Yesterday (Part Two - Chapters 29 & 30)

CHAPTER 29

Laura stormed out the door of the Stanhope Clinic determined to hunt down her father for answers.

Something had awakened inside her that made her feel stronger, more confident. Would she have finally regained the self-confidence she felt several days earlier?

It was time to check. She rang her father.

—Dad, we need to talk— she urged Oscar resolutely.

—Laura,— he exclaimed on the other end, clearly relieved. There was a lot of noise around him. He caught his breath, —Meet me at the Premium Room in T4, call Cristina and ask her to give you the details, you're flying with me to London.

—What? I just got out of the clinic, I need to go home.

—-Listen, there's no time, we'll take care of everything when we get there —Oscar replied impatiently — the flight is at 12:35pm, hurry up or you'll miss it.

They arrived at Heathrow airport at 2pm local time. They had four hours before their flight to Dublin, enough time for Laura to buy some clothes and then resume their conversation at the fabulous Runnymede-on-thames hotel, where Oscar had booked an executive suite.

The hotel, located on the banks of the River Thames, halfway between the airport and London, was spectacular. Laura immediately fell in love with the place and bit her lower lip regretting all the times she had refused to travel before. She had rarely left Madrid, long trips had always caused her dread. Perhaps her subconscious was keeping her in the family home out of fear. But that was over, it was time for a new Laura to emerge from within, more confident, in control of herself and her destiny, perhaps even more coquettish.

"Why not?" she said to herself, letting her hair down in front of the bathroom mirror after putting on the colorful dress they bought for her at the hotel boutique. She pinched her cheeks and smiled.

She walked into the living room and her father looked up at her in surprise. Laura was personally happy about that look, but she hid it as best she could.

—You look stunning, Laura,— articulated Oscar in surprise.

—Thank you, Dad,— she said, with a slight blush.

Oscar had arranged his laptop on the coffee table so that the two of them could see the screen from the sofa. He got up and drew the curtains to dim the outside light. Laura glanced furtively at the splendid landscape, hoping that they would have at least a few minutes to enjoy that hotel before returning to the airport again.

The laptop displayed a black video window. Oscar slid his finger and pressed the play button. The first frames of a recording fluctuated on the screen until it stabilized. It looked like an old copy of a videotape.

The video showed an empty schoolroom. A children's playroom, she assumed. There were little tables of different colors scattered here and there with jars of markers and pencils in the center. A colorful mosaic of children's paintings hung on the walls. The room was lit by fluorescent tubes, and the fixed shot in the recording seemed to have been taken from the teacher's table.

The door opened and entered a priest holding a child in his hand. The priest was tall and stocky, and wore a black cassock that enhanced his white neckband. He carried himself with a certain elegance. Laura even found him attractive, for a priest.

The boy had black, messy hair. The child's eyes were fixed on the floor and he was carried docilely to a round table near the camera lens.

—They are Father Aminarti and your brother Jonah, many years ago—, Oscar whispered.

Laura felt a little prick in her stomach when she heard that.

The boy sat crestfallen next to the priest and in front of the camera, but the two of them ignored it. Laura assumed that they had kept it hidden.

He couldn't have been more than nine years old there. He wore a white, blue-striped T-shirt. He timidly stretched out his little hand and picked up a paper and pencil and began to draw something on it while the priest reached for a light paper folder on the table.

Aminarti opened the folder wide on the table and separated some pages, studying the rest of them. He closed it and stared tenderly at Jonah. Laura knew at that moment that this priest loved Jonah madly. His gaze denoted devotion and concern, as if he felt remorse for whatever was about to happen.

—Jonah, it's time— he gently admonished him.

—What’s the point?— was the boy's succinct response. He was grumpy.

—We've talked about this, Jonah, if you don't attend class you must somehow take exams, it's important for your future.

—But I want to be in school! — the boy snapped, bitterly looking at the priest for the first time — why won't they let me go to school?

