Dead Awake: The Last Crossing

by Hades

CHAPTER 8

  Los Cielos

  The sun came in to bring the new day. This time, there was no problem remembering what had happened. My first thought was of Noelia and it put a smile on my face. It would be all right to see her; no more the fear and bitter misery that had come all week.

  She was mine again, and I a hero! Perhaps she would even love me more, for I had saved her life. What a privilege and an honor it had been. There was no time to be wasted today. All that was on my mind was to be with her. My shower was quick but thorough, and the shave was as close as a shave for a wedding. It was fortunate that I had not worn my best clothes yet. They had been saved for the perfect occasion, and this was it! I was ready for the ball with Cinderella... My Cinderella. Never had my bangs looked so perfect, nor my style so crisp. That day, everyone must have seen me as a walking smile.

  It was a pleasant walk to her house. The birds were cheerful, the wind just right and the sand was a glass that made me glide, with slippery shoes, across it; ice skating through a summer fantasy with flowers instead of icicles. And at the end of the path was Noelia.

  She was waiting for me at her door; surprising because it was so early. I had expected to find her still asleep, especially after last night, when she had barely begun to recover. My little baby was awake and happy! I was happy too. Very much more than happy – delighted! There she stood, with a little yellow flower on her left ear. It was perfect. She opened her gate, and came out to meet me, then ran and caught me by yet another surprise when she jumped and wrapped her legs around me so that I had to catch her. We swirled around and I felt like a teenage boy. It was exhilarating.

  What fun she was!

  We went inside and there her mom, dad and two brothers stood smiling at me. I guess I was that hero I thought myself to be. I asked her how it was that she was feeling so well, and her father answered by saying that the substance in the plant always worked that fast. I asked how, but he didn’t know, he just knew it worked the way it did. It had been something they had learned about many generations past, he said.

  I didn’t learn anything more about the flower then, but later I found out that the only things one could learn about the flower came from legend passed down through song from generation to generation. That legend was tied with another legend called “El Tupa Moroti” and both were always sung together as one song. I heard it sung many times after that. It spoke of a white god who had come down from the skies to bring many gifts to his people. He showered them with blessings, made it rain on their crops, showed them how to gather certain herbs and taught them many other things.

  This legend also told of the flower, picked and given to their grandfathers by the white god that had taught them all. Then it went on to tell more about the flower, explaining its magical qualities and preparation. When I later heard the song I was able to recognize the part about it having miraculous quick-healing effects upon the inflicted, as would the hand of the great white god. The song also told about a great promise, a triumph over evil and a final return of this white “Tupa” whereupon he would be holding this flower as a symbol of total victory.

  Although I heard it many times, it was not a common song. Mostly only the medicine people remembered how to sing it. I do not remember any of it, otherwise I would sing it now, but I cannot remember many things. If I had known more Guarani at the time, I could have learned how to use it, but I only knew enough to get me by.

  Noelia still had her hands and legs wrapped around me as I tried to put her down, but she held me like her valiant prince. We spent the rest of the day together and it was marvelous. For the first time, in a long time, I was happy. I had stayed on the island much longer than I had expected. Already, I’d been two weeks longer than originally planned. I had gotten in touch with my job at the paper, and the airline, a few days earlier, while the real troubles were upon me. I’d explained the whole situation, with a few twists to the truth. My boss granted me some extra time, so there wasn’t going to be a problem when I returned. But even so, the time was closing in around me.

  Still, today seemed all good. I spent it wonderfully with her. She was back in love with me, and nothing could ruin it for us. We spent the day doing everything and went to all our favorite places. We even went back to the great waterfall “Igua tupa,” where she had taken me on our first day together, and thus the opportunity for my plan arrived.

  As the custom required, I got down on one knee and held her hand. I wonder how it looked in her eyes; me kneeling with a box in my hand and a tear in my eye, since she had never seen any of the cliché we are so used to in the States. I held the box next to her and asked her to open it. She did and I asked the words that had longed to be spoken: “Will you be my wife forever, Noelia?”

  She looked surprised, and for a second didn’t know what to say. I interrupted, saying something about me taking her and all her family with me and that she didn’t have to fear because everything would be all right. And so her answer came: “Yes,” and relief swept through me, as would through a man cleared of a crime committed by another. She didn’t know what to say about the States, and made it clear she wasn’t sold on it just yet, but we determined mutually that it would be resolved later and held each other tight for a long, long time.

  I could already see her in white and couldn’t believe my fortune. Indeed lady luck had shone on me. There was no need for any feather from a bird, I thought, as I remembered that day of the Phoenix. I was correct when I had said that fortune had already shone its light on me, a very lucky man.

