THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN MOONS
Part V
Yuri and Penelope
Chapter 23
When beginning toe report this saga, I, Yuri Olivieri, spoke a lot about myself. I must, now, say a few words about Penelope. As I mentioned, at the start, we are cousins, on the maternal side. She came to Earth, on September 10th of the Gregorian year of 1952. The first memory that I have of her, was when, in an afternoon of a beautiful spring day, I went to visit Penelope's parents, in order to know my youngest cousin, who had been born two months before. At a certain moment, there happened a quite simple episode, but that remained in my memory: attending a request from her mother, I took Penelope in my arms, leaned her little head over my left shoulder and began to hit, lightly and affectionately her delicate back, seeking to make her burp, since she had finished sucking. Suddenly, she burped and a gush settled on my shirt. As I mentioned, a meaningless act, that, for unknown reasons was retained in my memory. And, curiously, when Penelope was already a relatively grown up child, she was informed of that episode by her mother and, like me, she memorized it. Once, not long ago, Penelope told me that, by throwing a gush of gastric juice on my shoulder, she was "marking territory", in other words, occupying, forever, a space in my body and in my mind. During Penelope’s childhood, we met many times. As years went by, we got together on several occasions, but not as many as we would have wanted to and, I feel it now, much less than we should, so that we could get a better knowledge of each other.
But, let us have Penelope take over the narration of our story...
***
My single name is Penelope Laso. I don't intend, here, to lecture about my whole life, but just to speak of those events and personal feelings related to my relationship with Yuri. As he mentioned, in the introduction of this novel, we were born in a same family. My first memory of him remounts to my six or seven years of age. Yuri was the cousin that I admired most. I always felt a great affection for him and, little by little, I started to notice that we were tied by countless affinities. It was destiny’s desire, though, that we followed quite different paths. I got married early, had a daughter, became a lawyer and, seven years later, I divorced. Yuri graduated in medicine and, soon, moved to the United States, where he remained for many years, He married twice, the first time over there and the second, here, after his return to Brazil. But, like mine, his marriages didn't last long. When adults, our encounters were scarce. However, he was always a good friend in times of difficulties and I used to look at him as a kind of "safe harbor" to which ships run to, whenever storms develop at sea. And, so determined destiny, the moments we felt much closer to each other, were during the hard illness' periods of our respective mothers. I owe Yuri a special gratitude: thanks to his intervention, and there is no point in getting into details about it, my mother lived for ten more years than it was expected at the time. After my mother's death,Yuri and I did not communicated for over two years. Until a certain day, not long ago, when, taken by an inexplicable impulse and motivated by a sudden longing for Yuri, I called him. I dialed the number of his laboratory, thinking that I was calling his residence. Since it was Sunday, he was not supposed to be at his working place. But Yuri, also moved by an impulse that he was never capable to understand, went to the lab, at that same moment, in order to fetch a diskette that, so he told me later, he did not need at all. Yuri stayed at the place for just a few seconds and was already leaving, when the telephone rang. He answered ...it was me ! Chance or fate ?
From then on, we began seeing each other with progressive frequency. When Yuri told me about the email the Indian guru had sent him, my surprise and confusion were not less intense than his. But, at that time, we both felt involved by something much greater than a possible karmic determinism. I was feeling totally dominated by the seduction my cousin exercised on me. Shortly, that seduction, plus our affinities, memories of a common past and a mutual strong physical attraction, started molding the road to passion and love. However, there were not only flowers in our path. We faced many difficult moments, as result of our own personalities - we both have a "short temper", which predisposes tough arguments. At the same time, we suffered the incomprehension from members of our families, as well as from some of our friends, who did not approve our relationship. But we overcame everything. And, perhaps, sooner than reason might dictate, we got married in a simple ceremony. Then, we went to a place, filled with charm and fantasies, some where, near by, but, at the same time, quite far away, since it is as real as it is virtual. There, we settled at a beautiful house, our home. There, we shall try to pacify our souls. There, we will try, through love, to rescue a karmic debt of several centuries. If we succeed, then we shall be walking by a road of eternal happiness, that might transcend our present terrestrial existence. If we fail, the karmic debt will persist and our saga will continue throughout time...until destiny will grant us a new chance. We are conscious that that won't be an easy task. But we will try. There, in our magic retreat. At our home. A home that has a mystic and romantic name: The House of the Seven Moons !
***
Epilogue
We tried ...and failed. A terrible curse accompanies us. Penelope that, occasionally, showed Michelle's sweetness, certainly inherited, much more intensely, the characteristics of Isabela. She has even had, lately, strange and frightening nightmares. In certain instants, it looks like she is possessed by a demon. That is when her eyes catch fire and she is taken of inexplicable accesses of fury. In other occasions, she displays crises of undue jealousies, that totally blind her reasoning. The good moments soon became scarce oasis in a desert of fights, confrontations and disrespects. I feel confused and, I have to admit, unable to cope with what is happening to us. In the attempt of building a great love, we destroyed a lot of things and we hurt several people. And we built absolutely nothing, except regrets and deceptions. Three months of our life together had not still elapsed, and we decided to separate, in order to try to put an end to a bitter suffering. We began the divorce process. The House of the Seven Moons lost its magic and became a sad, gloomy and empty place.
We are separated now. Penelope refuses any kind of treatment. My cousin says she is just a temperamental personality. And that people plots against her, forcing her to react - a typical case of paranoia. Which is an incurable disease. However, if, for a miracle, she overcomes her mental disturbances, perhaps we’ll have the chance to try again, in this very life time. Otherwise, the karmic debt shall remain and our secular saga will continue.
But, until when? How to know?
That God have mercy for our souls !
Yuri.
The End