In Miguel’s country people have two
surnames, because the mother also brings her blood. Though it is true that the
surnames of women end up being lost, that is the custom in this country and I like
to know it. A man that has always come his way without apparent
disorientations, and who has always believed in freedom and beauty was born
there one day. With him, the path of the last three has changed and it is true
that the last four have chosen it.
─Excuse me, Protch,
but I must go now. I sincerely hope that my way to tell you the story of my mates is not tiring you. Tomorrow I would tell the stories of the fifth, the
sixth and the seventh and probably up to day 16 you would not start to know
mine.
─Nike, don't you have any
fear. I would just like to see you tomorrow and meanwhile I will spend the
afternoon and evening evoking what you've been telling me and recalling the
shudder that it is for me to hear you talk of them all so fondly. And thus I
will know you in chronological order. I know by now that you are Mistress
Oakes, Olivia, Lucy and Bruce, and I am beginning to see that now we have one
Miguel. Two are missing because I know that the eighth is a well-known man
named Nike. I still fail to see you with them. But I'm looking forward to know
you in the story. And don’t worry about neighbors. I want to see you every
day, please, and hope you and I are starting to be good friends.
–Our friendship is
building slowly, Protch, but it is true you have heard me with affection and
respect, with curiosity about my story, but meanwhile, listening to the story of
my first four mates carefully. Don’t be afraid, Protch, I will return
tomorrow. Wait for me at about 9.
And the next morning I was there at that
time. Protch kindly invited me to sit down every day on the couch, and brought
me a coffee and a pack of cigarettes, to resume my story in no haste.
Alfred and Laura McDawn were a couple
comfortably off, living without any difficulty on legal business, and once married
they just wanted to have a child, and so Brenda McDawn was born, mistress and a
great friend of Olivia’s, as you will remember. With her apparently they had enough,
but three years later, they decided to have a second child, and fate made them have two twin brothers. Parents had strong religious roots, without fanaticism,
and wanted their sons to be called Matthew and Mark. They were distinguishable because
Matthew, who was born first, had a stain in the shape of a strawberry in his right
elbow.
The two brothers, as often happens to many
twins, lived similar avatars, got ill at the same time from the same ailments, usually matched at the same time women of similar ages and very similar
physically and when they reached youth, they had the same vocation and studied
journalism. They began to work the same day and soon began to cover news
outside the country. And one day, they were both sent as correspondents to a southern country, from where news of pre-war atmosphere often came. And the two
brothers ended in Cádiz, which is said to be the oldest city of the west, where they
were captivated by it, the light, the sea, its Puertas de Tierra...
They sent very similar chronicles and even
matched at the same time. But Mark met Consolación Tébar Villarino, from a very
religious and noble family, and spent two years being an unmarried couple.
Matthew met Sagrario Íscar García, also a journalist. They fell in love deeply
and married, and in just one year they had their son Miguel. The twins were
similar, but not always led similar paths. Sagrario was blonde; Consolación had
brown hair. The former ended up in the republican area; the latter was soon on
the fascist side. Sagrario and Matthew had a son and called him Miguel. Three
years later Consolación and Mark had a daughter of whom I will talk about later.
But one July 18 a war would start that would
last three years. Cádiz was taken by General Varela and an August 7 it was
bombed. It was a terrible night in which Sagrario and Matthew failed to sleep,
worried about Miguel, but managed to survive. I won’t tell you much about this
war, Protch, of which you can read in the newspapers, only and briefly about what
affects the McDawn family. The fascists won the war and it is full of misery
and terror. A year before the end of the war, Consolación and Mark were married
and when May was turning into June, they had a daughter. It was a Sunday, may
29, and they decided that Miguel’s cousin would be called Brenda Dolores. Dark
Sunday, a May similar to winter; grey, dark, clouds were blackish. Everybody breathed
happily that sweet birth of Brenda Dolores. It was dawn and weather calmed down.
And when they opened the windows without delay, dawn was a day of thanksgiving
for the abundant tears of that maiden, mirrors of Venus and the first stars.
Two months before the end of the war, Consolación
and Sagrario, who couldn’t stand each other, had a childish dispute over some
blankets, but were getting hot and the former boasted of how the country would
change when they won the war, and would require everyone to be Catholic and
decent. Sagrario was like a devil when she was angered and started to say expletives
to that rich girl who had never had to work. Their husbands intervened with the
purpose of appeasing them, but in order to defend them, they ended up telling each other many things
and got angry. Proud, they would not say they were sorry, and were for years not speaking to each other. Finally the fascists won the war. Matthew
was not from the country and a journalist was not necessarily a declared enemy
of the regime, but for the losing side it was unsafe to remain there and hunger
would vent its rage with the country. And with great pain in his heart he chose
to exile and return to his homeland. His parents had already died and Matthew,
with his wife and his son, went to live in the capital.
Matthew inherited his parents' house, and although Sagrario was always homesick for her country, conditions were not suitable to return. Perhaps if one day General Franco would die, returning
would be possible. Meanwhile they visited the country sometimes, and small
Miguel saw again the Cádiz where he was born, but angry with the family of his
father’s brother, they used to come back soon.
