THE OTHER LOST WARS

About a wandering in his own town

Stormy days and nights, intense pain, fatigue, lack of appetite, cries of despair, insomnia, helplessness, awareness of death that is getting closer and closer, and unable to do anything to stop it; perhaps the last lost battle of the many that Alejo lived, for the "friends", which by the way absent in those fatal hours, "the shadows". So far I don't know for sure why that nickname, perhaps because of its dark skin, perhaps because of its dull life, perhaps because it was always absorbed, perhaps because of its poverty, perhaps because it always went unnoticed; I still remember that on one occasion the “absent friends”, at a village party, they did not realize it until they almost finished the spree, when they left the house they had taken as a canteen, they were walking together and just before dispersing to leave each one to his house, all turned together and said as surprised, addressing the lump of meat in front of you, who are you?, and realizing that it was "the shadows", without waiting for him to articulate any response, they all moved away from the shadow, sorry, of the "shadows."

Everyone started working as a bricklayer during a laundry [1] of a house under construction, "the shadows" like many more of his people, being a "bricklayer" was at most what they could aspire to, he didn't The exception was neither the miracle of overcoming nor fortune. When he threw the can of mescla on his shoulder, he felt a strong pain in his lower belly that bent him completely and made him fall to the ground, without being attended or helped by his companions and patron, the mason master told him to leave that he was already tired of his theaters to not work, and with misogynistic expressions he said that "he needed masons, not little girls."

He barely stood up, and hunched over to his house, which by the way was not very close to the construction site, he had to walk a good few kilometers, almost dying he reached his "sweet" abode, a ragged jacal to about to collapse, there he lived with his mother, an old woman with a deep sadness on his face, who was, at the time that Alejo arrived, washing the dishes, seeing his son enter these conditions and with that faint face, Rauda left his homework and helped his beloved son, helped him in and accommodated him on a cot like every self-sacrificing little mother, who, by the way, is slowly becoming scarce, and replaced by castrating and phallic mothers, who prefer look at themselves, and others as mirrors to continue looking at themselves; this was like those of before, pious Christian, who find in their grief the only possibility of salvation.

Isabelita affectionately asked him what was wrong with him, Alejo could hardly tell him his odyssey and ailment, Isabel immediately went to the village pharmacy, which, as always, is the town shop, where they can find the odd pain reliever and flu shot, "Heals them all" of the poor, substitutes for alcohol and the fan, "reflection of modernity", even causing the loss of the use of home remedies, which in many cases were more affective to cure some ailments, but Isabelita only He even thought about going to the store to bring a paracetamol.

On the way back, that by the way, the store was not around the corner, Isabelita had to walk several blocks, and with the paracetamol wrapped with her little hands wrinkled and discarded by the intense days of "washing someone else's" [2], he took care of the paracetamol with such devotion as if he brought the very virgin of Guadalupe in his hands, when he got home he immediately gave it to Alejo, and he shivering cold and wrapped in a thin sheet, took it as the one who took the Last breath of air before drowning, a few minutes passed, and the paracetamol capsule began to work, and Alejo fell asleep.

I'm talking about it being a Monday, it started the week, and for Alejo that was fatal because there were still days left to collect his line (salary), which this time unfortunately would never come. His job as a "bricklayer's assistant" was temporary and did not include medical insurance, any type of social security or work benefits, much less solidarity, since his employer never came to see him during his crossroads even though "the shadows" referred to to him with a lot of familiarity, it seems that he was his aunt Gertrudis' lover, Don Octaviano was the classic town gallant with wife and children and fixed lovers, and the occasional ones he recruited in his frequent revelry.

The town of Alejo belongs to a municipality in a metropolitan area called Xallapan, there are 7 municipalities and about 595,043 people inhabit it. A geographical area of ​​an unusual natural beauty, and with exquisite cuisine; It was part of the path of conquest, and in the past centuries, a place of rest for its humid and cool climate for the potentates, and currently, seat of the lay and religious powers.

Despite the mundane and divine benefits that metropolitan area looks very poor and impoverished, without long-term social, economic and cultural development; currently living in an apocalyptic era of struggle for political and criminal power, which has long since ceased to be a safe and cheerful place. Ensimismado and paranoicos wanders its population seeking to find in each unknown a possible threat to their livelihood and well-being, and except in the area called pompously historical and the exclusive colonies of the well-off and potent: entrepreneurs, politicians, third-party intellectuals, and one another casting [3], security bodies can be perceived by monitoring order and decency.

