Do UFOs Exist?

<<<<<>>>>>

— How many years? — I heard behind my back.

— What do you say? — I turned and asked.

— Yes — he said again —. How many years have we been in this?

— Well, right now I don’t know — I replied.

It was true, I had no idea how long it had been since we started.

— Exactly nine years ago — he replied very seriously.

— How? How do you know that? — I asked curiously.

— Very simple, because it’s my birthday, and although I tell myself every year that I’m not going to have one more year, I still remember how I met you.

— And that? — I asked Enrique, everything seemed strange to me.

— Look, I was in that bar, drinking a few beers, that’s precisely because the next day was my birthday, and I wanted to celebrate it, and what better than lying down all day!

— Lying? — I interrupted, asking, puzzled by what I was hearing.

— Of course! after a good drunkenness, what do you think it happens? Well, the best way for it to happen is to be sleeping, and thus not think about which the day it was. Well, at least that was my intention, that´s why I already had a few in my body when you stood there by my side.

— What do I have to do with all that? — I asked, since I didn’t understand why he had mentioned that.

— Look, the first thing I looked at was your vest, that was the truth, and I said to myself “That would be a good birthday gift”. I liked it from the first moment I saw it, the pocket was so big, I don’t know! It was like a whim of a child, when you go to the park to play and there is another child with a ball over there and he stars crying and no one can stop him because they don’t give the ball to him. If he wants it, he doesn’t understand why he can’t have it, because something similar happened to me. I wouldn’t know how to explain it.

— And that’s why you asked me if I sold it to you? — I said, remembering that moment that seemed so strange to me.

— Of course! If not, why? Would it have been better if I had tried to take it from you by force? That was not my style, but the truth is that your answer made me laugh. Do you remember which one it was? I did, of course, but don’t tell me that you also remember it.

— I can’t give it, friend, because he’s like my second skin, without him I wouldn’t know how to live — I said —. Of course I remember it very well.

— How exaggerated! It seemed to me at that moment when I was listening to him, but he made me think of one thing. I had nothing in my life that could mean so much, that was so important, and that’s why I wanted to talk to you. You seemed like a good boy to me, any other, maybe he would have been upset because I had spoken to him, but not you. You had answered me correctly, without leaving my side, despite the state I was in and how absurd my request must have seemed to you.

— Well, what’s all this about now? Tell me, are you feeling sad?

— Well, in that conversation you told me what you had come to look for in that bar, that you did not like to drink, but you understood that perhaps in that place they could tell you something that would help you find what you needed. A good pilot, and yes sir, there I was in front of you, listening to you, and fascinated by your proposal, which I had not heard for a long time, because my fondness for drinking had run like wildfire through the environment and nobody needed my services.

— But why do you remember all that now? — I asked a little surprised.

— For a long time I spent my time in that bar, and I saw an opportunity in your need. You were a foreigner, then possibly you would not know anything about my fame, and when I told you that I had a plane, something lit up in your eyes. Something, I don’t know how I could tell you, but I liked it, and I said to myself “I have to help this guy”, and I remember that at that moment I left the bottle in my hand. I was no longer interested in keeping on drinking, you had captured all my attention only when you started telling me why I needed it, I already felt inside me that this would be the trip of my life. Then I asked you for that amount of money, which I already know was excessive, but you have to forgive me, you know I was a little drunk, but the strangest thing was that after thinking about it for a bit, you agreed to give it to me, and not only that, but you got out of one of your multiple pockets a wad of bills and right there you put them in my hand.

— Yes, I do remember that, I wasn’t really determined to give them to you, really, but I said to myself “If he doesn’t take me, I don’t know how long I’m going to spend until I find someone who can,” and that was what decided me, I said to myself “I’ll try to save on other issues”, because the truth is that, if I gave you all that you had asked me, I would have little money left for the rest of the trip. Enrique, tell me the truth, were you so interested in that issue? Or did you accept because you had nothing else to do at that time?

— Look, dear friend! I think we’ve talked about it a few times, but not so intimately so that I would tell you my deepest secret…

He stay quiet. I respected his silence, but as I saw that he was saying nothing and the time passed, I decided to ask him that, quietly, as if not wanting to disturb him:

— Look! If you still think that you should not deal with that issue, we will leave it for another time.”

— No! I think one day it had to come, and that moment seems to me to have come — he was saying very seriously, staring at me.

— Well, if it seems to you, I’m all ears — I replied, since I wanted him to know that whatever he would tell me, he could trust me.

— Look, once when I was a kid I was playing with some friends, I would have been around three years or so, there was no one around there, you understand me! No fathers or mothers, they were with their things, well, the older things, you know, we were entertained in the field. Well, that’s what we always did, we had no other task than to play, that’s what we were kids for!

We were all there, I do not know how many we would be, I remember that at that age I still did not know how to count, but what I have not forgotten in all my life was how at one point we saw something that surprised us and we stopped to see it better. You know how curious children are, we get so close that some of us get to touch it. Well, the truth is that I didn´t, perhaps because of fear, or that I hadn’t gotten close enough to that. The luck was that I didn’t touch it.

— You said luck? But what are you talking about? What was that?

— Wait, impatient! Now I’m going to tell you, don’t interrupt me, otherwise I will forget what I was saying. It was so long ago and I still have it in mind as if it had only been a few minutes — he was saying to me with seriousness, and a recollection as if it was really happening to him in those moments.

— Well, go on, and sorry for interruption — I said softly.

— Look, the children who came first and touched it, because of that I am sure, I saw them how they did it, at the moment they disappeared.

— What? But what are you saying to me?

— Yes, don’t think it’s a joke. Do you see why it’s a topic that I should better leave inside me and not share with anyone?— And he stayed quiet.

He was silent for a long time and I did not want to interrupt him. I respected those moments that seemed to me that he needed, to overcome those memories, but when time passed and did not continue, I grew impatient and said:

— Go on, go on, I do believe you! But it was strange.

— No, I’m not surprised by your reaction, but you know that I’ve not been drinking for a long time. Well, as much as since I have been by your side. Today as you know, nothing more and nothing less than nine years.

— Well, what do you mean by that? — I asked Enrique. I didn’t understand what the time he had been with me had to do with what he was telling me.

— What do I mean? Well, if you didn’t know me so well and also knew that at one point in my life I liked drinking, sure it would have been natural for you to think I had drunk, right? — He was talking to me looking at me very closely. I think he looked at me like that to see my reaction when listening to him.

— Well, I don’t know, but it never occurred to me to think about it, be sure!

— Well, since this matter has been clarified, I haven’t taken a drop of alcohol, that’s how it is.

— Come on, you make me feel impatient, as they say in my hometown.

— And what does that mean? It is not unusual!

— Well, the truth is that I don’t know the meaning. It will be that if you take a little longer to tell me, I will burn, but well, what does it matter what I say? Go on with your story that is the most important one!

— Oh! Yes? So it is important? and what do you give me to continue? — he asked suddenly.

— What do I give you? Don’t be a joker and go on.

— Look, as I was saying, the children who had arrived first were not there, although it seems impossible they were nowhere to be seen — blowing a big sigh, she stayed silent again.