Do UFOs Exist?

— Why not? Go on, go on, it was because you did not stop — Peter said, very interested in the conversation.

— No way! — said the taxi driver, smiling —. For not having taken the handkerchief out the window, to warn that it was an emergency.

— And that was it? And they didn’t forgive you? — I asked, puzzled, because I understand that in such circumstances, you can raise your hand a little.

— No, sir, because they told me, that if we, the professionals behind the wheel, do not follow the rules, who is going to comply with them? Next time, I had to remember the rules so that this does not happen again. Luckily, it did not happen anymore. Well, until now, you never know what happens on a day-to-day life, because each one presents itself differently.

— And how could you not have looked for something calmer? — my friend suddenly asked the taxi driver.

— But what do you tell me? This is vocation, and not everyone has it. What would I do in a store or an office all day? It would be impossible for me, as my wife says, “You spend the whole day in the taxi. Can´t you ever rest?”

— Well, she’s right, because driving in the city has its problems, and doing it every day must be tremendous — Peter said very seriously.

— Well, depending on how you look at it, I’ve had five kids. Well, now they are older, but when they were little, there was no one who could be at home. When I did not have one of them crawling on my legs, there was another crying, because he wanted his bottle, and look at it. I can be working in the taxi as many hours as you want, but children, I have no patience, what will I do? — The man was saying entertainingly, as if he were with two friends, as he continued driving.

— Hey sir! Where are we going? — I asked him at that time, since we were going through a factory that I had never seen in my life.

— I’ve already asked the gentlemen, if they let me choose where to go — he replied, smiling at me —. You know, so many years in this, one knows the shortcuts and as I have been told that you are in a hurry, that is why I have taken this road. The landscape is not very beautiful because it is the industrial area, and people do not usually come here for a walk because they do not know this place, but we shorten a few kilometers and that is what matters to us at the moment.

— There is one thing I would like to do if we have a little time left — I told them.

— The what? — Peter asked, puzzled —. How do you say that we will have plenty of time if we don´t have enough time?

— Well, I’ll have a coffee, even if it’s fast, since I haven’t had breakfast yet, and I am noobody without the morning coffee, but well, I’ll try to hold on as much as possible.

— You are one of mine! — said the taxi driver, laughing —. I understand you. It would be good for me to have one too. As soon as I see a gas station, while we fill the tank, that I don’t want to stay on the road due to lack of provisions, we take it, do you think?

— Sure! Let´s do what you say as you are the boss, that’s why you have the wheel.

Already silent, we had been more than half an hour, when suddenly the driver said:

— Get ready!

I, who was half asleep, asked him absent-mindedly:

— Prepare for what? Have we arrived there? How long have I fallen asleep?

— No! — said the man, laughing out loud —. Arrived? Get ready to have a coffee, that soon we have a stop to refuel.

We got to the gas station, and the three of us got off. The taxi driver kept ordering the gasoline and we went to the cafeteria.

— Ask me for a single long one! — we heard him say loud to us to listen.

— Okay! — Peter said, turning around.

We entered the gas station´s cafeteria, it seemed that all the drivers had agreed to stop for coffee, because the bar was full of people, so we stayed in a second row waiting for our turn. We saw that the taxi driver who entered was going to the end of the bar, and he was waving at us. When we arrived he had already asked for his coffee and the waiter was leaving to put it on, but he said:

— Wait! Put something on these two friends too.

We both ask the same thing, so as not to complicate matters, and we wait, while the man said:

— This place is for drivers, so we don’t have to wait that long — and he almost ran away.

The waiter came with the three coffees. We looked at each other and after paying for them, we went to a table, to be a little wider. After a while the taxi driver returned saying:

— Excuse me, but I have gone to call a relative of mine, to tell her not to wait for me to eat. She has always told me “Honey, if you are not going to come to eat on time, let me know so I do not put your food in the table, which then gets cold”.

CHAPTER III.