After midnight, Alejo wakes up sweating and again feeling a strong pain in the same place of the body, tries to rise without achieving it, and prefers to endure the pain and scream so as not to disturb his dear little mother, he writhes in his cot , until you achieve a position that allows you to cope with your ordeal. The memories of his human life came between tears of helplessness and helplessness, and once again he did not realize that he spoke muttering loud words, wanting to change his reality, and to have another chance to be happy, be healthy and give his mother, little satisfaction he had never given them, like when he was little and promised that when he was an adult and working he would make a house with a huge garden and a bathroom inside the house, because all his life he had made his physiological needs in a bathroom that was at the bottom of the patio, without light, without roof, there were only three walls and a quilt that served as a door and a broken toilet, so even going to the bathroom was a real ordeal and more at night.

I didn't know that the current issues were about organized crime, extradition and prosecution in the United States of Chapo, the rebellion of their children in Sinaloa, the coup in Bolivia, the death of the LeBarón family in Chihuahua, the Asylum of Evo , the US trade fight against China, and if he knew that, he didn't care, for he knew perfectly well that it would not change his destiny and his suffering, that he was in a country with an immense chasm between the immense poor majority, and the poor and fortunate, a country overwhelmed by colonization, by living near the main promoter and driver of wild neoliberalism that has the world in deep social injustice, and the traumatic orphanhood of its people.

Almost at dawn he managed to fall asleep, and he fell asleep again, he looked like a newborn offspring, even giving the impression that he was healthy and in perfect shape, his face was pierced by a ray of light that filtered through the slits of the wooden window, which made him look like an Arab monarch, with his aquiline nose, challenged anyone who said he was not proud to be a lucky human being just for being alive, the truth was inside his body, evil grew and fed on the collapse of his immune system, that pain in the lower belly was just the tip of the iceberg, the terrible thing about his health was hidden and raging.

Isabel got up, as is her custom, early, and the first thing she did on this occasion was to go see her offspring, who, by the way, was the only one who had procreated with a guy who as soon as she got pregnant abandoned her to her Luckily, this means that Alejo grew up without a father, with a mother who, no matter how much he wanted, could not give him another destiny than the one he lacked. Upon entering the room he finds him sound asleep, so he tiptoes out trying to make as little noise as possible, and goes to the laundry area, not to think it was an area with a washer and dryer, but simply with a “bat of concrete to wash clothes ”, where a lot of dirty clothes from the neighbor were piled up, who, for their night work, could not wash it, so he would better pay for that job literally some pesos to Mrs. Isabelita.

After noon Isabel decides to wake Alejo, and offer him what he has to eat, which are beans and a couple of tortillas, he finds his son with his eyes wide open without blinking, as if plunged into a deep philosophical reflection or a Mystical ecstasy, neither one nor the other, Alejo was drowning with his own saliva, with effort he managed to cough and eat something. He told him that he would have to go see the doctor, but the town's social medical clinic was there, but without medicines or a doctor, so they gave up both of that first attempt to be treated by a medical professional, and Isabelita chose to go for another pair of paracetamol capsules, and return them to your stem.

Thus came the night of that day, and Alejo increasingly pale and emaciated, it was noted that his situation was getting worse and that the happy ending was not close could not even be glimpsed, he tried to sleep again, and how he knew that diametrically how his ailment was the growth of the suffering of mother when seeing him in that situation, he chose because every time his mother approached him, he pretended to sleep deeply and had no pain, even if inside he wanted to squirm and scream for the pain of his belly . Thus came the moment when Isabel's snoring indicated that it was no longer necessary to hide, and Alejo let out all his suffering, writhed in the intense pain he felt and repressing not shouting so loudly so as not to wake his mother, he cursed the Day I was born Now he suffered, and he remembered that all his life he had suffered, that there was no memory of gratitude and happiness, only hardships and shortcomings, only loneliness and sadness, except for "trustful drunkenness" (those he could achieve by approaching "his friends" and taking advantage of "shadow" condition), which doped it and was a good antidote against the pain of life, had not found another way to avoid reality, and knew that it was not the only one, although that thought did not take away anything from its suffering Well, it was his suffering, his lightness, his viacrucis, his history, his destiny, it was his story that he could not share or feel with anything or anyone. I do not know why he did not take advantage of this condition of going unnoticed, even making it a virtue, of feeling proud of being a nobody, of cheating and facing life without prejudice, of being a connoisseur, even a professional of the "shadow", a hero. There came a time that he fainted from the intense pain, being almost on the edge of the cot collapsed and fell to the ground, and made enough noise to wake his dear little mother. Who, when he went to his room and saw him lying down, shouted in pain and regret, without this preventing him from helping him, he raised it as he could and tenderly cost it again on his cot, he gave him cold water cloths, kisses and maternal caresses, He cried rivers, and helplessly thought he was dead.

