The Letter of 26th May
Dear Grandmother, May 26th 2000
"This morning, as if I were bewitched by the place, I allowed myself to drive back to the gardens of ‘El Palacio de la Granja.’
As if it were the most important appointment of the day. At eight o’clock, the sun lit up the blue sky creating one of those mornings in which everything seemed to be made anew. The nightingales sang happily and pirouetted in the air as if they were making garlands for a big wedding cake. On both sides of the road the placid meadows flattened out like a silent pool and cows were grazing in the fields. The stone of the mountains popped out of the surface of the earth reminding one that the uplands had been left behind.
When I got to the Palace I found the gate open again. I crossed the geometric garden and the 'la Fama’ fountain and went directly to the ‘la calle Valsaín.’ The nightingales filled the cool morning with music and so I stayed. I shut my eyes. I gave thanks to the Lord for allowing me to be there again and then I went up the arbors again. I crossed the ‘Calle Valsain’ and came to the stream of crystal clear water that poured downstream. All around, the ground was completely covered by leaves and flowers which had an intense lilac color. They were so brilliant that they seemed to emit their own light. Giant trunks lay along the stream and dug their roots into the earth like the claws of birds of prey. The moss that reached up to my ankles gave me the sensation of wearing green socks. The lushness of the spot was such that when the sun rose and its rays filtered between the thousands of branches outlining in the sand a labyrinth of shadows. Colossal pines, attractive and proud, extended their exuberant branches as if they were the feathers of a royal turkey. And other smaller trees were spread amongst what little space remained free. Like yesterday, grey clouds crowned the Palace. I again crossed ‘la Calle Valsain’ and again went down by the arbors made of hedge and there, accompanied by the song of thousands of nightingales and swallows, I thanked the Lord for all the good things that he sends to us. I gave thanks for having my father, her mother and ‘Beautiful Thing.’ And again I felt the privilege to have been touched by Him. Thanks to your intercession. I prayed that He would never leave me and that in every moment he would guide me. That he would give me the strength to remain calm on the way to achieving my goals and also that I would enjoy the flowers that I will find on the way. I asked Him to help to resolve with wisdom the vicissitudes and setbacks that arise in this job. When I am alone with the Lord I feel safe because He is with me in body and spirit. I ask him that if desperation overwhelms me in some moment He will infuse me with all His power and spirit and will hold me in His loving arms; embrace me and protect me. I asked him to do this with great faith so that my supplication, from down here, will reach Him Up There.
When I had finished my prayer, I walked in the direction of the Palace. The clouds carried on crowning it. And when the Sun came out the green color of the foliage had dissolved into a multitude of tones and shades. I thought that no inhabitant of that magical place should miss such a spectacle. At the bottom of the garden, the colossal pines continued balancing their horizontal branches and showing them off like Carnival Queens. And their branches, of a darker green, contrasted with others, whose leaves, pierced by the rays of the Sun, acquired a lighter green color which was more intense and lit up. The dark brown trunks rose up vertically in order to sustain all that opulence. I walked towards the Palace, and from out of the greenery a marble Venus emerged like a living being. I reached ‘La Fuente de la Fama.’ I went up the stairs which led to ‘la calle de Valsain.’ The sun outlined the branches of the trees on the ground. Passing by the ‘La Calle Centella’ I left ‘La Fuente de Los Dragones Altos.’ And thus, like greased lightening, I left the place, as it was almost time for me to give the presentation.
I knew the Lord would never abandon me. And that’s what has happened. On arriving at the office, Mauro had prepared the managers and the rest of the office so that I could talk to them about electronic banking. Mauro has been obliging, kind and attentive. It’s as if he wasn’t an employee of this bank. His manner is refined and his behaviour pleasant and all the time he has tried to make me feel welcomed. It has seemed more like a hospitable reception in a friendly home than a company presentation. This office is definitely a green island in a sea of sharks. I have experienced a strange sensation of security. It’s as is the world of Valladolid and this office were different and nearly opposite. Since my arrival, this place has seemed blessed in an odd way. The managers are satisfied with the explanations I’ve given them. I was up till one in the morning preparing my presentation. While I write you these words I’m yawning my head off. On the other hand, this tiredness is mixed with a great relief and interior delight. And this happiness fills my spirit so much that, although sleep is catching up with me, I am here to thank you and tell you that the Lord has answered my prayers. No one can resist Him. I cannot find adequate answers for some of the questions of the managers. However, Mauro, skilfully, has apologized to them, putting off the resolution of these questions to another meeting that has been set within the next fifteen days. To tell you the truth, I am hoping that this moment comes soon and so avoid the Valladolid office. Meeting Mauro has opened, inevitably, a new phase. And that gives me hope to continue with this bank and not lose my job. When I finished my presentation, he thanked me on behalf of everyone. I was so overcome by emotion that I didn’t know how to thank him for the opportunity I got to be in contact with the office. This man, elegant and discreet, seems to distance himself from most of the rest of the office managers. I'm not quite certain whether this natural distinction is only a pose which could mask a hard and sly heart, mean and diabolic, or if, really this superiority could indicate the essence of a good soul which, by means of virtue, has known how to stay in these fecal waters and shine by itself like a lotus blossom. If the first possibility is true, let God help me and keep me far away from this malign being. I already have had the sickening experience of knowing someone who, at first, showed the charms of a pure soul and then at the end and without any warning divested himself of this deceitful skin and showed his true, poisoned self. And now, then, I come to give thanks to Him for having sent me these past hardships so that, in the present and knowing the score, I don’t allow myself to trust in this type of sorcerer and rascal. One has to be vigilant, prudent and in a state of grace and prayer so that my soul unites with His and does not deliver the aroma of its roses to someone who does not know how to receive it. I prayed that the determinations of my spirit are only good and full of wisdom with the unique desire that my spirit be full of the mystical love of our God, of his power and knowledge.
Thank you, Grandmother, for everything."
Paragraph selected from Chapter 4th "The letter of 26th May"; Fourth Part "The letters to the grand mother"
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