Eating a sandwich, sitting quietly under the shade of that big tree, I began to think about how to write the work to present it. I had so much material, but I had to be careful. Don Carlos had already told me, that cold and snowy day, when we had that little chocolate:

— Gomez — he said to me —. I would like you to remain impartial, to be like the pointer of a balance, who is not involved in the weigh and that is just a witness.

I was very surprised by his request, and he clarified:

— This is the reason for the meeting. I have spoken to some of your colleagues, personally as well as alone, as I am doing right now with you. Well, the truth is that with nobody I have had anything as delicious as this, and suddenly raising his arm, he called the waiter that way.

— Please, have another round for us? — he said smiling.

The waiter was surprised and asked:

— What are you saying? I don’t understand you.

— Yes, please, this is delicious, give each one another.

I looked at him as if to say “I haven’t finished yet” but well, I kept quiet and didn’t say anything, he was the teacher and therefore the boss.

— Don’t tell me that it is not going well for you. Tone your body! And since we still have a little time to talk, another chocolate will be very good for us.

— Whatever you say, Don Carlos — I said, smiling.

— Of course, that’s why I’m the teacher. What are you going to say?

Addressing the waiter, who at that moment approached our table with a tray on which he brought the two steaming cups of chocolate, he said:

— Do you see how the students are happy? When faced with something as exquisite as this, no one can deny it.

— It seems to me that you are too soft with your students, but the truth is that if I had come across a teacher who had treated me like that perhaps I wouldn’t have been here right now.

— What are you saying? I don’t understand you — Don Carlos asked the waiter.

— Yes, look, I would have liked to study, I don’t know, something, but I had a problem. It seems that a teacher disliked me and made my life impossible, in such a way that at one point I said to my father, “I quit, this thing about books is not for me”, and there was no way to make me change my mind, and my father, who heard my refusal to continue studying, put me to work. Of course I think he did it so that I realized how hard work is, standing all day, and serving clients, who sometimes are not at all nice. I say, we all have problems, but why treat clients in a bad way? As is the waiter, who is serving you as he knows best.

— Well, what else happened? — Don Carlos asked curiously.

— Well, instead of leaving it when I should have, the sun came through the door one rainy afternoon — the waiter was saying.

— What? I don’t understand — asked the professor again.

— Look, it was in the month of March, and it was raining, as some say. It seems that “The sky is going to fall”, what a way to pour rain! Well, the fact is that at a certain moment it opened the door, I think like today, that no one had dared to go outside, and as you have done, even if it snowed, she had no choice but to go out despite the rain, well, I don’t want to go on.

— Yes, but, tell us, tell us! — Don Carlos said impatiently —. Don’t leave us like this.

— Well, when the doorbell rang, I turned my head to see who had dared to take a good soak that afternoon, and there she was standing, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Well, and not to get involved, I will tell you that she is my wife.

— But tell us. How was it? How are you going to leave us like this? As you have started and you don’t have much work, tell us.

The waiter was surprised, and even more when Don Carlos separating the chair next to him, he invited him to sit with us. The man asked shyly:

— Do you really want me to sit down?

— Sure, he has to finish the story for us, he’s not going to leave it halfway. If I leave now, I’m sure I will not sleep tonight — and he laughed out loud —. Come on man, tell us about it.

The waiter sat there next to us, after having looked at the bar, seeing that no one needed him. I think he had not remembered at the time that we were his only customers, and after a deep inspiration he continued saying that that woman was going down the street and a gust of strong wind ripped the umbrella from her hands and she could not retrieve it, and as she saw the amount of water which was falling at that time, she decided to get into the first place he found, and it was here, through that door.

It was almost time to close the bar, and he offered to accompany her with his umbrella, so as he had only one, he could not give it to her, since he also needed it. As he told us, they were talking there for a long time, until the bar closed and then he took her to her house, and it is known, the rain, the spring, all that continued to come out and today they are a happy marriage, with four little kids.

