One More Night (Part 2)

- I don’t know.

- I don’t, either, but you should.  After all, you are the one who came back here after such a long time.

- Don’t judge me, please. I don’t even know what to think. I missed you and had this strange sensation that I should come back here… It was here that we…

- Don’t you think it is odd you saying you’re missing us, after all these years?

- Don’t do that. It’s not fair to any of us.

At that right moment, we heard an excited shriek coming from the beach side. That little distraction was more than appropriate to break a little the tense atmosphere created between us.

- Look at her, playing in the seawater. Some things do not change…ever… She has been fascinated by the sea ever since she was a little girl.

- She’s grown up so much.

-She is almost a woman, now. A gift from heaven.

- Oh. Well, since when you do believe in heavens? She is a gift, yes, from life… from the Universe... I miss you, did you know that?

I felt a kind of a nostalgia embracing me… I knew he was feeling the same. I detected some sadness in his eyes. My soul was in pain, as was my head. I looked out and saw her coming to the restaurant where we were almost distractedly drinking our usual strong black coffee.

- Look at this. I got my pants all soaked in the sea. I did not expect that. Now I need to clean and dry this out… what a mess! And I need some water. I’m thirsty.

We laughed at her.

- Get some at the counter, my love. The place is almost quiet now.

She ran into the restaurant. I followed her with my eyes. I noticed I was being observed as well and I turned my head to face him. I knew that expression so very well.

- What now?

- I miss us…

My chest hurt. My soul was aching. My eyes were sore. I could not say anything, but felt the tears running down my face.

- Don’t cry.

- Me? Cry? Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous!

He laughed, not believing my words, for a change.

- Dad? Are you OK?

- I’m alright, my love! Sit with us for a little while.

- So, tell me how things are at school.

She straightened up and spoke out. She loved talking about school and her plans for the University.

***

The ocean was always like that. I imagined it as being a huge lion roaring insistently, trying to scare me out, but never succeeding. In my head it could try, but would never scare me away. The effect was the opposite: it used to calm me down and make me think about my life, my memories, my past, my things…

I loved that place. I had good and bad memories, but the good ones had always been the great majority of them. Over that cliff above my head I could see myself a long time before.

- Do you need anything, sir?

- Huh? No, thanks. I’m alright.

That pale skin did not match that place. Nor did those eyes. He looked like a foreigner.

- May I ask you something? I don’t want to be nosy. It’s more out of curiosity.

- You may, but I don’t promise any reply.

- Of course.

The intrusion had been a little rash, but I thought the man was probably bored of having no one to talk to. I was not used to talk to strangers, especially in this land, but I was at the same time so used to coming every weekend to that same place and restaurant, that I felt like I had known the manager from a long date. He was always courteous and always smiled at my coming in. He was not really a stranger, but he was not a friend either…

- Do you want me to bring you some local pastry to go with the coffee?

- Was that the question you wanted to ask me? If it was, the answer is yes, but one only, please…

He smiled. He knew I noticed he was trying to decide whether or not to ask me something he would not feel comfortable with and trying to have the courage to do so. He asked the waiter to bring two cream pastries under my protest.

- It’s been a long time I noticed you come here every Saturday afternoon, bring the baby for a ride, order a coffee, sits outside and in silence, watching the sea for a long time and then leave.

- And?

- And I ask myself why you never bring the child’s mother. Are you separated?

- We are… in a way...

- OK. I got it. I’m sorry for the intrusion and the curiosity.

- It’s OK. Never mind.

I did not think he understood it. For some reason I had the urge to tell him a little more, thing that was not common with strangers, but I did not see a problem, as he was being nice, in spite of his curiosity.

- She passed away. We were very good friends. This place brings me good memories of the times we were together.

The man looked at me, serious, almost trying to apologize. The child was sleeping in the baby car seat at my side.

- I’m really sorry. I did not want to be intrusive.

- No problem. It was an accident. There is nothing we can do now, anyway.

- Well, you can live. It’s the best for her, who has the whole life ahead of her.

- Indeed. That’s true. She is everything I have. She is very precious.

- I believe you.

He stared at me for a fraction of a second. I kept my eyes in his stare. He blushed immediately, like a child who is caught doing something that he was not allowed to.

- I’ll leave you alone now.

He left almost in a hurry. I followed him with my eyes as he walked into the restaurant. As soon as he reached the threshold, he stopped and turned around. It was my turn to blush.

- Well, well… what was that supposed to be, after all?

***

I was stretching out in the sun in the deck chair outside with my shirt unbuttoned. He touched the weird sketched scar on my chest with his pale fingers. I shook.

- Don’t be afraid. I mean no harm.

- I’m not afraid.

- It’s a big scar.

- It was an accident: a stupid accident from a clumsy man.