  We got to her house a little before sunset. Her mother was the first to hear the news, as Noelia ran in to tell. Higinia yelled and cried for joy and ran out to kiss me. Her father was next but he did not kiss me. He came out and held my shoulder firm, smiling so dramatically and nodding his head. “Mijo,” he said. They both held me, and held Noelia’s face in rejoicing.

  Hector and Julio were the next to congratulate us. They were also exited and asked if that meant I was their brother now. Jose Luis answered for me. “He has always been your brother,” he said, “except, yes, now he will marry Noelita and be your brother in the flesh.” Of course everything was said in Guarani. It was good to understand it, finally. There were yet a lot of words I couldn’t use, but the gross of it was digestible.

  What a day for celebration! Now there was a good excuse for a fiesta and so I would not be a party-pooper. The neighbors heard and came quickly. It was as if there had been a party-bell raised to call all to a knowledge of it. Everyone came quickly to celebrate with us. Although I didn’t much like the part about all the liquor, it was a great time. They made me and Noelia dance the lover’s waltz, played by soft live mambo-drums and flutes. I held her in my arms and we danced on top of the clouds and we fell on top of unicorns that strode through the forest on the way to our eternal world. Softer arms I’d never held. She was, and had been mine and only mine. The only one for me from the day I’d met her. And during this dance, the sun set. I remember the twilight piercing through the sky, like the hand of God through earth’s creation.

  She showed it to me and said it was a sign that meant I had chosen well (and I knew I had). Upon the horizon I saw the moon right on top the sun, almost pivoting on top of it. And up and to the left of it was the first star of the night. It lit the Earth with unity to those greater spheres, with a twinkled beam of light that flashed across the sky. Then another star appeared to complete that masterpiece of color, through clouds that had formed a window, or a frame, around that spectacle that God had painted for us. To me it was trinity. No other thought could describe it, and a more beautiful painting or depiction of the sky had never been seen. I remember nights in Rio de Janeiro, where I’d sworn there would never be a better sunset. But those sunsets were nothing compared to this one. It was a genuine illustration of what heaven was, and was an ornament that God had placed in the sky.

  Sweet little Noelia, she was pointing it out to me. “El Tupa, says we are very good for each other.�
�� I looked to her and laughed with delight. She was delicious.

  “Yes he does, my Noelita. You’ll be mine forever, won’t you?”

  “Yes, of course I will, I’m so happy now. You made it so right for us.” And with that we danced on and everyone clapped their hands for us.

  “A toast to the great couple!” yelled Jose, and everyone raised their glass to bless us in our union. If that wasn’t the wedding, it ought to have been, for it was the greatest day of my life. As I said before, it was my “good day,” the best day of my life. Her eyes were looking into mine, sparkling with love for me, the luckiest man alive. What could be better in life than to have the love from a goddess? I found out nothing could, in all of life.

  We celebrated until dusk and I danced all night with “My Noelia”. It was an “eye-opener” to see her dancing as she did. She never got tired and neither did I. Everyone took a turn dancing with Noelia: Her father, her uncles, the neighbors, the further down the way neighbors, her brothers, and even her mother; which was a good laugh for all to see. She must have danced even more than I did, and I never stopped – except for that time when we both snuck back to kiss, away from all the hullabaloo. The whole night was one big “great,” never to be surpassed in all my expectations, with exception of our wedding. I couldn’t wait for it! But every moment, even waiting, while with her, was in itself momentous and spent in the lap of honey-luxury.

  That night was like a dream, except that I remember it in detail. Never had my heart ran faster to catch each event as if it were the last. Everything to be recorded with such accuracy, kept for me to remember.

  I walked to my room that morning a changed man. I was engaged now – what a thrill! My blood and heart leapt inside me and everything I felt and saw told me that I’d done well, more than well, for it was the best decision I’d taken in my whole life! It was a good feeling: knowing, without doubt, that there could be no better place nor better thing I could be doing. I was in the right circumstance and at the right time, and best of all, I was the right man. I’d be married!

  Approaching my door, I saw no reason to assume I’d find no note. It had been a day so full of everything, that it placed no doubt as I arrived... and there it was-stuck as always on my door.

  STAR-MOON-SKY

  Beginning where the landscape blooms and there is life from the creation

  Is there a man who does the work?

  The palm that stretches, and there is Light.

  Then breath escapes, and man comes close to understand.

  Where there is warmth, and the colors melt

  Where there is sun, but at last gone down

  And there is more than can be felt

  Beginning where the sky meets the moon

  There is a blaze from Heaven...Sun

  There is a blush from Earth...Moon

  And in the far –a star

  A sculpture of peace and skill

  Eye cannot reflect

  Trinity’s glow that sun makes whole

  Moments for a witness to stop for star and sky

  Where the dawn wrapped us in light in the hand of God

  That paints the Earth to let men see on high