— And that made you stop studying? As you said before that your father wanted — Don Carlos asked again, showing great interest.

— Well, partly yes, I thought about it a lot, believe me. If I took the books, and left all this, I would not even have a girlfriend, and if I continued working, the financial independence I had, could make me think about starting a family.

— And wouldn’t you have lived better with a career later? — asked the professor again.

— Yes, I’m sure of it, that’s why I have decided that the day my children are at my age, they won’t leave books for nothing until they have a good future. I have that thorn nailed. My father wanted me to be a lawyer, and you see what things are, even if you do not believe me, I do not regret it. If I had not been behind this bar, because it was right here, I would not have met my wife and I don’t even want to think about that.

Don Carlos, who had been very interested, in all the time that that man had told his story, suddenly asked him:

— And why did your father want you to be a lawyer and not something else?

— Well — said the waiter in response —. It is that he is that, a good lawyer, who tried, working hard, saw that it was more comfortable to study, but due to life circumstances, it seems that the plan went wrong. Although he is very happy with his grandchildren, he always tells them to study.

<<<<<>>>>>

Conclusions, studies, research… I do not know very well how to start, but I have no choice but to do it. I do not want another day to pass. I know it is the most difficult thing, but I will leave the heading for later, and we will see what it is what fits when everything is finished.

First I think that I should be putting everything as it has been developing. It is not that it has nothing to do with one thing, but I am not going to mess around too much and then nobody will understand it.

I have notes, many notes that I have been selecting, but now that I see them here on the table, I don’t know how to take them. There is a small pile of each one of the classmates who have provided them to me, but it does not seem to me that at this moment this is the selection I have to make. I don’t know, I think I’m going to start by times, or perhaps by countries. What a mess, this is not as easy as it seemed at the beginning.

When we started the work, I thought that all I would have to do would be just take some notes from the meetings we scheduled to exchange information.

I trusted that it would be only that, and when they proposed that it be me who wrote down the things, I said yes.

I thought that everything was going to be easier and that it wouldn’t take much time, but now when I see all the material that I have around here, I haven’t even made up my mind the number of hours that I spent to it, but surely, if I had invested it in studying a subject, they would have had no mark to put on me, what I would know about it. One has to see! When you like something, you spend time and time, and you don’t even realised.

<<<<<>>>>>

Well, I´m sitting here and determined to finish the work today…

— The phone! — I heard my mother say.

Leaving everything I have run down the hall to pick it up, to see who it was.

— Are you Mr. Gomez? The one looking for information about UFOs — a male voice asked through the thread, showing indecision.

— Who? — I said, surprised.

— But is it you or not? — he asked me again.

— Well yes, but I’d like to know. Who am I talking to? — I said again.

— Look, I was given your phone number and if you don’t mind I would like to tell you something. I suppose when you hear it you will be interested. Do you have a moment?

— Here? Now? — I asked surprised, everything seemed so strange to me.

— Yes, of course, or are you busy? — the man was saying to me through the device.

— No, no, I was saying it for you, it is so unusual, a thing like this — I answered, still quite puzzled.

— Look, I know that these things don’t happen very often, but there are people who insist that everything is white, or black, and sometimes we jump to conclusions.

— But what are you talking about? Please speak more clearly, otherwise I don’t understand you. I don’t even know what you’re referring to — I said, beginning to think that this was a joke.

— Look, sit down, I’m going to tell you something, and then you’ll decide if you’re interested or not — said that guy, and I noticed in his voice that he was saying it very seriously.

— Well, I’m already sitting as you asked me, you can start that I’m all ears — I replied, but I thought “If I do not understand him, or he says nonsense, I’ll hang up and that’s it.”

— Look, when I was a kid, I would have been about five years old, one night a noise woke me up, I was curious as I think all children are. I got out of bed and as I approached the window to have a look, I saw a big shadow suddenly on one of the walls of my room. Imagine how scared I was! And I have nothing more to tell you. I ran to get into bed again, and cover my head with my clothes, and stay very, very still, so that whatever it was did not know that I was there.

