"ay que si el mar es tan azul
es de mirar tanto al cielo
ay que si el mar es tan azul
es de tanto mirar pal cielo"
It was definitely the best house in town. In fact it is located in a
district named like one of ex-Yugoslavia’s republics. After a surprisingly good
meal made of cuttlefish, leaves of the garden’s over present basil, apple and more secret ingredients,
all served in green melon, we moved to the terrace to enjoy coffee and
cigarettes.
The sun was high in a pristine
blue sky, a light but refreshing breeze was blowing and we were gazing at this
beautiful orange grove surrounding us. After the blue (or white, or bright
purple - depending on the pair of eyes) painted orange trees, there was the
marsh, silver blue naps among deep green isles. On one side this scenery
continued toward the sea, on the other side, we could see, in the distance, the
buildings of the city center. It looked
as if these were part of another world. From the Laranjal, where we felt so far from any kind of urban
rush, separated from it by the natural barrier of water and marsh vegetation ,
the city skyline would appear like an after apocalyptic vision.
It was after 2012. They had been hiding up there in the mountains,
where not even the church ever entered. While the known world was
crumbling, they had been awaiting better times on that peak, in between the two
worlds. There, at night, under a
concave sky, it was possible to pass to
the other side, where “o Mundo” was finishing. This was where they met the
weirdest creatures, like the Silly people, which real name was in fact the
Ceiling people, for they would always walk upside down, feet on the ceiling and
heads hanging down. The mountain
creatures were quite friendly and welcoming to them, but still, they were
curious to know what was happening on the coast. One sunny day, they climbed
the watch tower as they did everyday to notice that the waters were finally retiring. They thanked their hosts, and started to walk down
hill.
Once on the coast, they realized
they couldn’t go back to the deserted city, so they chose to stay in an abandoned
house nearby in the middle of an orange grove. The
air was pure there, and some food was still to be found. Everyday, they looked at the city in the distance,
and wondered what had happened to its entire people.
The afternoon passed in the best
relaxed atmosphere, as if time had stopped all around, just to let us enjoy the
magic of that place. Apart from real birds and the fake peacocks, chicken and
monkeys masterly imitated by the Wizard, the only external sound we could hear
was the train’s. Apparently, when you hear a train, it means that the weather
is going to refresh. But in that heat, one couldn’t care less. The Sociologist was appearing from time to time when
making a break from his studies, changing our hocus pocus ping pong into
something that sounded like a normal
conversation. As soon as he left though, we were left to our ravings until the Wizard asked the strangest question to the Flower Lady.
« Have you ever seen a glowing sea? » As if he knew beforehand
the answer would be yes.
She had been spending some time overseas on the Caribbean coast, and the
day before her departure back to Europe, the
sea wore, as if to say goodbye, the shiniest of its attire.
They lived quite well considering the general situation,
but as the days passed they started to wish for a sign, something that would
give them an indication, needing to know whether there was still hope to see
other people, or not. Apart from them, no trace of a human. They thought that most people could have drowned
when the wave arrived, and thus were rather scared to investigate in the city center.
The
only thing that broke their routine at some point is that a message appeared one day in one of the old
huge wells where they could take fresh water . It was
handwritten at mid- height of the well. They couldn't understand how it got there since they hadn’t seen anyone and it was
anyway impossible to get that deep in the well without risking falling down.
The message said: “Look for the glowing sea”
I was not acquainted with the glowing sea phenomenon, and asked for
explanation. The Flower Lady spoke about glowing particles illuminating the
sea, just like the dress of my first Barbie. (This happened to be a Barbie whose
fancy pink dress was covered with tiny phosphorescent stars which would shine
at night after being exposed to light. So I tried to imagine a whole sea glittering
like that doll of mine. The image
seemed quite cool to me!) In fact this particular shine, as explained by the
Wizard, was made by the occasional presence in the sea of a marine protozoa called
Noctiluca Scintillans , a.k.a
Sea Sparkle, Sea ghost or
Fire of sea. From the Sea ghost we
logically passed to graveyards will-o-wisps
( I have no idea if it was because what causes the bioluminescent characteristic
of the protozoa is produced by a luciferin-luciferase
system) and some kind of bizarre syllogism lead us to deduct that the
protozoas could be in fact souls of drowned people. Do I have to mention the
reference to the famous song of Prince
which was originally called “You sexy protozoa” ? That afternoon, our thoughts were
as fizzy as noctilucas and as sparkling
as cheating stars.
Perplex, they thought long over the sentence that had
appeared in the well, until one of them remembered an ancient prophecy that used to be told by an African woman: “The sea, she’d say, tired by the inefficiency of
humans in their effort to repair what previous generations had messed up with
their so-called progress, would one
day resolve things its own way. Simply wash it all and retake what belonged to
her. The waters would rise and
retire, taking the humans with her in its depths. Humans would be forever part
of her, as their remaining souls would illuminate the shore one night a year to
commemorate their short presence on earth. There
was only one way to counter the terrible destiny: three humans acquainted
with both worlds had to bath in the sea the night it was lit by human souls.”
They understood the prophecy had come true. They were three, and they had dared to cross the
border of Mu (o Mundo) while waiting in the mountains.
And so another waiting
started. They had no idea which
night the sea could devolve the human souls, so they had to spend every night
on the beach.
Many days succeeded, the sea
was moody, dancing a wild tango with the
wind until indecent hours. Except for the whirling white foam of the waves, it
was darker then ever. With every passing night watch, they were less confident.
If it was not for the serenity of the Laranjal,
they would have given up and left.
They would not talk about their distress, never, but it
was as if they could read in each other’s minds anyway.
One day, the heat was unbearable.
The temperature had increased
dramatically, so even the orange grove was feeling like hell. They spent most of the day in, sleeping or
daydreaming with closed jalousies to be protected from the heat. The
sunset came and they didn’t notice it. They
came out of their strange half-sleep when the night was already advanced and felt bad; what if they had missed the
glow? They hardly dressed anything
and ran as one to the shore.
They saw it already from the road, it looked as if
someone had set thousands of floating candles in the sea.
They came closer and just stared at that amazing beauty. The surface was remarkably still, only the glitter
would move subtly with the very light swell.
Warm was the air and so was
the water, everything was calling them in. Three human shades were silhouetted
holding each other’s hands and slowly entering the brilliance.
When the sun rose the next day thousands of people woke up on the beach. As if nothing has happened, they started to walk in little groups toward the city. Only time will tell if they learned anything from their experience. One expression stayed though, in the local flirting jargon : "you sexy protozoa, you have such a wonderful casing!"
The Wizzard, the Flower Lady and Farolita still meet from time to time in the Laranjal. What happened before and during the night of the Noctilucas disappeared from their memory. So they just keep blabbering stories about protozoas on lazy summer afternoons and ... wish to see the sea glowing again.