- I don’t believe it was stupid. Is it related to what happened to your wife?

- She was very ill. The tumour was detected in one of the routine exams during her pregnancy. She could not be put under chemotherapy as it was very risky for the child’s health. But the illness made her very weak. This was one of her favourite spots. We were walking down the trail by the cliff when she felt dizzy and slipped. I was right behind her and tried to hold her, but it was too sudden and I was not strong enough to get the grip on her. I tripped and fell down with my chest hitting the rock right at her side. It was not that accident that killed her. She was taken to hospital, after that, but her health got worse and worse. We decided to take the baby out so to try and put her under chemo, but it was too late. We saved the child but not the mother. It was not a sudden death, but it was very painful… to all of us.

- Does it still hurt?

- A little… sometimes… 

- I’ve never got married. I think I’ve never met the right person.

- We’d got married for the sake of the baby. It was the right thing to do and the best for the child.

- I understand. Do you think you would do the same thing again, if you could?

- I have no regrets. But life is not a game. You don’t decide to live again or do the same things again, making the same mistakes as an option. Time changes people and the circumstances as well…

- Did you love each other?

That same question again. I’d always answered it the same way.

- We were very god friends. We had always been “partners in crime”, so to speak, since the school times together. We went to the same university, graduated at the same time, left home and shared an apartment downtown to develop our careers and our lives independently from our parents. 

- But that was not love…

- But it was not love, in the physical sense. It was more of a brother/sister relationship, I think.

-I understand.

Did I notice a hint of a smile when he answered almost harmlessly? Or was that my naïve impression?

***

…”For a taste of your love and 
     I need to taste some more 
    Wave goodbye to heaven for me 
    I've thrown it all away 
    Just to spend one more night with you”…(*)

 (*) One more night with you : Ged McMahon

 - I like this version. I doesn’t have the power of the female voice, but it is good anyway. It sounds like a story I know so well…

I looked at her and imitated her way of speaking and voice.

- If I said everything I knew…

- Hah! You better not say anything else.

- True.

We laughed. She got up from where she was and lay down on the couch with her head on my lap.

- Dad?

- Huh?

- It wouldn’t be a problem if he’d come and lived with us again, would it?

- What do you mean?

- I know this is what he wants. I don’t see a problem, do you? He likes us… and we like him…

- How do you know? He didn’t say anything about it.

- Yet… but this is what I feel.

- He went away with an excuse that was not really convincing. God knows if that was the true reason. It all sounded like a bit of cowardice from his part.

- People change, dad. He must have suffered.

- Him? Only him?

She kissed my hands. Her eyes were fixed on my serious face. She tried to smile, being condescending with the emotional father she knew so well. I tried not to cry…

***

One More Night (Part 1)

- This is at least the fifth time you hear this same song in a row…

- Yeah. I know.

- What’s up?

- Nothing…. that really matters.

- Yeah. Right. If you need something, just tell me so. I’m heading to bed.

- OK.

I did not turn around. My mind was too busy contemplating the immense and dark void ahead of my eyes, to an invisible line beyond the horizon, where the ocean met the starry pitch-black firmament.

The night was fresh and quiet and it was quite enjoyable to stay by the shore. It was late and there was almost no noise on the streets of the neighbourhood. A strange silence embraced me with its cold arms, chilling me up and giving me goose bumps. I shivered, but I knew it was not because of the cold.

The song started again. The singer’s strong and pungent voice filled my senses and hit me like an ice stalactite falling from the dark and gloomy ceiling of a cave, into the calm waters of a lagoon, rippling the surface and hitting the deep unscathed darkness.

How many mysteries and secrets can be hidden below that apparently quiet and undefaced surface?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, diving into my own well of thoughts. Each word of that song was serving as a background to a kaleidoscopic sequence of images which brought my past back to the present with a cruel and vivid emotional distinctness.

…” They say that love can move a mountain
    They say love can break your heart 
   They say love can make you forget 
   Things that happened in the past” …  (*)

(*) One more night with you : Ged McMahon featuring Kaz Hawkins

If those words were true, I had never experienced anything that could be close to those emotions… so far…

***

I touched the scar with my fingertips, as if caressing a dear pet.

It is incredible how we get used to wounds left in our bodies and souls and we tend to touch them every time we feel weak, as if it would give us some comfort or lessen the pain or our so protected solitude. It is the same as petting our errors, giving them a more condescending view. It is like trying to protect our hearts from the consequences of our sins, hoping for a chance and opportunity to have our souls saved.

…”So wave goodbye to heaven for me

  I've thrown it all away

 Just to spend one more night with you”…(*)

- Are you still like that?

- Like what?

- You know. I’m not a child anymore. You don’t need to try and fool me…

- I know.