He paused for a moment, it seemed to me that it was to get air. I remained waiting.

— Is it still there? — he asked me.

— Sure, sure — I replied.

— Well, since I don’t want to extend this more than I should, I will tell you the same thing that others also saw it, and as we were getting older, it happened from time to time. One night something strange was heard, that certainly I can not tell you what it was, and then that terrifying shadow. Rumours has already started to spread around the place, and all of us who knew it were terrified, and I say that those of us who knew it, because it seems that not everyone had seen it, and when someone who had not seen it found out of course made fun of it. Only those who had seen him could talk about it. It was like a secret between us, because when we talked more and told each other about our experience, it turned out that we all saw it the same night. Later we realized that it was the same night but not the same time.

— Did everyone see that shadow? — I asked quietly, when he was silent again.

— Well, you already know what these things are, we didn’t have an explanation, but of course I don’t know where it would come from. I do tell you that, about the age of 23, it began to be said that if it was an alien who visited us from time to time, and since no one had seen him, it would be invisible, yes, we listened very well, and we all agreed in which the alien always came in the nights of full moon.

— The moon? What does the moon have to do with it? — I asked him, but he didn’t seem not to have heard me and continued with his story.

— As I don’t want to tire you, I will tell you that this was an open secret for all of us, that no one knew what it was, but that all of us who had seen it were terrified by that strange fact.

— Well, did anyone ever see him? What was it? — I said to the man, who looked like he finished.

— As I tell you, many years passed and nothing, we see it from time to time, and then nothing, nobody knew anything else, until that night was different.

— Different? How? What happened? — I asked him, he was really intrigued.

— When I got home I realized that the moon was full, and I didn’t even want to have dinner. In my bedroom, I made sure that the window was tightly closed. What is more, I even move the wardrobe to put it in front of it so that I could cover it better, but not with those. They would be, well no, they were, for sure, because I looked at the clock, I remember it perfectly as if it were right now. It was five past two, something woke me up, although I was afraid, I think it had been tiredness that had made me sleep a lot, and I must have been sleeping for a while. Well, a roar made me wake up suddenly, and what would not be my surprise that I saw the wardrobe fallen on the floor. That had been the noise that had woken me up and the window was wide open.

— And had someone entered? What happened? — I asked, interrupting him.

— Well, the shadow was there reflected on the wall. With a jump I got out of bed and got under it. I don’t know, it would be due to a preservation instinct, because when I think about it, it was absurd, I couldn’t escape it, but in an instant I saw, because of course, in spite of where I was, I didn’t lose sight of that, as I say in an instant I saw it disappear. I stood still for a moment, thinking, to see if it has changed of place, but as nothing happened, I stuck my head out to get a better view of the whole room and saw that it was no longer anywhere, so I dared to come out of my hiding place. I went to the window, and there in the distance I could see how a UFO was moving away, of course, it was not a dream, nor anything a product of my fear. I am sure that I saw it, all turned on like the lights of a fair, because they were colored, they were yellow and green, and they did not stop blinking. What do you think?

— And what do you want me to say? And have you seen him again?

— No, that was the last time that the shadow was in my room, and since then, it’s as if it knew that I wasn’t going to see it anymore and my fear disappeared. I think it had been close all these years, and that day it came to say goodbye.

— And the others who told me they also saw it, what happened to them?

— Well, the same. That night was the last time they saw it. It has never returned to our lives, in fact, since we have seen that it no longer appeared, we have stopped having contact with each other. I think we all want to forget those episodes and erase them as if they hadn’t happened.

— And what motivated you to trust me all this? If you don’t know me — I asked, since the truth is that I was quite confused with the whole thing.

— Well, life goes around many times and a family member is studying with you and has told me about the work they have been given, and although that family member does not know anything about what I have told you, but well, that does not matter, I will tell you that telling him has been useful in terms of therapy. I think I will never fear anything, thank you very much, goodbye.

