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— Yes sir! I do that too, but let’s be formal, each one has the name given by their parents. Perhaps that is why this man had that little name, because his father, or perhaps his mother, were fond of eating salads and added that ingredient to him — the professor said, smiling.
Everyone in the class laughs at that comment.
— Well, formality, gentlemen! Let’s go on, the professor said. Charlemagne, in his time, was the person who accumulated the most power, but there is something in the narratives of his life which is still very interesting, because he came to the Iberian Peninsula to fight against the Muslims and thus prevent them from continuing to rise towards Europe, and their troops were defeated in the Battle of Roncesvalles, in the Pyrenees of Navarra. You do know that surely. Well, it is also narrated in his life that on one occasion while riding a horse, something got in his way, a luminous object that scared the animal and made the knight hit his bones on the ground.
— Oooh, poor guy! — was heard throughout the classroom.
— Yes, do not look at me with that face, in that antiquity there must have been visitors, because it is narrated. Well, then I think he sent an edict in which, if he saw another object like that, it would be destroyed or something like that, but that’s already his job.
— Do you want us to look for UFOs?” — a dared one of the students seated in the last rows asked, the rest of us had remained very quiet.
— Of course gentlemen! Although what I want is more concrete, are there, or are there not ? You have to look for evidence of the two positions, and in the end we will see the conclusions.
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As if I had returned from a dream, I saw myself sitting here in my kitchen with the cup of coffee still in my hand, and I took it quickly, to continue with the task that awaited me in the bedroom. Search among all the documentation that had been accumulated through the years, the evidence of the existence of these flying objects.
Because that course is over, but the bug that entered my body that first day of class has never left me anymore and has made me look for the answer everywhere, in personal experiences, traveling to various places to interview to someone who claimed to have seen them.
The notes were a lot. The two teams that had been formed with the colleagues had chosen me as secretary and said to me:
— You are the one who has the best handwritting.
So in that way, without almost wanting to, I had to get deeply involved because there was not a day when any of the group didn’t give me something else, so I could file it. I had to go putting it in chronological order, making a small record of how we had obtained it, and well, some other thing, that I could think of to give that a format.
At first I did not take it very seriously, really, thinking that there would be four things that I would have to write down, but I already had five notebooks, and I said to myself “This is going to be endless, I have to cut it out. The day we have to present it, there will be no one to follow it.”
With patience I spent my time selecting the information. I would make it more summarized, since at the beginning I had extended what was written down. Well, you know, to make it look tidier, but now I regretted it. I saw that my colleagues were trying to give me more and more and I decided to do things differently.
I wanted to take advantage of those Holy Week’s holidays to put everything a little better, because, if not, we would not finish the course and nothing was finished and you know, in the end with the exams, time flies by, and there are not enough days to prepare everything.
— They’re calling you on the phone — I heard in the door of my room that my mother told me one morning.
— I’ll go flying! — I said, but I would never imagine the surprise that awaited me.
— Mr. Gomez! Good morning! — was the first thing I heard when I picked up the device.
— Don Carlos! — I said surprised —. I had never heard his voice on the phone, but that peculiar way of speaking was unmistakable.
— You have a good ear — he said by way of reply.
— What do you want? Your call is very strange — said a little curt, without leaving my amazement.
— Look, since I suppose that these days you will be a little freer, I would like that, if possible, only if it’s okay, I don’t want you to take it as an obligation.
— Yes, tell me, what do you want? What do you need? — I answered.
— Well, if you like, we could meet a little while in the afternoon that you like and have a coffee.
I was listening to what the teacher was saying to me on the other side of the phone and I couldn’t believe it. I stood there standing with the device in my hand. I didn’t even know what to answer, what would he have called me? And if I had listened to him well, he was saying that he wanted to see me outside of college. What would he want from me? Well, still doubtful, I replied:
— Of course! Whenever you want, you know, we are on holidays.
— Is that okay with you tomorrow afternoon, around five? — He told me —. And calm down! — he added.
— Okay! Where? — I asked him more relaxed.
When I heard his voice, it seemed to me that he had outlined a smile, because it sounded differently, so I dared to ask him:
— Is something wrong?
— No! — I heard him say —. Don’t worry. I want to have a few words about the work you are doing, and I have noticed that you are the secretary, and as some of your colleagues have told me, you are the one who knows the most about how things are going, as they contribute what has been found and a little bit more. Well, see you tomorrow at five, bye!
— Goodbye! — And when I was going to hang up, I realized that we hadn’t met anywhere and I said almost screeching —. Don Carlos ! Wait a minute! Listen!