My hands swept the piano keys, lightly, perhaps trying instinctively to forget those chords that had kept on hammering my mind for weeks already.

I read somewhere someday that the piano keys denote our feelings. The white represent the good emotions and the black, the pain and the bad sensations. The harmony, however, comes from the balance between them. You cannot make good music without playing both, as life cannot be fully and truly lived without the balance between the good and the bad emotions.

- You should play the song up to the last chord. It’s the best way to exorcize the pain away forever and for good.

I looked at her in awe. She was a very wise young woman. So I played it. Not necessarily to exorcize anything, but to feel the pain as alive as if it were being felt for the first time at that very moment.

I played the beginning of the song as a nocturne, with my fingers gently stroking the white keys and slightly touching the black ones, as if I was caressing my soul and its pain. The music took my body and emotion and my voice, weak at the beginning, became like a cry filled with melancholy, a blues feeling, with all my nerves reacting to the sequence of notes and chords… and words. My eyes and my soul overflowed…

…” They say that love can last forever
    They say love can last a day 
    They say love is like an ocean 
    For us to sail away” … (*)

I was going down to the bottom of the well, to get the impulse and go back to the surface. I needed to go to the bottom of the bottom or else I would never come back with strength enough to overcome the pain.

***

- Was it here?

- Yes.

- Let’s walk down there.

- No, we won’t.

- Yes, we will. Come with me.

She led the way before I could even answer or protest, descending the path from the top of the sea cliff. My stomach ached. I followed in silence. That foot track was not safe and I had to keep close to her just in case, although I knew there was no real reason to worry about.

When we reached the bottom of the trail, the white sandy beach was invitingly tempting, even though it was still early spring. The ocean roared, like a beast trying to threaten us. I did not feel intimidated, though. I was born on the island, so I always faced the sea as a comrade, not a foe. You should respect, but never fear a true old friend.

We walked along the shore for a while, with our feet in the chilly waters and our heads worried only with our own individual thoughts. A group of noisy seagulls were flying over our heads and the wind blew almost fiercely against our faces.

- It was an accident, wasn’t it?

- Yes, it was… an unhappy accident.

- Did you two love each other very much?

I did not think about it.

- We were very good friends, since our school days.

- This is not an answer.

- I know. It’s not.

She looked at me with that ‘questioning the truth’ look knowing that there was no truth to be revealed anymore.

- Then why did you two decide to have a child, after all?

- Because she wanted it. It was the best decision to have a child from that respectful relationship we had, than waiting for a love that would never come. She was a very practical woman. She knew we would love and respect the child above it all.

- And you never regretted that decision?

- Of course not! Why would we?

- Don’t know… there was no love…

- It was a very wise decision, based on true respect and care. She was afraid of getting old and never being able to become a mother. She wanted it so dearly. You know what women are like…

- Haha… Yeah, right!

We laughed out loud. My pale smile could not hide the awkwardness of having to tell her the same thing for the millionth time.

- Do you think you two were happy?

- Perhaps, before the…

- It’s odd…

- What?

- Your relationship. The illness. The accident.

- It’s not odd. The accident was caused by the disease.

- But you too could have died.

- I don’t think so. I fell down when I tried to help her… I was so clumsy…

- The scar is big.

- The pain is bigger!

She shut it up. The sea seemed to explode against the rocks. She walked away in silence for a while, then she turned around to face me. She squinted her eyes as if trying to see better something that was behind me. For a moment I felt a shadow crossing her face.

- Dad?

- What?

- Is that him on top of the cliff?

- Uh? What the hell is he doing up there?

***

Oblivion (Part 2: Going Back)

- No. It’s impossible!

- Read it again, please. Try to read between the lines. It’s small, its surface is reflective, and it has not been detected by the telescopes until it was too close, but too fast to be followed by the cameras in the satellites… Look at the picture. Don’t you think it is…?

- Stop it. That can’t be anything from an alien planet…

- But it can be from our planet, in another era, ahead of this time, can’t it?

- You’re trying to confuse me.

- I’m just trying to find a way, a theory, a response, a way out…

- You know I’m not a scientist. How many times do I need to remind you of this?

- You’re made of the best genetic material there was… there is… there will be… Oh, man... How can I put it right?

- Just don’t.

- Think with me. Try to think as a scientist, please. You’ve survived because you’re one of the most skilled and prepared beings. Just use your brain in a practical way.

- I survived because I was sent back in time a few seconds before the explosion… And I was not the only one, as you know.

- Think! Please?

That man with very pale skin looked very seriously at the young men in front of him and spoke his heart.