—Jonah, my son, I have already explained it to you many times,— Aminarti implored him, caressing his back, —You’re not well, and if you were near other children you could get worse, we can't allow that, right?

The child lowered his head again in a sulk and concentrated on the paper in front of him, ignoring the priest. Aminarti stroked his hair, and Laura gave her father a scowling look. Oscar stopped the video.

—A sickness? Is this how you kept him isolated for so many years?

—It was Dr. Hebert's idea, but in fact, you and your brother had a strange immune deficiency at birth. Jonah was highly sensitive to any kind of virus at that time— justified Oscar —we just exaggerated it a bit. Please remember it was almost impossible to lie to him.

Oscar clicked the little triangle again and the video resumed.

The priest once again shuffled through his papers, took a pen out of his pocket and separated a booklet of paper from the folder.

—Let's begin,— said the priest patiently, —like last time, I'm going to leave you this questionnaire. Each question has nine scores, from minus four to plus four and a zero. Cross out the one you like the best. All right, I'm going out and I'll be back in 10 minutes— he put the quiz in front of him with his hand open over it. — Please start when I leave.

Jonah was still absorbed in his thoughts and Aminarti got up to leave. He hesitated for a moment and approached the boy, then kissed him at the top of his head and left

After the door was closed, Jonah, without lifting his head, dragged the questionnaire to himself and opened it to the first page. There was a subtle change in him. He seemed more adult when alone. The boy began to write with his head buried in the paper, squeezing the pencil. Laura discovered with trepidation that he was writing faster than what would be expected of a child his age. She imagined that Jonah would be scribbling the pages out with anything as revenge. She looked at Oscar but he urged her to turn her attention back to the screen. It took him about three minutes to finish the questionnaire. Then he dragged it with disdain back to where Aminarti had left it and refocused on his drawing, indistinguishable to the camera lens.

Oscar paused the video once again.

—It goes on like this for several minutes. I will fast forward the video if that is OK.

Oscar pressed the fast-forward button and the image accelerated, but nothing changed in Jonas' posture. He kept drawing absorbed in his task until the classroom door opened again.

Aminarti sat down next to Jonah and opened the first page of the questionnaire.

—Very well Jonah, you have got yourself an extra hour of TV today.

Jonah shrugged his shoulders and Laura looked at her father blankly.

—What are you drawing? Will you show me?

Jonah moved away from the priest.

—It's not finished yet,— he responded reluctantly without lifting his head.

—But you know how much I like your drawings,— Aminarti begged.

Jonah moved away from the priest and continued drawing, covering the paper as well as he could with his other arm, until he suddenly raised his head to evaluate his work. He nodded to himself and passed the drawing to Aminarti.

Aminarti examined it with interest and held it close to his eyes, probably to appreciate the detail. He pushed it back a little to appreciate the whole.

—How pretty— said the priest —who is she?

—She's not pretty, she's interesting,— said the boy, pursing his lips.

—I think she's pretty, she has very pretty eyes.

—I'll meet her someday,— stated Jonah in a low voice, with a hint of hope.

—I'm sure you will— Aminarti reassured him by stroking his head. Laura detected a certain annoyance in Jonah's expression, but she couldn't be sure, for at no time did she actually get to see his face in front of the camera. — Will you let me store it for you? — Jonah nodded and Aminarti showed the drawing to the camera for a few seconds before putting it in an envelope he had in his folder.

A female face could be seen from afar, drawn with many fine lines. It took Laura a second to assimilate why that face was so familiar to her, she was left gawking at the screen. Oscar had pressed the pause button again and handed her an old brown paper envelope that had been next to the laptop all along. Laura knew it was the same envelope and opened it in awe.

It was herself.

She stared at the drawing and the complicit grin that it brought back, “Is this me?” she asked herself, thrilled. She noticed that her eyes were getting wet and glanced at her father again. There was nothing she could say. She left the drawing on the table and pressed "play" herself.

—Come on, let's go,— said the priest. You've earned your TV time.

