#non-fiction, «The Blue Beetle» (Version #2)

THE BLUE BEETLE
There are things from one’s life that one never forgets although one might confuse them with things from one’s dreams. And there are dreams that will turn into indelible memories. That is how we are, magical. We are complex, subtle beings. Sometimes pure of heart, other times quite corrupt. And although we may think of ourselves as the most wondrous beings on Earth, we often are the most horrifying. However, in our defense I would say that we are indomitable searchers possessing an inquisitive soul that never tires of seeking the connection between the profane and the sacred.

What I’m going to tell you is a memory. However, it may be nothing more than a dream. But if it was it came true one day. I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s engraved in my mind. I’ve lived it. It is real and part of me. The events I will share with you belong to me. And if it is a memory, aren’t we a collection of memories?

This Is What Happened in Guatemala City.

I was snug in the arms of Morpheus in the pre-dawn darkness of a Wednesday, February 4, 1976, when precisely at 0301 hours, a violent tremor woke me up as I tumbled from my bed to the floor. Together with the violent shaking a noise, devoured the atmosphere of my room. It seemed like the city was being bombed. I ended up on the floor unable to get up although I tried several times but the shaking made it practically impossible. I looked towards the window and saw the street lamp moving like a reed, then suddenly it went out. Instant blackness, everywhere. But finally the earth stopped trembling. The tremor, which turned out to be a major earthquake, lasted but thirty-three seconds, yet it was an eternity.

My first thought was that the British had attacked Guatemala. You see, in those days Guatemalan President Kjell Eugenio Laugerud Garcia had proclaimed that Belize (previously British Honduras) belonged to Guatemala and had even included Belize in the official map of the Republic of Guatemala. I thought the bombing was payback, but it had been no bombing, it was a 7.5 magnitude (Richter Scale) earthquake that affected the entire country.

But well, let’s get back to what was happening in my room. I got dressed in a snap. Easy because I always leave my clothes ready next to my bed with money and passport in the pockets, just in case. Then I made a beeline towards the front door. I saw that the few neighbours I had were already outside and shivering in the garden. Fear? Cold? Probably both, but it was a cold February night. There were no lights in the entire national territory and for a moment I stopped to admire the millions of stars that in such an orderly fashion vibrated and shone in the sky way above us, while we down here were stumbling through chaos, disorder, and horror. Surreal I thought.

There, in the garden that served as our parking lot, we all gathered to give thanks to God for keeping us safe and sound. No one understood what had happened. I had never felt an earthquake in my life, not even a small tremor during the whole year I had been in Central America. I reckoned this was a new experience for us since we were all foreigners probably from parts where such telluric events do not occur.. But standing there, looking at each other, we knew that the terrifying effects of the earthquake had not yet fully sunk in yet. Now we were surprised and confused, with a lingering question in our minds, will it quake again? Later we would be traumatised and stressed, some of us forever.

Now That You Know What Happened, a Flashback…

I arrived in Guatemala City on Aviateca Airlines of Guatemala, flight number 2 from New Orleans, on the first of February, 1976. Greeting me at La Aurora airport was a co-worker who would take me to my assigned quarters in the neighbourhood of Vista Hermosa No. 2. This was a new development about four kilometres outside the capital city. (I don’t mention the work I went to do in Central America because it has nothing to do with this story).

As luck would have it, I arrived at rush hour and traffic in the capital was not moving. I suggested to my companion that we stop at one of the downtown restaurants, grab a bite to eat, to give the traffic jam a chance to clear up. Besides, Guatemala in those years was full of old cars that emitted so much black smoke that the pollution they caused was unbreathable. It burned your eyes and left a terrible smell on your clothes. So my companion agreed. We parked and then walked a few metres to a restaurant on Seventh Avenue, and if I remember correctly, it was called «Il Focolare.»

We went straight to the bar and ordered two Gallo beers, the most popular brew in Guatemala at the time, and perhaps still to this today. The only other customer in the bar was a well-dressed gentleman, also refreshing himself with a «gallito» (slang term for Gallo beer). The guy must have heard us speaking English, (my companion was Israeli and didn’t speak Spanish), and turned around and introduced himself.