— Yes? — I heard on the other side of the thread —.What is it? Why are you shouting at me? I am not deaf.
— Excuse me! I didn’t want to, you just didn’t tell me where the meeting place is — I said a little scared, for bothering him with my shriek.
— Oh, how fool I am! Yes, at the cafeteria, right?
— Yes, but which one? — I asked again.
— There, at college — he said.
— It can’t be possible, it will be closed, remember we are on holidays.
— Well, there at the door and then we walk somewhere else, I say that we will find a place where we can sit down for a while, don’t you think?
— Okay, at the college gate. I’ll be at five o’clock, don’t worry!
— Very good, see you tomorrow!
I heard that he hung up the phone. I still stayed a moment with the device in my hand, I couldn’t believe it, that call seemed strange to me, well, the next day I would find out why it had occurred to him to make it.
The rest of the day, I spent looking at the notes I had about the work, in case he asked me something I could answer. I don’t think I should tell him everything, but anyway I would see what he said, because the truth is that all this seemed strange.
At a quarter to five, I was walking through the door of the school. It had snowed and it was freezing, so instead of being still, I moved from one place to another, entertained to see how my feet crushed the snow as I stepped on it. I was concentrated on that when I heard a voice behind me.
— Well, Mr. Gómez ! Punctuality always has to come first. I would not have been very amused to have to wait for you with the day we have, look how it is snowing today, with the good weather we have yesterday.
— Hello Don Carlos! Good afternoon! — I said to him at the same time that I would come back, and I saw him that he was wearing his openwork cap, that almost his glasses could not be seen and his scarf was covering the rest of his face, and he was extending his gloved hand to greet me.
— Let’s go somewhere right away and instead of coffee, what do you think if we have a chocolate and some cookies? That is more appropriate for the unpleasant afternoon we have.
— Okay, as you wish — I said a little curt.
What was I doing with a teacher having a chocolate? I remembered my mother at that moment, who when I hung up the phone, asked me who was the one who had called. When I told her she was surprised and said:
— What will that gentleman want from you, outside of class, son? Have you been in any trouble?
— I don’t know mom, but stay calm. There are no problems, he wants me to meet to have a coffee.
— He’ll want to ask you for something — she said, more calmly smiling.
— Well, I don’t know. I’ll find out when I see him.
— Son, you have to invite him — she said very seriously.
And before I said anything, she took her purse and taking money out of it, she gave it to me. When I saw it, it seemed a lot and I told her, but she insisted that I take it in case something came up. And it seems she was right, a coffee is one thing and a chocolate with cookies is another, but I was calm because I had enough money in my pockey to pay the bill.
How strange all this seemed to me! But well, it was not a bad idea, so we would warm up.
Taking steps very carefully so as not to end up with our bones on the ground, trying to step where no one had, so that in this way the possible ice that was on the road did not hinder our short walk and we arrived immediately.
The two of us had gone in silence, attentive to the ground. When we entered the cafeteria, which by the way at that time and as the day was, as the waiter told us, no one had dared to leave their house.
— Sit where you like the most, as you see everything is at your disposal — said the waiter when Don Carlos asked him where we could sit.
— What do the gentlemen want? — the waiter said kindly as he approached the table where we had sat after taking off our coats, scarves, gloves. Don Carlos even took his cap.
— You almost have to undress, but if you don’t wear all this, there is no one who dares to leave the house — said the professor, smiling.
— Yes — said the waiter, who was now coming to our side —. Sitting there at the table and with the warmth of a good beer is where on days like today you are better, and well, how have the gentlemen dared to go out? Tell me, what can I do for you?
— Look, I think what works best, on an afternoon like this, is a good chocolate, with cookies — Don Carlos replied.
— You do know! — said the waiter, and looking at me he asked me —. And what about you? Are you also encouraged to do the same?
— Sure! — I said a little curt.
I had looked at Don Carlos and I was thinking “What am I doing here with this man?” I have always been a little shy, but especially this teacher was one of the most imposing, and it is not that I was short, but he must be two meters tall, and surely he had more or less one hundred kilos, that is, he was by far the highest in the entire cadre of teachers, and then, so serious, with his black shell glasses, which gave him an air of intellectuality, what would he want from me? I still didn’t understand.
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As we got closer to the destination, we talked about what we would find. We were excited, because surely here they could give us answers to some of the unknowns that we still had to complete.
— Why is there so much controversy? — Peter said —. That is always the question I have asked myself, because if there is no evidence of that possible extraterrestrial life, why are some determined to continue affirming that there is? Where are those strange theories derived from? If there is life here on Earth, does it have to be elsewhere?