Later, he saw him regain consciousness, told him that he was going to seek help to take him to the Center for High Knowledge of Medical Health (ALCOSAM) to Xallapan, the only center of specialties to serve that good number of inhabitants of the metropolitan area Do you remember ?, with more than 595,043 inhabitants. This was a vile and absurd post-colonial, post-revolutionary, post-modern, post-civilized nonsense, which was absurd and cruel that a “Democratic State” would not have been able to build and enable sufficient Medical Areas for its inhabitants of that metropolitan area, to achieve Municipalities work together to improve the living conditions of their peoples, take advantage of their secular and divine benefits. But that doesn't matter now, how true it was Alejo's only option to "save his life."

Poor Isabelita went terrified to seek help to take Xallapan to the dying Alejo, her only child, her firstborn to whom it seemed that God was asking for her in sacrifice to prove her faith, Isabel just like Abraham desperately sought the sign of her salvation, without find her by knocking on the door behind the doors of the neighbors without opening one, in the end she decided, in awe of her anguish, to go see the guy who got her pregnant and who abandoned her to her fate, and with it sealed Alejo's fate. He still lived in the village, with another family and with other children, arrived at the door of his house and without hesitation he knocked hard, after several attempts to be heard, he stumbled and still slept a son of Paul, although everyone He knew about Pablo's slip with Isabel, his son made it as if he didn't know her, and asked him what he wanted, Isabel also doing that he didn't know them, asked him to tell his father that he needed to help him because his son was dying By the way, he went to Pablo because he was one of the few who had a car in town. A few seconds passed, when Pablo's silhouette was seen in the background heading for the entrance door, swift and without hesitation, he told Isabel to move to look for Alejo. Isabel incredulous obeyed him.

They arrived at Isabel's shack and immediately Pablo went to look for Alejo, settled him in the back seats of the car and headed to the Capital City, on the way it seemed that everything was going back to calm, and that like any happy family Isabel was seen next to Pablo, and behind her little son Alejo. But it was not so, Pablo directly told Isabel that this trip was going to pay him, Pablo was the same shameless and insensitive as always, he didn't care about Isabel and her suffering, nor Alejo and her pains.

The town where Alejo lived belongs to the municipality of Zacuitla, and is relatively close to Xallapan, it is a town with a maximum of 100 houses, with a small chapel where his patron saint San Eulogio is venerated, a few grocery stores, a field that is used as a Sports Unit, where fierce baseball battles are fought, and literally pitched battles of all against all after the celebrations with brandy whether it is won or lost. The route to Xallapan, first demands to reach Zacuitla, takes place on a road with large curves and slopes, which gradually become steeper, during the journey a stream is passed, which fortunately for the dry season, It was almost dry, it was just a trickle of water that slightly wet the worn out tires of Pablo's car. From Zacuitla to Xallapan they are joined by a road with infinite curves, during the day going down that road is a pleasure, clear the day you can see the entire valley of the Capital City, the journey takes no more than about 30 minutes with the road cleared , and as it was night it was the time it took to reach the "blessed" ALCOSAM.

All the kindness of Pablo vanished when he arrived at Emergencies, he took out a lump of Alejo and left it at the entrance, and Isabel without turning to see her, did not even give her a word of encouragement and hope, got into her car and withdrew indifferently from the place, as if telling Isabel, that's your problem! Like when he left her when she was pregnant with Alejo.

Isabel did what she could to open a space between the other lumps that dozed and moaning in pain crammed the emergency entrance of the hospital, and accommodated the best she could to her little Alejito. Then he went to the reception to ask to see his beloved son, in fact, all those patients waiting to be treated were urgent as Alejo. The woman who registered the fallen in the battle of life, indifferent to pain, or accustomed to pain and foul smells that gave off the corridors and walls of the hospital, turned to Isabel and threw a sheet with an infinity of forms to fill out, full name, CURP, address, age, INE, blood type, popular insurance number, etc., and so on. Isabel barely stood, not knowing many of the requested data, and wishing this was a bad dream, a nightmare she was used to, hoping to wake up and continue her daily routine without another outburst. But no, the woman's voice made her wake up, that bureaucratic demand was true, and even necessary and part of Alejo's healing.