- In the era where I came from there were no such types of transports. We used to travel using time-transport terminals, which were a lot more efficient. The only vehicle I was introduced to was the one that brought me here when the planet exploded and that was absolutely outdated, but still efficient for the purpose. The man who destroyed the planed used it so not to be detected by the system which monitored the terminals. The capsule was sent to the past through a slit deliberately opened in time, by him, at the moment of the explosion. That would never have the format of your ‘Oumuamua’ thing. It might have come from the past, not the future and it’s been probably travelling for many hundred, maybe thousands of years…

- Then you agree that it is from another planet.

- I don’t agree or disagree with anything. We have very little information about it to conclude anything with a good accuracy. All we have are theories. What I said was that it did not come from the same place and time I came from...

 

The pale man looked to the two young soldiers. His eyes were showing a kind of deep sadness when he completed the sentence.

- …And to where and when I will never come back again. The only way to get in touch with the future is if someone in the future wants to get in contact with us, here in the past. There is no other way. And we know that is not possible anymore. That future is not there, anymore, anyway…

***

- I told you to stop this nonsense.

- I know. But there was a chance, anyway. And now, what?

- Now we go back to our normal lives, as usual. Let the past stay where it belongs to.

- Perhaps there is another way…

- Don’t start with this again.

The two young men looked at each other’s faces. The one wearing glasses had a distant expression and a funny grin decorating his young face.

***

- What? Didn’t you have enough of this yet? Why do you want to go back there?

- I have to. I would like you to come with me, if you don’t mind.

- I do mind, of course, but I will. That area is still forbidden, you know. Hope we don’t get in trouble.

- Nobody will ever know we’d been there.

- Anyway, we better take care. I’m sure that site is still being monitored somehow.

- We will be OK.

- Yeah. Right.

***

The young soldier wearing glasses seemed to be so far away, in the middle of the immense desolation field that their childhood village turned into, after the explosion. His eyes were filled with tears of sadness and homesickness.

The other soldier looked around in silence. He was not as distracted as his friend, but was also filled with childhood memories, when they used to play from there to the river or when they climbed the mountain and camped up there, on their summer holidays.

It was weird to be there, in the middle of what used to be their homes, watching the empty desert that land had become. The mountain was just a hill now and there was an immense crater, where the nuclear base used to be. The base disappeared completely underneath the dry and sterile soil. The desolation of the place was an evidence that it still kept radioactive activity, which kept any and every thing from growing healthy from that earth. The soldiers had taken precautions, but they knew they could not stay in that place for long, for obvious reasons.

- We’ve got to go now. There is nothing else in here that we can still see. As expected, all’s gone.

- OK. Let’s go. Could we go to the mountain before we leave for good?

- What for?

- It was over there where it all happened. I think I need to go there and resolve the situation in my head. Not all’s gone yet, you know.

- I don’t really like this, but it’s OK. We need to be quick, however.

They drove the Jeep up to the mountain through the old road to the base. Almost at the summit, they had to stop where the earth split open as a large crack, impeding them to go any further. They’d hopped off the vehicle and walked along the side of the crevice, trying to find a place where they could cross over to the other side. The opening was deep and large. They would have to jump over, if they could find a place where the distance was short enough for them to do so.

They finally got to a spot, south-eastern of the main base, where the two sides of the crack seemed to be closer to each other and decided that would be the right place to try and jump over to the other side. The young man wearing glasses ran and crossed over the open mouth of the mountain. His friend followed him. They’d climbed up to the border of the crater, which was deep and about eighty meters in diameter. The nuclear base was totally buried in the dry ground. There was no sign of what was before, for the ones who did not know the place, but not for them.

- There is nothing here anymore, as you can see. Funny how different this is now. Everything is dead buried underneath this sterile soil, just like the past now. We really have to go now. It’s too risky to be here for long.

The young man wearing glasses looked around, took a deep breath and sighed.

- Yeah.

The two friends got back their way down to the place where they could cross back again to where the Jeep was. The first one jumped over to the other side. When he hit the ground, he felt the earth quailed underneath his feet. He turned around and saw the horror on his friend’s face.

- Quick! Jump over here!

The soldier wearing glasses did as he was told to, but the earth quaked again and the crack started opening more apart. He lost his balance and fell slowly into the slit. He tried to hold on to something on the way but the earth was very dry and loose and he could not avoid sliding down.

- Oh, no! Not again!

- Hold on. Try to find something to hold on to while I get the hook and the rope we have in the Jeep.

The young man wearing glasses did not respond. He just looked down and tried to find anything that would make him stop sliding down, but that crack seemed to be hungry with its open mouth ready to slowly swallow him down its throat.

He did not shout. He just tried to stop the descending by using his fingers and feet, but all he got was more than just some scratches. He saw a kind of a metal tube hanging from the side of the wall and tried to move his body towards it. He turned around, lost his grip from the collapsing ground and jumped over the tube, which got off free from the wall and fell down with him into the deep and dark void.

***

The Big Rocks (Epilogue)

- 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.

***