— Wait, you haven’t even told me your name.

But he didn’t answer me anymore, he had hung up. I stayed there for a while next to the phone, I don’t know, waiting for him to call again, but I never heard from that person again. I never thought he was telling me a lie. When you invent something, you don’t have those feelings, nor do you manifest it that way, and it’s not that I’m an expert, but I think he was sincere.

<<<<<>>>>>

I had been a long time without sleeping, the nerves of the trip, which I had to undertake tomorrow, did not leave me. It was the first time that I was going to move from home. There were only three classmates to go to that place. I was not very convinced, but at the last moment I decided to go with them, because they encouraged me saying:

— We can tell you everything we see, but such an experience can be fantastic.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I can’t believe that we are going to see anything, because one thing is to do something for a class assignment, and quite another to go, from the mere fabulation of some possible events, to witness them. Of course, deep down I don’t think we are going to be able to see anything, it would be a coincidence, I say, because if all that were so easy, there would be many more who would have seen it.

Suddenly I said to myself “I’m going to go back to review the things I have. I don’t know if I have everything.”

I know it was just an excuse to get out of bed, I needed to justify myself. That strange performance, nerves, as if I were a kid. How old I am now. I think I would have to know how to master them better, but what if we really saw something? What would happen ? How could we later explain it? And also how could I continue to be impartial? as Don Carlos had asked me.

Because, I say, it is easy not to take part in something when nothing has been seen. One asks oneself, what if they lie? What if they are their imaginations? But if something has been seen, even if it is rare and others do not believe it, it will be easy to assume that they exist.

In the living room I was looking at the things I was going to take with me, when my mother appeared out the door.

— But what are you doing that you’re not sleeping? Don’t you have a trip tomorrow? Well, you have to rest, otherwise you will not be wide awake.

— Mother! — I asked her —. And what are you doing? I don’t think I made any noise to wake you up.

— No, it wasn’t that, but do you think I don’t know when you get up? I know you’re going barefoot, so that even the noise of the shoes won’t wake me up. Well come on, put that down and go to bed and sleep.

— But I can’t, I don’t know what happens to me, I just go round and round and can’t sleep, and I’m going to check if I’m missing something.

— What do you want to check? What do you want to check? Surely you already have everything you need. Come on, come to the kitchen, I’ll warm you up a little milk and you’ll see how you sleep.

And after finishing telling me, she took me by the arm and almost dragged me into the kitchen with her and there we both had a glass of warm milk, with a teaspoon of honey, which, according to her, was good to help sleep well.

— Thanks mom! — I said —. Let’s see if you fall asleep now. If not, you are going to be like a zombie all day.

— And how are you going to be? I’m sure you’ll spend the whole trip sleeping. What a company that you are going to give to your colleagues, they will say that “If you went alone to sleep, you better would have stayed in your house”.

— Well, so that I don’t bother you.

— But well, did you want to disturb them? If you do that, I don’t think they will want to take you more times.

— I think that they are not going to need to tell me. I am not going to go anymore, and in fact I am almost thinking that I should not go now either, what do you think if I appear at the appointment place and tell them that I’m not going?

— Come on. If I could be the one, I would not think twice. I would take my things and start, but you, I don’t know what’s wrong with you son, you never encourage yourself to do anything.

— Well, you are very determined, but I’m not like you, what are you going to do! Each one is as it is.

— But son, if it’s just going to a place, and trying to see what happens, don’t tell me it’s not interesting?

— Hey, why don’t you go and tell me later?

— Come on, joker! Leave that and go to sleep. The warm milk is going to start to work for you, we’ll talk on the way back. Yes, do not think I would not have liked to go with you. I hope that when you return you will tell me everything that has happened, so be very attentive and do not miss anything. But well, let’s not talk anymore, go to sleep! The night passes quickly, and the sun rises right away and before you know it you have to get up.