How could he fill out the form, even with invented data. He handed it to the woman and she snapped him to wait for her to be called. While Alejo did not move, he only emitted a small and constant moan enough to realize Isabel was living. Almost three days had passed since the beginning of the Calvary of Alejo, his confrontation against Aqueronte was predicted defeat, it is seen that his body succumbed to the evil that afflicted him and his soul was about to leave him, and mercilessly seek another body to take prisoner and Mark it with sorrows and few glories.

That part of the so-called nosocomium occupied two rectangular pieces of approximately 15 meters each space, the waiting room that also made up the part of the entrance, and the emergency area divided by curtains, and arbitrary separations, bringing together patients of all kinds, women about to give birth, children and people injured, or sick with countless infections and ailments. The medical staff, the instruments and medications that are seen to be insufficient to serve the rivers of patients who continued to arrive. The stretchers of the sick even in unsuspected corners were accommodated to wait to be treated. Being in the area outside and inside was the same, it was an apocalyptic spectacle, with gowns half-buttoned, vomiting, excrement, healing material everywhere. Sometimes patients went through the thought that it was better to die more calmly in their own home, however humble, with their own smells, with theirs, with their images and memories, than to die and suffer there, in that pandemonium . But the hope of being saved cushioned and removed those thoughts.

After a good while, Isabel heard her name, and approached the reception desk of the hospital emergency room. Young nurses with a battered wheelchair accelerated as soon as they identified Isabel. And they sat down the dying Alejo. They passed him to the other room, there another young doctor, who perhaps approached them to his residence and asked Isabel what was wrong with Alejo, she told him what he could. The young doctor walked away to another part of the emergency room, and approached another patient.

Alejo regained his consciousness a little, and he could see where he was, on one side a stretcher with an almost naked man who did not move, on the other side another stretcher with a lady about to give birth, further down the hall another three stretchers with sick or injured people, above an intense light that seemed to be in an interrogation room and torture. He closed his eyes, the pain beneath his belly did not stop, and now he didn't even complain, his thoughts were absent and his mind went blank.

Isabel as a good mother at the foot of the canyon, with her son, despite being very shy, at that time I draw strength from weakness and dared to ask a doctor who passed by them, to attend to her son, that his Alejito was dying. The doctor instinctively stopped and took Alejo's embrace to take his pulse, and shouting, he urged the person in charge of that part of the emergency department to attend Alejo, who was entering a respiratory and respiratory stop. As a magic art a swarm of nurses and doctors swirled around the patient, and passed it to a bed and began to revive him. While one ventilated him with a device in his mouth and nose, another massaged his chest, and another nurse gave him injections of not knowing what substances. Until they managed to revive him, slow but his heart beat again and had a rhythm. They took blood, which they sent to the laboratory, the analysis showed that Alejo was anemic and under defenses, the x-rays showed that his internal organs were fine, although a dark part of the lower belly indicated something anomalous, he did a biopsy and it came out that Alejo He had cancer in an advanced state and that, because of his poor diet, lack of medical attention, neglect in general, things looked very bad, they gave him only a very short time to live.

Sorry, Isabel took Alejo's hand tightly and brought it to her chest, as if wanting to breastfeed it, give it life with her life elixir, put it in her womb and save it. Alejo did not live longer than a couple of days, he died at 12 noon on Thursday, November 19, 2019, Isabel alone did not take long to succumb to sadness and lack of appetite, and died the following year.

Alejo could live longer, of that I am sure, taking care of ourselves, protecting each other, Alejo and Isabel are dead who should not have died.

Lupus est homo homini, non homo, quomqualissit non novit (Wolf is the man for the man, and not man, when he does not know who the other is).

[1] The in situ manufacturing of a reinforced concrete slab, whose thickness fluctuates between 8 and 10 cm, and which is reinforced with steel rods, regularly ¾ inch, is called casting.

[2] Wash other people's dirty clothes for a fee.

[3] Enter or sneak or cheat somewhere: sneak into a concert.