They got up and walked back to the classroom door, but Jonah separated from Aminarti and hurried back to the table. The priest waited patiently with the door open while Jonah scribbled something on a piece of paper in a hurry. He left the pen on the table and approached the camera by surprise, looking straight at the lens for the first time.

His expression shocked Laura.

That boy knew he was being watched. He stood about six feet away from the camera and lifted the paper.

“699787353”

Then he formed a ball with the paper and threw it in the trash before running away. Behind the door a vague sound was heard as the priest asked him about it, but the recording ended at that point.

—A cell phone number?

—We wondered for years what that number sequence could mean, but we ended up discarding it because at that time there were no cellular phones or systems with similar numbers that would fit that configuration and make sense. Professor Hebert ventured that it was probably a prank, and Father Aminarti could not get anything out of Jonah.

—Does it work? — asked Laura, surprised.

—No, I tried it yesterday but there is no number with that numbering, I was hoping it would mean something to you.

Laura shook her head and got up from the sofa. She needed to freshen up and gather her thoughts before discussing the video any further. She took one last look at the drawing and left the living room on her way to the bathroom.

Oscar stood up and pulled the curtains back. He went out to the terrace and leaned on the railing. They had little time left before having to get back to the airport.

He took a deep breath. Nevertheless, it was a perfect afternoon. Tiny orange reflections furrowed the flow of the river, and the lush vegetation around them formed a palette of greens that contrasted beautifully with the evening sky.

Laura returned to him.

—When did you realize it was me in the drawing?

—Not back then, honestly. I only recently realized that. Just as with the number series, we couldn't find any relationship with anything or anyone we knew. As soon as I was able to make the connection, I crossed my fingers that it would not be necessary to disclose it to you.

—Were you never going to tell me about it?

—Please try to understand me. It was a very delicate situation. Your mother and sister were never to know, and you were always so caught up in your own world… I chose to spare you the displeasure.

—Which test did Jonah do in the video?

—An empathy test. An adaptation of the Mehrabian and Epstein test, if memory serves. They used it to evaluate Jonah's emotional capacity for years. The professor always maintained that it was important to keep Jonah's ego in check. Having all those abilities in his hands could eventually make him dangerous,— he revealed.

—Well, it looks like it didn't do you much good.

—There wasn't much more we could do, Laura,— Oscar said. —Keeping him away, educating him, trying to make him feel fulfilled in his isolation... I never knew what to do with him, it just overwhelmed me. I left him in the hands of the teacher and then Aminarti.

—Excuse me, but it's only natural that he should hate us.

—I don't think he hates us, not all of us,— said Oscar, staring into her eyes. I need you to talk to him.

Laura became defensive at first, but then came to her senses. After all, that's what she was there for.

—I'm not ready, I don't know him, and he doesn't know me. Besides, I don't even know how to find him, Dad.

—Don't worry, he'll find you,— responded Oscar, diverting his gaze, —He sure found me yesterday.

—You talked to him? —When?

—Yesterday, after our conversation. He was there waiting for me when I got to my office.

She opened her eyes wide in surprise. Oscar lowered his voice.

—He asked me for money, and after that he suggested that I show you all this. I don't think it will be long before he contacts you.

—And what am I supposed to tell him? — Laura asked, her arms in jars.

—Tell him to leave us alone! — Oscar snapped, for the first time with a trace of frustration and fear in his voice, —to forget about us, that I will give him everything he wants.— He put his hands on his daughter's shoulders and for the first time in her life, Laura could see her father crying with despair. —Don't let him harm Eva, she's the only thing I have left from your mother!

Her father turned away from her. He was trying to pull himself together and Laura gave him time. She stood still, silent, watching the sunset, feeling the wood of the railing under the palm of her hand and the ground under her feet. She felt gravity pulling on her, it seemed to her that she was becoming heavier, like a statue made of stone, stuck in the middle of that landscape, wandering with her mind free from the bonds of time, trying to somehow reconnect with that child.

"Where are you?”