«You have arrived in Guatemala at a bad, but a very bad time.»

I thought he was already a bit cocky, but I was intrigued by that comment he pulled out of thin air.

«How do you know we just arrived in Guatemala?»

“Because I see things and know things that others do not see or know.»

Well I wasn’t in the mood for a drunk so I told my friend that we’d better go sit at a table and have our beers in peace. But my companion, who had much more experience than me, signalled for me to sit and calm down. So I did, drinking my cold, delicious beer. And the guy started to talk…

«Listen to me! I am a medical doctor, an obstetrician, I deliver babies, do you understand? And this morning they brought a young Indian woman from Chichicastenango minutes before she gave birth. So I delivered the baby, and when I looked at the child I became horrified! It was not a baby, it was a monster! And the nurse, also disgusted and shocked, blurted out, ‘How ugly!‘ with a voice that sounded as if it had risen from the depths of her soul. It was then that the neonate opened its mouth, it was full of filthy sharp teeth, and answered her saying, «Uglier is what is going to happen here in Guatemala in three days». And it died.»

The doctor turned towards the bartender, finished his beer in one gulp, asked for one more, and got disappeared into his thoughts, leaving us in peace to drink ours and digest the absurdity he had just told us. After our beer we left. The streets by then were free of traffic and we brought me home in no time. But what the doctor said kept spinning in my head…

The next morning I set out to explore the surroundings of my new community. I hiked along the road that lead to the city but took the opposite direction. I walked higher up the mountain. After about two hundred meters, I saw a small detour in the form of a narrow trail that went uphill, good for hiking, and I climbed to the top of the first hill. To the left, there was a path that continued even higher, towards the mountain, and I headed in that direction. Suddenly, I heard a thunder and instantly, like if it had materialised out of thin air, there was a car, a blue Volkswagen Beetle, tumbling sideways downhill coming directly at me.

Quickly I jumped into some bushes on the side just as the car rolled past. Then, right there, right in front of me, it did one last somersault and came to a stop with all four wheels on the ground. I couldn’t see a scratch on it. No visible damage. I remained silent, observing. First, assess the situation, then take the necessary action. No situation yet, so I waited until I saw the driver’s door open. Out of the Beetle stepped a tall, gorgeous blonde. She looked directly at me, smiled and at the same time dropped an envelope on the ground. Then she got back in, started the car, and drove off like a bat out of hell, leaving behind a huge cloud of dust that by the time it was cleared, the bug had disappeared.

But where the hell did it go? The path was too narrow for a car, even for a VW Beetle. Well, there was nothing else I could there but pick up what she had left behind. It was an A4-sized manila envelope, unsealed. I open it up and inside there was a note: «Guatemala, your greatest enemy is the land you are on. Two days left.»

Conclusion

I’m a practical man. Yes, I believe in God, the Virgin, and the saints. But i do not believe in oracles or on fortune tellers. And at that time I didn’t believe in the supernatural or paranormal phenomena. But now I’m not so sure. After what I experienced that year in Guatemala, I think it’s possible that those things exist and that, like so many other mysteries that surround us, they are part of our reality. After all, we humans don’t know where we come from or where we’re going. Everything we’ve been taught can be thought of as nonsense. They are stories invented by either priests or scientists, two groups wherein charlatans abound. We don’t know the truth. But I believe that someday we will come to know it, not here in this plane of existence, but in the next. We will be able to see ourselves as God sees us. And this is not a religious faith-based conclusion, it is simply my opinion.

In any case, the prophecies of those days in Guatemala did come true. The monster baby said on day one what Guatemala would suffer in three days. The note from the woman in the blue beetle said that Guatemala had two days left, and that was on the second of February. In the early hours of the fourth, that is the third day from the monster baby’s prophesy, the earth shook in Guatemala. The strength of the earthquake was such that it changed the country’s topography. Tens of thousands of people died during those devastating 30-something seconds that the earthquake lasted. The ground rose up against Guatemala, and it was an ugly, sad, and very unfortunate event.

CHEERS