The Mistery of Belicena Villca and to believe that the Roman Church , temporary organization , is exempt from its control . But it would be useless ; the officer would not accept that reasoning . I loaded the heavy volumes and said goodbye to Deputy Commissioner Maidana . – Goodbye Officer ; If you need me , all you have to do is call the Hospital . – Goodbye Dr . I appreciate the collaboration you have given us .
Chapter VII
It was Friday and I could rest the weekend in the old manor house in Cerrillos , a beautiful town that is 18 km . from Salta , on the same road that leads to Cafayate , in the heart of the Calchaquí Valleys , and , beyond , to Santa María de Catamarca . There lived my parents , old now , and a widowed sister with two children .
The prospect of seeing and spending a few days with them always filled me with happiness ; so it should not impress anyone that a few hours later , while driving the car down the vine-lined road , I wasn ' t thinking any more about the horrible crime .
However , it was written that peace would be brief : in less than an hour my life was shattered and a future as a Doctor , Anthropologist , Professor , that is to say , thorough professional , disappeared as probable Destiny for me . In my parent ' s house awaited the letter from Belicena Villca and the beginning of madness . If I just wouldn ' t have read it ! How much pain , death and grief I caused my loved ones for having read that letter and , most ominously , having believed in what it said ! And for sure , nothing would have happened to us if we had not received the letter !
How I would regret three months later for having given it credit , in that very place ! The following Monday my vacations began , and when I returned to Hospital , in March , everything would be forgotten . I shouldn ' t have read it : that was my last opportunity to continue being normal , that is , comfortably and mediocrely normal , loved by all , respected by all , and , of course , by the Good Creator ! Yes , it is not blasphemy : the Good Creator God should be proud of me : I did not interfere at all with his grandiose plans , and contributed as much possible to the common good , what more could be expected from a humble Salta psychiatrist doctor ? But I ' m very afraid that now I ' ve lost everything , even the favor of the Creator . We will have to read Belicena Villca ' s letter and know the rest of the story to disagree or agree with me .
Like I said , I shouldn ' t have read it and everything would have stayed the same . But , it ' s plain to see , that in the lives of certain people there are carefully mounted traps : it ' s enough to touch a spring to trigger irreversible mechanisms .
Chapter VIII
Canuto , the sheperd dog , came running to celebrate my arrival , while I maneuvered the car and closed the gate . I still lacked another two hundred meters to reach the house ; I got Canuto up on the front seat and started . So it always was ; I drove with one hand and the other caressed the old hound for those two hundred meters , which belonged only to him . I saw the figure of my parents approach , sitting under the centenary taheebos in the courtyard , and felt the laughter of my beloved nephews . It was a family , one of the most beautiful things an inveterate bachelor like me can conceive .
--Buongiorno a tutti --I joked as I lowered the briefcase and looked for the well known treats for the children-- . How are the vineyards going , Dad ?
--Better than ever Arturo . There are some grapes that are the glory of Bacchus ! But , what good is this abundance to us if this year we will not have a harvest ? Oh Mein Gott ! This government will bankrupt the whole world !
– Well , Dad , calm down , you don ' t have to get angry anymore . Look , I brought you a gift . I handed him the Angelito Vargas cassette and , as he placed it in the portable player , sipped the mate that my sister brewed and circulated silently from hand to hand .
--Take son , five days ago an order arrived for you . We withdraw it to get it to you , but since nobody was going to Salta , it stayed here . You must give your city address ; someday something urgent may come for you and you won ' t be here ..., – Mom continued to scold me while Angelito Vargas ' s voice shelled the tango “ A Pan y Agua ”. But I didn ' t hear anything . Absorbed with the sender of the package , where it clearly read " Belicena Villca ", my heart seemed to have stopped . The package contained the briefcase and , inside it , an envelope with an extensive letter , so extensive that , one would say , Belicena Villca spent all her free time , for months , to write it . Below I transcribe it without removing or adding a comma . I want the reader to share the Mystery , in all its dimension ,
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