CHAPTER 30

Aminarti felt bad about himself. Each time he was careless, remorse tortured his soul and caused him to involuntarily roll over in bed. His head ached every time he thought of Jonah, but the worst thing was the pain in his heart.

He wondered if he shouldn't had been more honest with him when the time came. Had he told him the truth soon enough, maybe he would have stayed by his side.

But he could never stop seeing him as the child he took in so many years ago; and whenever reason dictated, or Jonah tried to force the situation so he could openly discuss his past, he backed off, almost out of inertia.

Jonah asked him many questions, particularly at the beginning, when the waters calmed down and he was confident enough. But gave up over time, surely discouraged by his evasive answers, he said to himself. But those questions came back to him by surprise the year before, as if he had kept them hidden in his memory, crouched and waiting for a new opportunity during all those years.

Aminarti froze, and his renewed evasiveness deeply disappointed Jonah. It was too much for him, he could not treat him as an adult and ended up choosing to protect him, isolating him from his past, lying to him. Hebert didn't prepare him for that. Counseling with the teacher ended shortly before Jonah's 18th birthday, and with it, much of his initial educational program. From then on, Aminarti went into seclusion with the boy. The good news is that by that time Jonah had grown accustomed to their isolation, even embracing the tranquility that it provided.

The kid studied voraciously. His innate learning ability and curiosity fascinated Aminarti. Passionate about that hunger for knowledge, he spent his days expanding and adapting his academic program, enhancing it with travels, always on the move, always under cover.

For Aminarti was suspicious of the sudden disappearance of the Harperin Corporation. When he was told about it by his superior, he scorned it without any consideration, he was sure that it was a ruse. His instinct remained alert for years, for he sensed that they had not disappeared; within himself he was convinced that they had simply learned to be better at hiding.

However, times were changing, and those ideas born from the friction between modernism and postmodernism of the 1960s and 1970s were diluted in the collective memory, covered by layers and layers of unbridled consumerism, programmed forgetfulness, nihilism and clever slogans devised to shape the masses.

But wasn't that ultimately part of their plan?

He himself overheard it from the mouth of one of Harperin’s most fervent supporters in an exclusive and limited forum that he attended long ago, a series of conferences that he had always kept very much in mind. In these talks, they were told, twenty years before they happened, many of the events that ended up transpiring. They outlined sociological tendencies and a subtle conspiracy theory for which, according to the speaker, they had the solution.

Before his surprised audience, that man began to unravel part of his daring project, a nonsensical melange of new age and technology, aimed at becoming an alternative to a society that, according to them, left out of control would end up perishing, poisoned by its own past, and consumed by its voracity, mainly because of certain genetic branches that they were sure they could eradicate.

Mocking smiles were emerging here and there among the audience, not more than thirty people in a small but comfortable room of the Millennium Plaza Hotel near the United Nations. Minutes passed and many of them left the room as the speaker finished his odd presentation.

But Aminarti remained seated until the end, not because he agreed with what that man was defending, but because something he heard reminded him of a strange private conversation he had in his youth with someone who left a mark on him and passed away very soon afterwards:

—We must be careful, Lorenzo— that venerable and burly patriarch confided to him in a whisper —science will bring dangers, but it will also be the awakening of man to a new consciousness. It is in our hands to guide the flock towards the divine light of the Lord, and to feed them with the nourishment of Faith, for there are already others who will want to take advantage of the events by trying to twist the first ones capable of sight, as it happened with our Lord.

The things he heard that day with reverence and a certain amazement, since he was supposed to just walk in, kiss the Pope's hand and receive his blessing because of his studies, acquired a disturbing meaning in that conference years later.

He remained in the shadow and listened.

When there were only six people left in the room and the speaker had distilled most of his script, the final phrase of his presentation did not go unnoticed by Aminarti.

"We shall be vigilant, and we shall know to be grateful for your collaboration and help, but don't wait until much later, for then you won't be able to find us".

He recalled that as he left the room he thought that this man was making a mistake in his approach, his whole presentation seemed too much of a bluff for a high tech investor's broker; but it was the seventies, and in certain forums, the dreamy euphoria of the previous decade had already given way to a harsh and ruthless commercial pragmatism towards utopias, even though mainstream society was still immersed in other types of movements.

