Well, maybe I should introduce myself to you. Or…don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to right now. I don’t feel comfortable enough for that. You know, nowadays you have to be careful before meeting people, you never know who might be the next Norman Bates we cross paths with, right?
Well, my story is easy to tell. I help people. Yes, just that. Whenever there is a family dispute, a gambling debt issue or a fight between neighbors, I help. By God, I once helped a woman who was simply tired of her boyfriend. And it was one of the easiest I’ve ever done. But you’re if you think it gives me pleasure. On the contrary, it’s ordinary. Serious. It’s not exciting, it’s not boring, it’s not even invigorating. It is extraordinarily ordinary. No pun intended. And, as you may know, there is no boredom in something ordinary. Boredom is an invention to keep us distracted. But I digress. I will return to my story.
I started helping people when I was around 25 years old. I was dating a girl at the time, Jessica, who was very pretty and lovely. She had a possessive ex who did not accept the end of the relationship. I yelled at him many times on the phone, but nothing more than that. However, one day he went further. He tried to set up an ambush for Jessica and I while we were walking home after going to the movies. He was hiding in an alley near the building where we lived and jumped on us as soon as we passed by. I was scared, but as soon as I recognized him, I grabbed him by the shirt and shouted:
What do you want, you idiot?
And he replied:
I just want to understand why
Wait, I’ll help you understand….
And before I could raise my arm to punch him, the man collapsed to the ground. Like a wax doll. Jessica looked at me astonished and asked what had happened. I had no idea what was that. She kneeled besides him to check if he had pulse. Nothing. I stared at my hands for a minute and couldn’t come up with anything close to a explanation for what just happened. In the meantime, Jessica called an ambulance. We agreed to say that the ex tried to attack us, started feeling sick and fell dead in front of us. It was the best we could think of.
Well, I’ll spare you everything that happened after that, but yes, the police were suspicious, but given that Jessica’s ex-boyfriend had a criminal record, there weren’t many more questions for her or me. It was another case of sudden death, it happens, end of story. What really matters is my “power”. Yes, I call it that for lack of a better name. How many times had I offered help to someone and nothing like that had happened, that is, the person was still alive. Why this now?
Maybe you’re wondering now why I decided to use this “power” to help people. And, fully aware that saying this will reveal a lot of my personality, I say: to get out of the rut. Really, no noble or bad motivations, just to get out of the Ol’ rut. And to be honest? It didn’t work. It’s like I told you, it became too ordinary. And remember what The Shining taught us, right? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Of course, there were some misshappens. Once I was at the supermarket and went to help a man with a carton of milk and I said:
Let me help you with that
And that’s it, the man just fell flat. The good thing about this is that it’s easy to get away with it, after all, people drop dead every day, right? So you just get down on your knees, try to provide first aid, shout for someone to call an ambulance, simple and efficient. Except for the first time, I never received suspicious looks or anything like that. Have I been blessed twice? I don’t dare to say yes, but it’s a question that crosses my mind daily.
I need to rectify something. Remember I said that this “power” has become ordinary and there is nothing fun about it? Well, there is something interesting about it. It’s that window of time in which I say “let me help” or “I can help you with that” and the person falls to the floor. That nick of time makes something run through me that I can’t define. A thrill? A joy? No,that’s not it. The closest I can come is to say that it seems like a form of liberation, a break from pre-established conventions and agreements between us and Nature, you know? It’s as if the secrets of existence were revealed in that instant and nothing seems real or important. As if a veil was torn and revealed the chaos that we ignored and swept under the rug. Everything and nothing represented between an action and consequence. Yes, that’s the only thing this “power” makes me feel.
Now, do you still want me to introduce myself to you? Or do you already know enough? Remember what I said at the beginning about being cautious when meeting someone new? A truth that we sometimes ignore is that actions can say much more than beautiful and well-chosen words of presentation. After all, we hide in speech and show ourselves in actions. And that’s how our beautiful world works, isn’t it? It is something beyond our control, beyond our understanding. What, dou you have any doubts? Well, come here then. I can help you with that.