Miguel was always a bright student who grew
up with clear libertarian ideas. He was getting used to thinking that he should
try everything at least once, everything that did no harm to others, and grew up
in an environment without fanaticism and revolutionary; Catholic, of course, for it was compulsory to be Catholic in his mother’s country, and
there he was baptized. But he progressed in his childhood reading everything he
could from the library of his late grandfather Alfred. He had no more
novels to read and began to look at his old law books out of curiosity and for
years he was a good reader.
─ "Forgive me my
interrupting you. Other parts of his life are clearer for me, but was he a
great reader?"
─ "He was and still
is a good reader. In his adolescence he
used to read everything, but in recent years he reads less and his partner
surpasses him as a reader."
─ "But still he had
no suspicion of what his heart was truly saying."
─ "Miguel was always a free spirit and was trying everything, but for many things he had to wait
until 40".
Of all of us, he was possibly the most
brilliant student, but when he finished secondary education he still had no suspicion
of what he wanted to do with his life. He only sought freedom, always looking
at the skies where he could let his thoughts fly. And to think about heights gave
him an idea: the air force. He could try.
In it he would be for three years, and if it is
true that in that time he didn’t find freedom, he did find the ability to tame
his heart and to accustom it to live in harsh conditions. Soon he was promoted
and eventually he became Lieutenant McDawn, teaching his recruits how to jump
from a plane in flight, but at the same time hoping he never have to do it in
days of war. There he shared command with his friends Ferdinand Aubrey and
Morgan Fielding, friends who often spoke about their dream of creating one day
a law firm, if previously they studied law, of course. He met a lot of people
and began to flirt with some soldiers, because everything was allowed to him,
and he wanted to learn anything. In short the army made him more disciplined,
but also more rebellious, and he would have stayed all life there, but in a
holiday he moved to Cádiz. He saw Brenda Dolores again, to whom he did speak
from time to time, and his family was convincing him that the army was not good
for him and he should try to study a degree, for he had ability.
He then left the army and with a strict
method already learned, he enrolled in law and was such a good student,
strong-willed and disciplined, that it took him only six years to be a lawyer.
At University he would also meet again his friends Ferdinand and Morgan, who had also
left the army for the law. Miguel still had part of the money from the
inheritance of his grandfather Alfred and with Ferdinand and Morgan, both of them from
Hazington, they set up a law firm in Longborough Street, in this city, for
which reason Miguel came to this town and left the Capital, installed in an apartment in Longborough Street, called, and in this they have agreed in
alphabetical order, Aubrey, Fielding & McDawn. Ferdinand Aubrey dealt
mostly with matters of civil law. Morgan Fielding was the most serious of the
three and took care of any shady business or hanks to untangle. Miguel had
specialized in commercial law and among other companies, soon the Thuban Star businesses came to him, and although with those things Walter Hope dealt, he
would probably find himself face to face sometimes with John Richmonds.
They set up the firm in our year 13, and in
our year 18, three things changed his will with greater or lesser strength. His
aunt Brenda died and he was still trying to recover from that grief when, once the brothers were reconciled, their parents returned definitely to Cádiz. He
remained alone in the country and one day in July he saw Olivia Rivers, of
whom his aunt Brenda had spoken so much, entering his office. And for the first time he felt
a burning fire sinking into his flesh. While he spoke to her about her aunt's death and knew the facts for which her daughter Lucy could be reported,
facts for which at last he did not have to do anything, he was feeling pierced
by the softened arrows that woman, close to 40, shot him. That feeling
could not be removed and for several years Olivia’s silhouette chased him as a
ghost and he wondered many things about that woman. Ending the year 18, as if
it had been a contagious disease, his aunt Consolación also died for something
related to the stomach. Yes, he had to travel to Cádiz and console his cousin
and uncle. Brenda Dolores was now a very pretty thirty-year-old woman, but
Miguel could only think of Olivia. His cousin said to him that her mother
had sweet parting words for him, for Matthew and even for Sagrario. That was
the last time Miguel went to Cádiz before the street, and upon returning
to the country, more than ever disquiet was increasingly devouring him. He was
not happy with his life and always recalled the air of freedom that the beggar, Oliva Rivers had
brought him.
He could not stop remembering her and sooner
or later he admitted he was in love with her without a doubt. Sitting in
his office thoughts sometimes escaped him and became pictures of the woman who
so important had been for his aunt. Even his father spoke to him of her sometimes
in his letters. He could afford a maid, and with that goal he started looking for her
in the Basilica. She was with another woman at her side, but he addressed only
her.
─ "Hello, Olivia,
do you remember me?"
─ "Yes, you are
Miguel McDawn, who could have helped me when my daughter was about to be reported.
And Brenda’s nephew and Matthew’s son."
─ "I would like to
invite you to a drink. Would this be possible?"
She, who was also in love with him,
accepted. She wanted to have a drink with him and spoke to Mistress Oakes, who
remained in the Basilica without opposition, urging her to be alone with him, for
she knew well the feelings of her girl.
In a bar in Castle Road they sat as shy as
two kids who have just met and do not know well how to speak to each other. He
asked himself a whisky and for her he brought a soft drink.