— Thanks for the milk, and don’t worry, I’ll tell you what happens to us. Well, if we ever get to see something, which I hope not, and kissing her I went to bed.

<<<<<>>>>>

Going up the stairs, I was thinking “What if he doesn’t want to receive us?” And quietly I asked Peter:

— What do we do? Shall we continue?

— What’s wrong? Why are you afraid? Nothing happens, trust me! Only if he wants to, will he tell us anything, we are not going to force him — he was answering, smiling, trying to make me feel relaxed.

— No, if it´s not that — I said again —. But all this seems strange to me. First he tells us to leave him alone, and then he insists that we come to his house, what will he want? I don’t see it very clearly, really.

— Look, there are two of us, and I don’t think he’s going to do us anything wrong. We have treated him with respect, and although when we introduced ourselves we were not welcomed with open arms, nor did we do anything to change his mind, and look at his insistence on this visit. The truth is that I do not know what he wants to teach us. He was very clear to us, he has never found anything that would make him change his mind, as he told us there is nothing new, we are alone in the universe, and that is demonstrable.

— Yes Peter, I agree with all that, but tell me then, why is the insistence that we come to see you at your house? I don’t understand.

— Well, since I think we have few steps left to get to your door, we’ll check it out right away — he answered quietly.

— Does he sound like a legit guy to you? — I asked Peter expectantly at his response.

— Look, dear friend, all people seem good to me, unless they later prove the opposite. Now I can think of something that happened to me, but we don’t have time to tell you, I will do it another day.

And finishing saying this, we saw how the door of the apartment opened. We were about to reach the landing of the stairs, but since we had gone up talking, the man had surely listened to us, because we saw him take half his body out and said:

— Hello, I was waiting for you, come in! — And he entered without even waiting for us to reach his door.

The corridor was dark. The afternoon had gradually given way to the night, and that man must not have realized that we did not know the place, so I inadvertently stumbled across a table that was there and I knocked it, and the man when he heard me said:

— Excuse me, how careless I am! — And then the light came on.

In the few meters left to walk, until I reached the door where he was standing, I could see the wall of that long corridor, covered in green, with bouquets of white flowers from time to time, but what caught my attention was the great collection of squares that I had at the height of my face. They were photos of people, I don’t know if they would be family members, they were framed with a fine black frame and I thought “They won’t forget it” and we arrived at the door of the living room.

— Come in! You are at home — he said at that time.

The two of us passed by and I was amazed, or at least I was the one who showed it the most. Peter also looked at the surroundings there, but he didn’t say anything. I couldn’t shut up and exclaimed:

— But what is this?

That place was decorated, how would I say? It is as if we had entered the Universe, the walls and ceiling of that room were the Firmament, with the Sun and the Planets. I was doing nothing more than looking everywhere, it was a strange place, but the truth is that the harmony that it had made it precious. I would never have imagined that this strange guy could have this in his house.

I looked at him and at that moment I saw that he looked back at me, and I saw a smile on his lips.

— Do you like my home? — he asked me —. I am part of the Universe.

I was very quiet. I did not react and Peter replied immediately:

— We are all part of it.

— Yes, but some of us feel more interested than others, who look for complications where there are none. Why do we need to know if in those places — and he pointed to the other planets — Is there life? The important thing is that here there is — and he pointed to Earth again. And our obligation is that that life is the best possible.

The time we spent with that man, we were listening to a series of theories that he must have already thought about them, because never did he even stop to breathe. He told us that we all have to live in harmony, leave wars, that only makes us fall behind in our evolutionary stages.

He told us that the more we strive to fight, the more similar we become to the animals that we once were, that, if we thought that we can evolve, we would strive to ask ourselves how to do it, instead of always looking to envy what other people have.

We are unique and unrepeatable. Whether there is life on other planets or not, it is not the important thing, the important thing is that we must stop being animals and evolve.