life in that place and your death in the mouth of that monster.
This life that we are having now is only a long vision. Don’t
you see?
Nervous spasms ran through my body.
I didn’t go beyond this world, he went on, but I know
what I’m talking about. I don’t have tales of horror like you.
All I did was to visit Porfirio ten times. If it had been up to me
I would’ve gone there forever, but my eleventh bounce was so
powerful that it changed my direction. I felt that I had over-
shot Porfirio’s hut, and instead of finding myself at his door, I
found myself in the city, very close to the place of a friend of
mine. I thought it was funny. I knew that I was journeying
between the tonal and the nagual. Nobody had said to me that
the journeys had to be of any special kind. So I got curious
and decided to see my friend. I began to wonder if I really
would get to see him. I came to his house and knocked on the
door just as I had knocked scores of times. His wife let me in
as she had always done and sure enough my friend was home.
I told him that I had come to the city on business and he even
paid me some money he owed me. I put the money in my
pocket. I knew that my friend, and his wife, and the money,
and his house, and the city were just like Porfirio’s hut, a
vision. I knew that a force beyond me was going to disinte-
grate me any moment. So I sat down to enjoy my friend to
the fullest. We laughed and joked. And I dare say that I was
funny and light and charming. I stayed there for a long time,
waiting for the jolt; since it didn’t come I decided to leave. I
said good-bye and thanked him for the money and for his
friendship. I walked away. I wanted to see the city before the
force took me away. I wandered around all night. I walked all
the way to the hills overlooking the city, and at the mo-
ment the sun rose a realization struck me like a thunderbolt.
I was back in the world and the force that will disintegrate
me was at ease and was going to let me stay for a while. I was
going to see my homeland and this marvelous earth for a while
longer. What a great joy. Maestro! But I couldn’t say that I
had not enjoyed Porfirio’s friendship. Both visions are equal,
but I prefer the vision of my form and my earth. It’s my in-
dulging perhaps.
Nestor stopped talking and all of them stared at me. I felt
threatened as I had never been before. Some part of me was in
awe of what he had said, another wanted to fight with him. I
began to argue with him without any sense. My inane mood
lasted for a few moments, then I became aware that Benigno
was looking at me with a very mean expression. He had fixed
his eyes on my chest. I felt that something ominous was sud-
denly pressing on my heart. I began to perspire as if a heater
were right in front of my face. My ears began to buzz.
La Gorda walked up to me at that precise moment. She was
a most unexpected sight. I was sure that the Genaros felt the
same way. They stopped what they were doing and looked at
her. Pablito was the first to recover from his surprise.
Why do you have to come in like that? he asked in a
pleading tone. You were listening from the other room,
weren’t you?
She said that she had been in the house only a few minutes
and then she stepped out to the kitchen. And the reason she
stayed quiet was not so much to listen but to exercise her
ability to be inconspicuous.
Her presence had created a strange lull. I wanted to pick up
again the flow of Nestor’s revelations, but before I could say
anything la Gorda said that the little sisters were on their way
to the house and would be coming through the door any min-
ute. The Genaros stood up at once as if they had been pulled
by the same string. Pablito put his chair on his shoulder.
Let’s go for a hike in the dark. Maestro, Pablito said to me.
La Gorda said in a most imperative tone that I could not go
with them yet because she had not finished telling me every-
thing the Nagual had instructed her to tell me.
Pablito turned to me and winked.
I’ve told you, he said. They’re bossy, gloomy bitches. I
certainly hope you’re not like that. Maestro.
Nestor and Benigno said good night and embraced me.
Pablito just walked away carrying his chair like a backpack.
They went out through the back.
A few seconds later a horribly loud bang on the front door
made la Gorda and me jump to our feet. Pablito walked in
again, carrying his chair.
You thought I wasn’t going to say good night, didn’t you?
he asked me and left laughing.
5
The Art of Dreaming
The next day I was by myself all morning. I worked on my
notes, in the afternoon I used my car to help la Gorda and the
little sisters transport the furniture from dona Soledad’s house
to their house.
In the early evening la Gorda and I sat in the dining area
alone. We were silent for a while. I was very tired.
La Gorda broke the silence and said that all of them had
been too complacent since the Nagual and Genaro had left.
Each of them had been absorbed in his or her particular tasks.
She said that the Nagual had commanded her to be an impas-
sionate warrior and to follow whatever path her fate selected
for her. If Soledad had stolen my power, la Gorda had to flee
and try to save the little sisters and then join Benigno and
Nestor, the only two Genaros who would have survived. If
the little sisters had killed me, she had to join the Genaros
because the little sisters would have had no more need to be
with her. If I had not survived the attack of the allies and she
did, she had to leave that area and be on her own. She told me,
with a glint in her eye, that she had been sure that neither one
of us would survive, and that that was why she had said good-
bye to her sisters, to her house and to the hills.
The Nagual told me that in case you and I survived the
allies, she went on, I have to do anything for you, because
that would be my warrior’s path. That was why I interfered
with what Benigno was doing to you last night. He was press-
ing on your chest with his eyes. That is his art as a stalker. You
saw Pablito’s hand earlier yesterday; that was also part of the
same art.
What art is that, Gorda?
The art of the stalker. That was the Nagual’s predilection
and the Genaros are his true children at that. We, on the other
hand, are dreamers. Your double is dreaming.
What she was saying was new to me. I wanted her to eluci-
date her statements. I paused for a moment to read what I had
written in order to select the most appropriate question. I told
her that I first wanted to find out what she knew about my
double and then I wanted to know about the art of stalking.
The Nagual told me that your double is something that
takes a lot of power to come out, she said. He figured that
you might have enough energy to get it out of you twice.
That’s why he set up Soledad and the little sisters either to
kill you or to help you.
La Gorda said that I had had more energy than the Nagual
thought, and that my double came out three times. Apparently
Rosa’s attack had not been a thoughtless action; on the con-
trary, she had very cleverly calculated that if she injured me,
I would have been helpless: the same ploy dona Soledad had
tried with her dog. I had given Rosa a chance to strike me
when I yelled at her, but she failed to injure me. My double
came out and injured her instead. La Gorda said that Lidia had
told her that Rosa did not want to wake up when all of us
had to rush out of Soledad’s house, so Lidia squeezed the hand
that had been injured. Rosa did not feel any pain and knew in
an instant that I had cured her, which meant to them that I had