─ "How was it finally with
Miss Ackroyd ?" - started Miguel.
─ "Her bracelet
eventually appeared, but the experience made me leave her. Now I only live on
the street. I regret my daughter is still here, but she could find a job soon. And
I suppose that Mistress Oakes, my mate Bruce and I can perhaps one day
leave the street."
─ "Something my aunt has
told me of your story, but I'd like to hear it from your lips."
─ "It can take me
an hour to tell."
─ "I am in no
hurry, Olivia. And if you don’t finish it today, I can invite you more
days."
She also wanted to see him often, but it
would not be correct to be invited every day. He said they could meet about
once a month. It was then day 21 and they appointed for every 21 in the
Basilica. Miguel then knew Olivia’s story first hand and at one point stopped to ask.
─ "Then, you are
legally Olivia Rivers?"
─ "I called myself
by that name for many years, but it was not legal, of course. But when I divorced
I recovered my maiden name. I am now officially Olivia Rivers, yes."
─ "If you want to
work in my house, I could give you a job there, you and your daughter."
Olivia had then a strong temptation. But she
managed to get away from it. She could not leave Mistress Oakes and Bruce, and it
wouldn't be nice to work in the house of the man she loved. She suspected that
he also loved her. But she knew how to be firm and say no.
They saw each day 21 and Olivia told him also
of Mistress Oakes, of whom she might be hours talking, and of her mate
Bruce. She made the mistake of telling Miguel that Bruce surely loved her. She
had been his first love and he felt jealous of that unknown Bruce.
He spent five years working for Aubrey,
Fielding & McDawn, but disenchantment was in his life. The legal profession
had been his vocation, but now it seemed a fraud. It is true that he believed
that all human beings deserve a fair trial, that was civilized and common
sense, but it seemed that the only important thing for his fellows
was to win, and he had defendants who he knew manifestly guilty, more than the
devil himself, even defendants charged with serious offences such as murder,
and if he could made them be acquitted he felt badly inevitably, and not
satisfied and proud. But at the same time he lost lawsuits in which he knew
that the defendant was clearly innocent; some of them very simple, shy, with a dishonest
face, but clearly not guilty, and they had to pay with jail their possible lack of
resources.
How to explain, Protch, what happened to
Miguel? At the same time all this was happening, he still saw Olivia. It
was not only love; none of us went to the street only for love. It was the
breeze of freedom that she brought him, sad perhaps, but firm. Every day he
could bear his life less, and the decision which he took one day can be
incomprehensible, he sometimes does not understand it if he speaks about it,
but he is a happy man and doesn't regret what he did. We give the name
greatness to his decision. The lack of faith in his work, his blessed freedom
and wanting to live with his own laws. Also, why not say it? His desire to live
with Olivia, the way she lived, are sufficient to explain it. But one day in August,
he came out of his house one evening after work and went and opened his hand in the Church of St
Mary. So he did for one week. Finally on day 21 he was again reunited with Olivia
and saw her again. He explained what he had been doing all that week. He
had not even gone to his flat in Longborough Street to sleep. He had found
a sheltered place in the Umbra Terrae Boulevard. He woke up, returned to his apartment
to have a shower and went to work again begging in the evenings. Thus he was seeing he had
much time to think and he ended up creating a philosophy. Live without harming, without defending he who does not deserve being defended, without finding guilty those who had
done nothing.
That night Miguel met Olivia's entire group. He didn't know what to think of Bruce, but the latter had realized what
Miguel felt, and for a time he was jealous, although Miguel was more jealous.
As everyone who knew her, he was immediately shaken by Mistress Oakes, who he
told his life roughly, and believed that she appreciated it. But it was an
impact for him to see Lucy, who he recalled at 18 and was now 23. In just five
years, she had become a pretty woman, a slender swan, a clear spring. That
night they invited him to spend with them in Wrathfall Bridge and he went
there. It was a pleasure to chat with free humans, but that summer night air was
bringing him another shock strongly. He stayed with them. He
understood then that what he needed for his life, which he had always sought,
was the hard but bohemian life that they had. And he definitely decided to
stay. He spoke with his partners Ferdinand and Morgan after definitely selling
his apartment. Ferdinand Aubrey reminded him that he was known as a prestigious lawyer and the company would continue with the name Aubrey, Fielding &
McDawn, and he was expected at any time to return, if he repented, and would be
received with open arms.
A week after having definitely gone to the
street, he already admitted what in the last week looked certain: he was in
love with Lucy. He did not dare to tell her anything, because watching Olivia
he had regrets for how much he had loved her. He noticed she still loved him,
and he couldn’t hurt her more. Besides Lucy, who surely had noticed his love,
dodged any conversation in which Miguel spoke of tenderness or affection. And days passed feeling badly for not being able to say anything to his first
love, and not daring to speak with the second. Poor heart that loved two queens and had no throne because he failed to
choose between the two!
They were five, and
every night skyline saw them light the same fire, before sleeping all on the
same bridge, Miguel in the first eye, the westernmost, and the summer stars
vying with the fire heating up their lives, in the same healthy competition,
lustrous and opulent.
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