Part 2 - The Arrangements

When they finally got to their destination, a slightly less aggressive afternoon sun had replaced the midday’s blazing sun. It was a huge salt line. A 5-meter wide solid crystal clear white salt carpet, as long as the eye can see. It was a border between the green meadow, where they were standing, and a dark dead dry plain. Although it was a known fact, it was hard to believe it was a round line.

- It’s bigger than I though – The trip was filled with chats to kill the boredom, but the silence that had followed the sighting of the frontier was only broken by john’s statement. He had only talked to try to suppress the anxiety that place was giving him.

Everyone placed their eyes on him, not knowing how to react neither to the plain nor to his statement, filling John with shame and embarrassment, which made an even worst silence. They couldn’t even listen to the bugs buzzing. Fortunately Jean had other plans than just staying there, looking to a lifeless tableland.

- It doesn’t matter the size. It’s easy to find her.

- I don’t think this is a good idea. – Since the beginning Lara was fully against this plan, and looking at that landscape didn’t change her mind. Quite the contrary.

- I don’t want to go there. – Igor was still looking at the plain, giving hands with Teófilo. He had been glued to him since he got strength to walk on his own again.

Although all the anguish she was feeling, Jean wasn’t going to let herself being dissuaded. She got near Igor, grabbed his shoulders and lowed herself so that they were the same height. Jean always found cute how small Igor was, even for his age.

- Don’t worry, we’ll pull you, don’t we, Teo? You brought the rope, didn’t you?

- No… - Teófilo looked at jean’s face full of shook and despair. She was always too cautious, but this time she was even extra cautious preparing the journey, checking more than twenty times if Teo had everything they needed on his bag. – After all the times you asked me to check if I had it, and after I telling you that I had it on every single one of them, I just decided to drop it on the floor and leave it on the village…

Teófilo took the rope out of his huge bag, that, without a single complain; he had carried the entire journey.

- This is not a time for jokes, Fil! – John was feeling that Jean was very disturbed and he wanted to help her in everyway he could, although that he was also pretty anxious and he needed everyone concentrated, calm and serious, or else he would start screaming and running around insanely.

Fortunately, Teófilo being calm was enough to help John. The two of them were opposites in some of their behaviours and personality features. John was always very excited with the littlest things and Teófilo always had a disinterested interest, or else, in bad moments, where Teófilo always calms John to distract himself from everything. It helped them going through most of jean’s shenanigans.

Teófilo and John always got well and they were always friends. Since the beginning, when everyone started calling him Teo because Teófilo was too complicated and weird, John decided that he was going to distinguish himself so he started to call him Fil. It was something only theirs.

- Relax... I bough the rope, see? – Teófilo threw him a half smile while he threw her the rope.

- And the rest?

- Calm down Jean. – Teófilo lost his smile when he turned to face Jean. – This bag is so heavy I think we bough double than what we need.

They moved some steps away from the salt carpet and sat in a circle on the floor while Teófilo was taking a bag full of salt, a bowl and an old book.

- Let’s do this. C’mon. Come here Igor – Jean called Igor with her hand and he got closer, sitting almost on top of her. In times like this she was glad that he was so light.

- Are you sure you can do this? – The only thing Lara wanted was to hurry this nonsense and come back home, where they would all be punished. But that would better than be in that cursed place. To be honest, she didn’t wanted to be there, but her friends made her come, so that she wouldn’t ditch on them.

- Don’t worry Lara – The way Jean pronounced her name was an obvious clue on how she wasn’t for Lara’s bullshit. It was always been like that between them. – According to this book, this works. And you can see that the salt carpet works. – Involuntarily they all looked at the 5 meters wide carpet, while Jean called Teófilo.

Without a word the first objects Teófilo gave to Jean were the old bowl and the book. The book was old and had a leather cover, that in other times had something inscribed, probably in gold, but now it was a little destroyed, although the inside was luckily untouched. Or almost. Various pages had their corner destroyed and blurred pictures. It was obvious that the book was used carelessly by several people because it was covered with all kind of stains, which went from bloodstains to food stains to worrying unknown stains.

- I can’t believe you stole all this – John said, while he was helping Teófilo taking numerous glass pots filled with herbs and liquids out of the bag and putting them near Jean. Lara thought the same, but instead of glorifying her, like John, Lara was judging her. – Or that you stole your grandpa’s book. He’s going to be pissed.

- They’re all going to be pissed when we come back - Lara mumbled to herself, which didn’t stopped jean from hearing her.

- He doesn’t mind…

- Are you sure?

- Stop being a bitch, Lara! – Teófilo didn’t like his sister negative and aggressive attitude at all, mostly because it wasn’t helping john to calm down. To the others he may look fine, but Teófilo knew that in the inside he was begging Lara to stop talking.

This one of the main reasons they had to be quick. Every minute that idea seemed worst to everyone, including Jean. Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait much more. They were ready to start.

They were sitting in a circle some steps away from the salt carpet, with an afternoon sun high in the sky, ready to go down. Coquelicots grew in-between the grass cheering up the curved plain. Their journey was filled with various white flowers, mostly daisies, but sometimes lilies, huge hydrangeas and even some daffodils, magnolias or lupines. There were some yellow, pink, purple or blue here and there, but it was mostly green and white. However, there, in the border, it was only red flowers. Only coquelicots.

On Jean’s side it was Teófilo, followed by John and on the other it was Igor, still glued to Jean and watching carefully all she was doing, followed by Lara. They were all uneasily watching Jean skimming through the old book, looking for the pages she had already almost memorized.

- I found it! Let’s see… fill the bowl with the salt… - Jean grasped the salt bag and filled the bowl in front of her.

It was an odd process. John finally relaxed. Watching Jean measuring and mixing herbs, powders and liquids on the bowl already filled with salt relaxed him. The result was a weird white liquid.

- It’s done! - Jean was delighted, however, very focused on going ahead. There was just one last step, but it was going to be the most complicated. – Come here Igor… stretch your arms.

Igor copied Jean that after putting the bowl in the floor, exemplified with her own arms. Igor stretched his skinny shacking arms and Jean started covering his bonny pulses with the drying fluid. It quickly turned into two hard-as-stone wristbands, made with the same weird salt as the carpet.