven’s sake?’
- She left something
for you. She asked me to give that only to you two. It seems she knew you would
come after her once more.
The girl then gave me an old ornamented wooden
box, which she brought from the room where the old lady used to sleep. There were
some very old photographs in it. In one of them, three people were standing,
like in a family portrait. On the back, a date, written in permanent ink: 1916.
The resemblance was incredible.
- My God! How can this
be possible?
- This is a very strange
coincidence!
The girl smiled at our surprise.
- The Universe conspires
in a very unique and specific way, for certain purposes! Who could question the
unquestionable?
I analysed the photograph better.
- Look at the feet of
those three people.
- Oh, my goodness, no! It's not possible!
It's the black cat!
***
- Something is not
right.
- What?
- I don’t know. I feel
so sad... I was really upset by the news of her death!
- I know. I was very
sad too.
- I remember what she
said. The amulet would protect me...
- Be careful! You're
going to be too impressed by it and ending up imagining things.
- I confess that photo
impressed me quite a lot. Besides the three of us being very similar to those
people, there was something else. The cat at their feet was certainly our
Mephisto! My heart is so small now. I feel so strangely sad.
- It could not be
Mephisto, for obvious reasons. Do you still have the amulet with you?
- Yes, why?
- Throw it away. Throw
it into the sea.
- But she said…
- You know very well
that it is common to people being impressed by things like that. And you're allowing
it to affect you. I no longer care about what she said. Just throw it away.
That's what's making you grieving that way. It is the power of suggestion.
- We helped her and
she gave it to me in return. I can’t do this.
- Then I will. It was
a poisoned gift. These are coincidences, nothing else. She filled your head
with bullshit and it's getting uncontrollable. That talk of protection, a happy
future filled with success and love... you know these things only happen in
dreams and do not come without lots of hard work.
She took the string from her neck and stared at
it, regretting to throw it away.
I plucked the amulet from her hand and, walked
to the water's edge and threw it out into sea, with enough energy to reach beyond
the zone where the waves formed. I went back inside, with an air of
satisfaction stamped on my face.
- It wasn’t fair. It
was not fair...
- What?
She shook her head in a disconsolate way,
looking through me, her body slightly bent forward.
- Nothing fair...
nothing fair...
I raised my voice.
- Don’t you mess
around with it! Ever!
- What? It's no joke.
- Do not do that
again! Not even for fun!
***
The fishermen were pulling the fish out of
their nets, with the cat sitting nearby, waiting for some small treat left for
him. He was the amusement of the sea men, when they got back from the morning work
and selected and collected the result of their fishing.
Little sardines or the like were always left
over for the cat, which was already growing fat with such kind of care. As he
exercised a lot, we were not worried about his weight gain.
As time went by he was getting more and more
comfortable with us. We already knew a little about his manias and habits, and
many of them were welcome, as they made us laugh instead of bothering us. The
cat was already part of our family and we considered ourselves happy with him.
I used to watch, from afar, the affinity he had
with the people of the area, without worrying to be necessarily around him all
the time. He would always come back to us as the men walked back home talking
animatedly. Mephisto would greet me,
get a treat, and lie down on the balcony floor to sleep.
One of the older fishermen used to take more
time playing with the cat, stroking his head and eventually offering him a fish,
which would be accepted with joy. The man, the same who had warned me about the
storm some time before, had a special affection for the little furry pet, who
returned the caresses he’d get with a pseudo handshake. It was funny, for he
did that with one person only: that simple man of the sea. That morning, for a
reason I did not really know, I noticed he seemed to spend more time playing with
Mephisto.
Something caught my attention as I watched,
absently the movement on the beach.
Not far ahead, a silhouette was walking toward
the group of fishermen. From a distance, I could only see that it was someone
dressed in dark clothes. I was sure it was a man by the way he walked.
The cat seemed to notice the same as me, as he
suddenly changed his attention from the group to the stranger approaching.
Someone greeted the man, who returned the salutation and then squatted down to rub
the cat’s head. The puss refused the caress, becoming untamed and bristly, in a
position of attack. The stranger reached for the animal, one more time, but
backed away quickly, rising and stepping back. The cat advanced. The man in
black, an old acquaintance, withdrew quickly, heading toward the direction he
had come from.
From where I was, I could not hear the
conversation, if there was any.
The old fisherman took off his hat and
scratched his head. He called out the cat, but he did not come until he saw
that the man in black was out of his sight. Then he turned around and rubbed his
body on his friend’s leg, who, stooping down, took the cat in his lap and came
towards me.
I was already descending the stairs, walking
lightly towards them. The man greeted me.
- What happened?
- I don’t know if I
got it right. The man talked to the cat, calling him Mephos, but the animal didn’t
seem to like the conversation.
- I noticed that he
was aggressive.
- It was when the man
said he wanted to take him but eventually could not touch him...
- What?
- Yes. And I do not
know why he left like that, because the cat did not attack him. He only
threatened, but something left the man with a look of terror on his face and he
left, quick and without looking back.
- That's weird.
- No doubt. Well…
The simple sea man shrugged his shoulders and handed
me the cat, which passed from his arms to mine, without protest. He said
goodbye fondling our Mephisto’s head and
left.
I petted the little animal, which was already
purring in satisfaction. That was when I noticed a strange peculiarity: the cat
had a well-known artefact, hanging from a black string around his neck, next to
the red collar. I knew it was the same as I had thrown into the sea, so angry,
a few days before.
Had it been that little object that had scared
the outsider away, in that strange, terrified way?
My daughter walked off the door at that moment
and approached us, picking up the cat from my arms and hugging it with
affection. As she ran her hand over the loving animal's head, she noticed the string
curled around his neck. She frowned and looked at me, her expression odd, as if
wondering where that came from.
- Well, after all, the
amulet was good for something...
I shrugged my shoulders and walked inside the
house. There are things I cannot explain, nor will I try to understand.
***
