Fatima: The Final Secret. Juan Moisés De La Serna

saturated. I started walking, a little concerned because I was going to be late with the minutes I’d lost with the encounter, so I picked up the pace, well as much as the stones on the ground would allow me to, because when they’re wet, it’s better to be careful if you don’t want to end up falling.

      “Where could that place she had just told me be?” I asked myself. I kept thinking about it as I walked, when suddenly I found the solution to the problem; I know where she works. I’ll go there when she’s about to leave and I’ll say that I’ve come to look for her, that way I’ll look like a gentleman and she won’t know I’ve forgotten the place for our appointment.

      “The years aren’t kind, I never would have forgotten such a thing in my younger days,” and regretful to realize that my memory was not what it was, I continued on my way.

      <<<<< >>>>>

      I looked at the clock, and at that point I remembered the appointment I had at six as she had told me. I left the book I had in my hands, and decided to get ready so I would arrive a little before she finished her work, that way if there was anything new I could check it out before going to get that coffee.

      On the way I was thinking, “I don’t think there’s any literature I don’t know about, because I’ve been paying careful attention to everything that has come out, but surely something has passed me by and she’ll tell me about it right away.”

      With that in mind, I arrived at the library door. I still had lots of energy and when I quickened my pace there was no one who could get ahead of me.

      When I went through the library door, I stood there, surprised to see a young lady in her place. “Could she be ill? Maybe she caught a cold this morning with all that rain.”

      I was about to turn around when I thought, “If I don’t have her phone number, I can’t call her either,” and with the idea of asking the girl who I assumed must be her substitute, I went over to the counter.

      “Good afternoon!” I said when I got there.

      “Finally, thank goodness the day has gotten better, because this morning was terrible. I don’t know where so much rain could have come from, it seemed like it was never going to stop. What can I do for you?” said the young lady in a friendly voice, standing there looking at me with a smile.

      “I came to see your colleague, but I see she’s not here,” I answered her.

      Her smile disappearing, she looked at me strangely.

      “Colleague?”

      “Yes,” I said a little confused.

      “Pillar?” she said immediately, as if she had just remembered.

      “Yes, Pilar,” I answered, giving a little snort, happy to finally remember that name.

      Staring at me, the young lady told me:

      “Well, surely you know she hasn’t been around for a long time?”

      “Well, it’s been a while yes, I’ve been busy, you know how things are. You get caught up in things and you don’t have time for anything, and before you know it, the days have passed,” I answered, lowering my head in embarrassment. “Why are you asking me that?” I asked her a little taken aback. Why would she care if I came to see Pilar often or not?

      “Well, because Pilar retired years ago. I don’t know how long ago, because I’ve only been working here for a few months. When she left, they hired someone else, but I took the librarian’s exams and they gave me this position, because the person who was here replacing her, was only temporary,” she said very seriously.

      I was listening to her as if a distant voice was informing me, because I was lost in my own thoughts.

      How could she have retired? It couldn’t be true surely, this person must be mistaken. Something suddenly hit me. Of course! She was older than I was, but not by that much, I had been all over the place lately!

      “Alright,” I said to the girl, “I won’t bother you any further. Oh, and could you tell me where she lives?”

      But before she had time to answer, I heard someone talking behind me.

      “Don Manuel, I see you’re as punctual as ever, and as I’d imagined, you’ve come through here first to see if there was anything new.”

      I didn’t even have time to react. I saw her approaching the girl, walking as quickly as ever, going around the counter and after giving her two kisses, she asked her with a smile:

      “How are you? Are you bored? Be patient, rainy days you know, people are warmer at home.”

      “Look, before we leave, I want you to see something,” she said to me.

      She had come to my side, then walked decisively down one of the corridors and I followed, but not without saying goodbye to the lady at the counter who must have taken me for a bit of a fool.

      “What do you want to show me Pilar?” I asked as I followed her.

      “I see you haven’t forgotten my name, despite how long it’s been since we last saw one another,” she said turning her face and smiling.

      I had the impulse to tell her that the young lady had just reminded me, but I restrained myself. No, she’s not going to believe that I have memory lapses already, and I said:

      “So Pilar, what’s going on in your life? They just told me that you’ve retired.”

      “Well, the truth is that I didn’t like it anymore, even though I was trying to… how can I put it? Re-engage, but it was impossible. They wanted new people, especially people who knew how to use the new technologies that were coming out, because as you can see, everything has really changed since the computers arrived, it’s not the same anymore. People prefer to find the answers easily, rather than spend hours going over tomes to find what they need.”

      “Well,” I said, “it’s always good to move forward, but now I don’t know what’s happening, it seems we’re all in such an almighty hurry, even if we don’t have much to do, we’re almost running, what times we live in!”

      “Yes,” she said, “to then waste time watching television.”

      “Well, I don’t watch it much, but I do like to watch the news.”

      “Of course, and that’ll have made you stop reading the newspaper every day as you always used to.”

      “No, I still have that habit and I don’t think anyone can take that away from me. I’ve been doing it for so many years, but yes, it is true that it’s more comfortable to sit and watch something and have someone telling you, rather than to be reading. On top of that, my eyes are not what they used to be.”

      “Of course, you won’t give up the habit because it’s fallen out of fashion, but young people, what do you think? Watching television without making any effort to find out about things and they’ll gradually stop working harder and harder and they’ll stop reading altogether,” she was saying to me a little sadly.

      “Don’t exaggerate, there have always been distractions and reading has endured,” I added to cheer her up.

      “Yes, but hear me well, isn’t it true that people in your younger days read more than they do today? You have to admit that we liked reading more than the younger folk of today.”

      “Well, you’re right about that,” I was saying, when I saw her stop.

      “All the information you want, you have it here.”

      We had reached where she wanted, she stopped there and showed me a device.

      “What?” I asked right away. “What are you talking about?”

      “Yep, everything is stored on here and all you have to do is select a date and the information comes out for you, straight away.”

      “What