It was not easy to live in his mind; Father Aminarti justified himself by trying to redirect his thoughts.

Chances in life made that child cross his path.

He received a phone call of high influence from London, which suddenly released him from his duties and urged him to move immediately to Nice.

The voice on the other side argued to his initial protests that his work as a researcher for the Vatican and his familiarity with the activities of the Harperin Corporation had placed him at the top of the list.

Once there, his interlocutor continued, he was to meet with Professor Hebert, an eminent psychiatrist from Sophia Antipolis University and a secular member of the Congregation, who would provide him with a background on the case, a difficult child from an important Spanish family whom he would have to tutor for a while, until the Congregation decided on what to do next.

The voice stressed that the Harperin Corporation should not be named in any of the conversations with the child's family. They should know as little as possible.

Aminarti left his beloved residence in Castello Bianca and traveled to Nice somewhat upset since he had no experience with children.

The meeting with Professor Hebert was brief due to the circumstances, because the child was already on his way and it was important to take care of him as soon as possible. Even so, Aminarti was fascinated from the first moment by the story he read in the dossier that Hebert gave him about the kid.

An orphan, with a twin sister, both born to a couple who died in strange circumstances. Legally adopted by the patriarch of an eminent Spanish family. Both suffering from a strange deficiency. Symptoms: growth retardation, weakened immune system against certain viruses... the boy displays extreme intelligence and... clairvoyance?

Father Aminarti turned an inquisitive eye to the professor.

—Keep reading, please,— Hebert encouraged him.

On the next page was a chart with the results of the tests the professor had given the twins on a previous occasion in Madrid. The foster parents apparently discovered it by chance.

—The adoptive family contacted me when they detected the child's abilities. As you can see, I was very meticulous in my choice of tests— Hebert presumed.

Aminarti kept going over the report. It detailed the possible ramifications of Jonah's abilities, which were incipient and somewhat clumsy, but extremely unusual. He learned from the report that Hebert was taking it very seriously, even glimpsing some personal ambition in his notes, something that made him become a bit defensive.

—And what did happen now?

—A rather unpleasant family incident. It seems that the child got out of hand and almost caused his stepmother to miscarry.

—Damn! — Aminarti exclaimed in surprise as he finished looking through the folder —a tragic story.

—Certainly, but there is also an opportunity here— the professor cautiously offered, quickly recoiling at Aminarti's frown —don't get me wrong, I think this child may hold many unsettling and challenging responses to current psychiatry and neurology, and I think it's tremendously positive to have the opportunity to channel all of those capacities toward constructive and, of course, more positive ends for the child.

—I noticed your ring when we shook hands,— Aminarti warned him, —I sincerely believe that you should consult your confessor and make the necessary soul searching,— an uncomfortable silence ensued. —As long as the child is in my care, I will not allow you or anyone else to victimize him or share in such delusions of grandeur. This family has suffered enough,— he concluded, pointing to the folder.

—Forgive me, Father, I tried to talk to you from a scientific standpoint, colleague to colleague, but it won't happen again.

—No problem,— Aminarti smoothed, —when do we expect the child?

—They'll be here late this afternoon. If it' s okay with you, I'll meet them first, since the child knows me, and then I'll introduce him to you.

Aminarti remembered the first time he saw Jonah as if it were yesterday. That little boy with his fuzzy pitch-black hair stole his heart instantly. Jonah was still in a state of shock when he came into the office to meet him, but he still approached him looking for shelter under his arm as soon as he saw him. The warmth of his little hands totally disarmed him.

This touched Aminarti and made him promise to take care of him with his life if necessary, confronting whoever was needed.

He did not leave him again. The very thought of doing so was intolerable.

And now that all this had finally happened, having him away was just unbearable for him. He missed him so much, Jonah was his whole life.

Aminarti turned around in his bed and tried to sleep.