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The cat's picana

Chapter 3: More Annunciations

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Bells, why should it always be the bells that announce the early religious services for which believers should attend promptly? Cold sounds that announced going to even colder God's temples, elevated places, and icy early in the day.

For those or other matters had no place in the early mass, not because of Father Esteban's inspired homily, which, by the way, only succeeded in inspiring you to sleep, but the strange words spoken just when the miracle of transubstantiation was to take place.

"One sin out of seven that you have committed, I have to announce well measured and you will reap what you have sown, you, who are not repentant... By taking money from your fiancée and leaving her, the next Christmas night you will be my picana."

Well, you can imagine the gossip of the people who, after a couple of months, had already forgotten the incident in which the first sin was announced to an unknown individual.

"What brazenness," complained Father Esteban while the nuns served him and Victor a humble lunch, "to interrupt the Mass in that way."

"What will you do to the sinner when you find him father?" asked a nun.

"Will you punish him?" asked another.

"A sinful soul only needs a good sermon to return to the path of our Lord God. Remember: to err is human, to forgive is divine. Isn't that right, Victor?"

"What? I do, this one, well, yes, I think so..."

"Are you all right, young Toro?"

"Yes, Father Esteban, I am, only I thought about the sinner."

"Like everybody else, son, like everybody else, now, eat well that there are many tasks to be done."

Victor was not so cheeky as not to give importance to the strange threat said in the last mass, as not to do so, if apart from being the gossip of the people, it was a matter that made him very suspicious.

"Would he mean me," thought the amoral subject. "One may be a coincidence, but two, well, it's no longer such a thing."

He was forced to taste the food and when he thought he would spend the rest of the day thinking of the ominous words that seemed to address only him, it happened that the priest was right. A busy mind and hardworking arms drive away any fatal thought from one. And that routine was repeated for several weeks.

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"A sin of seven that you have committed, I have to announce well measured and you will reap what you have sown, you who are not repentant... For as a woman to dress and make fun of the priestly order by dressing stolen, the next christmas night you will be my picana."

Again the parishioners lifted their heads when they were not supposed to do so right at the height of Mass, but it was something that could not be avoided. With vain attempts they stretched their necks trying to find out whoever said those cryptic words but nothing. No man, angel or ghost deigned to make an act of presence, it was something very mysterious.

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This time the town policeman was called to meet with Father Esteban, who told him about the events before and after the mass in the hope that the uniformed man might be able to elucidate something, but the only thing he could elucidate was that he had not eaten breakfast and his belly asked him to eat at least something.

-"No way, it seems that we will have to take care of this situation, isn't that right, young Toro?"

"Yes, Father Esteban, you're right."

"You're distracted, Victor, do you think like me what that joker was referring to?"

"I don't think we can discover much, Father Esteban."

"Umm, Deuteronomy 22.5: The woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall the man wear a woman's garment; for whoever does this is an abomination to the Lord your God... That is easy to understand, but the second part of what that misguided soul said at Mass...."

The old priest meditated on what the said words might mean, while Victor's sinner, who well knew what the mysterious orator was referring to, became very pale because of fear.

"Calm down young Victor," said the priest, "I know that you are unworthy and that you become angry, but remember: to err is human, but to forgive is divine."

Victor realized that he was clenching his fists very tightly against his side and relaxed his posture.

-You're right, Father, forgive me."

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Apparently the ominous words from beyond the grave were said more and more often. The first warnings had a longer lapse of time than the last ones, and as the citadine rogue went from indifference to fear, what had to happen this time happened in a much shorter lapse of time.

"A sin of seven that you have committed, I have to announce well measured and you will reap what you have sown, you who are not repentant... By yielding to philarguria as you go through the road of the fathers of the church, the next christmas night you will be my picana."

For as you can see, of all the mysterious announcements, this was the most cryptic of them all, so the parishioners, instead of stretching their necks and looking everywhere, only crossed glances as if asking for an explanation from the neighbor, which did not bear any fruit, except for an accidental fart from mixing pork and cream pie the night before.

Even Father Sebastian, more surprised by the annunciation itself than by the cryptic nature of the message, put on a puzzled face, while Victor could not help but open his mouth with surprise and fear since the rascal very well knew the exact meaning of each of the words said with that voice that craved a feline creature.

Victor, like everyone else in the village, went to bed early due to the daily power cut and his eyes shone with fear with the last light emitted by the candle wick in his monastic cell.

CONTINUARÁ...

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