14 - A NORMAL DAY

14 -  A NORMAL DAY

- But what did he die of, really?

- I told you, Duarte... of natural causes...

- But the man was out of blood...

- Stop bullshitting, man! Of course he had blood.

- He was as white as paper...

- Look, from what I saw the man had leukemia...

- And what the hell is that?

- It's a blood disease... the person weakens until...

-You want to convince me that this guy was sick, that's why he was white as paper...

- That. And I'm not trying to convince anyone. The unfortunate was sick. He had leukemia. And he died...

- But if he was sick, what was he doing at night near the train tracks?

- And how would I know? You wanted me to tell you the cause of death, I told you. Now, what the man was doing there in that place when he kicked the bucket... it's already wanting me to know more than is possible, don't you think?

Duarte scratched his head, not quite convinced by Alberto's explanations. Blood disease? He had never heard of it before... how could someone get blood sick?

- You have a face...

- And what face did you want me to have? How am I going to explain to the people about this guy's death?

- By the way, do you already know who the deceased is?

- There's one more thing I don't understand... he's not from those parts...

- Yeah... I think the biggest real mystery in this case is where it came from...

- If that's what you say...

And they ended the conversation, with Alberto signing the stranger's death certificate. Of course, he didn't mention the strange marks he found on the dead man's neck. No. After all, that could be caused by a thousand reasons... including, it could be an insect bite, since the body spent the whole night in the middle of the grass... but it was better not to add more fuel to the fire. After all, the people were already alarmed by so many rumors that ran through the camp... it was a mule without a head, ox-tatá, woman in white, papa fig... you little people with fertile imaginations, my God! But they only imagined bad things... why couldn't they have at least once in their lives some creature that, instead of doing evil, didn't spread good? That's right, it was all a product of imagination, but they could imagine good things, not bad things... anyway...

Duarte went to the Funeral Home to provide the deceased's coffin. He was to be buried as unknown, as no one had ever seen him in the region. Well, he couldn't wait for some kind soul to come along and reveal the dead man's identity... he was already starting to decompose... and the smell wasn't pleasant at all...

Alberto put away his work tools, washed up and left for the square. He needed some fresh air, after all, the place where he performed his job was somewhat uncomfortable... it was well ventilated, but not enough to drive away the bad smell that the corpses exhaled...

He sat down on one of the benches and watched the village go by. Birds flitted through the trees, all chirping at once, making a deafening symphony. Butterflies flitted from flower to flower, competing with bees for nectar to eat. Sometimes a hummingbird would appear, visiting the garden and decorating it with its incomparable beauty. And the kids... would run around, competing with the birds to see who could make the most deafening noise. Yes, it was life showing the world how beautiful it was and how it should be appreciated, because it was too short...

- Lost in the world of dreams?

Alberto was a little scared. After all, he was daydreaming and he felt in another dimension, when Alice, the village teacher sat next to him...

- Oh, no... I was just thinking about life...

- But doctor... life is not to be thought about, but lived...

- I know... but sometimes, we need to stop and observe what happens next to us...

- Are you talking about the body found?

- Huh? Oh, no... I'm saying that sometimes we give too much importance to things that have no value and end up forgetting that life is just a breath...

- Wow, you're a little too philosophical this morning...

- Yeah, sometimes I feel like...

- But what happened?

- In a way you're right... I'm like this because of the man they found on the train line...

- AND...?

- The truth is that I have no idea of the cause of his death...

- Did you say that to the delegate?

- Of course not... for all intents and purposes, he died a natural death... and he had leukemia...

- He had?

- Sincerely? I don't know... but that was the explanation I gave to the delegate. What else could I say?

- The truth, perhaps?

- But what truth, Alice? If I don't know what happened...

Alice smiled understandingly. She understood that not everything her boyfriend knew or suspected could be shared with everyone, mainly because people were very superstitious in that region...

- And now?

- Now what?

- What will you do?

-  At that time? Anything. In a little while, when I forget about the things I see in the morgue, I'm going to lunch... will you come with me?

- Of course... I won't be teaching for two hours... the morning staff has already been dismissed...

- Until this year you managed to gather a big group, right?

- Sixty students? Well, I've had a lot less....

And they continued to chat about pleasantries, until hunger set in and they went to Dona Adélia's boarding house, where they served the best meal in the whole village... after all, it was the only boarding house that existed around there...