— Look, dear friend, it is that each one is free to think what they want, and well, I say, that if they continue affirming it, they will have to demonstrate it, it is not enough just to say it.
— Yes, I agree with that very, very much, but it is so difficult to talk to them when they insist on one thing. It is not only that they do not give their arm to twist, but rather that they do not even let them speak, trying to convince with their words what they think, but when they have to give some proof, nothing at all, they do not have anything to support his blunt claims — Peter added seriously.
— Well, there is the issue, otherwise we wouldn’t have this little job. If everything were so clear, what would we do here?
— Yes, I have been asking that myself for a few days, at the moment when you asked me to come, what for? What will they bring us?
— Wait! And ask me that same question when we go out, and then I’ll have something to answer you. Right now, the truth is that nothing occurs to me, it will be like other times when they tell us that since there is nothing, nothing can be talked about.
— Look, I think we should start the conversation differently — Peter said suddenly becoming very serious.
— What do you mean? I don’t understand you — I answered expectantly to know what idea occurred to him now.
— What if we tell them we know something in particular? Let’s see where they come from.
— Come on, what are we going to tell them? If we don’t know anything about anything — I said a little disappointed, seeing that he didn’t have a brilliant idea as I thought.
— Well, we can invent it, what do you think of the idea?
— Come on! You’re kidding, right? What are we going to invent? I don’t know what you mean, what I say, what we come here is to try to see what they can give us, not to show them that we are smart people and that we know perhaps more than they do. .
— No, look, that is not so, but we do as other times that we are ignorant, because you see that we do not get anything, they think that we are only going to snoop on their beliefs and they do not open up. You’ve seen it before, they hardly even speak to us.
— Well, that is perhaps comprehensible. There would have been many times when someone has laughed at them and they got tired, come on! I would be, of course.
— Listen, when you are involved in something, it is because you like it. This is not like going to the class, that the teacher is nice to you, or that the class is a firecracker, you have no choice but to hold on and not miss or you won’t pass the subject.
— I understand, that when you join an organization it’s for something. Now, I don’t think this looks like anything interesting. I don’t know what purpose they will have to spend the time here.
— Well, everyone likes one thing. Soccer fans who are taken their football match off on Sunday prefer to be getting wet on one of those days of heavy rain instead of staying at home without seeing his favorite team without playing. However, who does not like it, I would say it does not understand. What is fun to see some gentlemen running after a ball? And most of them are millionaires, is it that they do not have money to buy one for each one? You see how we are not all the same! There are tastes for everyone.
— Yes Peter, I agree with you, but tell me, what do they get? I don’t understand it.
— Well, dear friend, something will come out, even if those of us who are not on that subject find it difficult to understand, but well, let’s go back to what it brings us, that we are going to get to the center and we still haven’t agreed on what we are going to tell them.
— I have it clear! — I said very seriously.
— Yes? Well, tell me, that I don’t — he said, looking at me to see if what he was saying was true.
— Look Peter, since you are more skeptical, I let you speak, and that’s it, you’ll know what you have to tell them, and where to take the conversation.
— But how good! What a comfortable posture, and if nothing comes out, what?
— Come on, joker! How can nothing come out? If, as they say in my land, you don’t shut up even under water.
— Are you calling me chatty? — he asked, and it was clear from his tone of voice that he had not liked what he had just heard.
— Of course! With all the letters, but yes, with all my love, don’t go mad, that was not my intention, I just wanted to ask you to take the conversation wherever you want, that I only accompany you.
— Yes, quietly, and if it the result is bad, I know who you’re going to blame.
— No, look, it is not that, Peter. It’s that if we both talk, we will be in trouble, so you only do it and that’s it.
— Well, but without reproaches later, and don’t tell me either, you could have asked them this or that, say it now or be silent forever! That’s what they say at weddings.
— That would be the old ones, because now as the officiant knows that three newscasts are going to last, as they say, I think they tell them half of the things. Look, I remember now some friends, that, at their wedding, which incidentally two priests attended, because of circumstances… Well, that does not matter, what I wanted to tell you is that there is a time when you wish the spouses a long life together, with something like meeting their third generation. Well, I remember because they told me that, in their ceremony, the two priests, not just one, both, only wished them to meet their grandchildren, that is, the second generation, and they said “That is surely that one of the two of us are going to die soon” and indeed it was so, the husband knew only the grandchildren, and these being little ones.
— You mean by that, that the priests were fortune tellers and they knew it?
