Do UFOs Exist?

— 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: