Chapter 2 - The Blind Man Speaks

The boys slowly walked down the path. They figured they should get home quickly to let their parents know about the strange visitor approaching the village. But they had no desire to run into the man again, so they moved with caution.

Before they had taken too many steps, they heard the call of an owl from the trees above them. The sound spooked Andres, who jumped about a foot off the ground while at the same time dropping his prized sweetcake. He immediately dove on top of the cake, fearful that the owl would swoop in and take his booty. But the owl didn't budge. Satisfied that his cake was safe, Andres stood up next to Cable and gazed up into the tree.

"This is really weird," Cable finally declared. "Never in all my 12 years have I seen an owl while the sun was still up." Andres figured 12 years was a pretty long time, so it seemed odd to him as well. The owl seemed to be staring directly at the boys. But it didn't utter another sound.

As the boys stood transfixed by the stare of the owl, another voice broke the silence. "Boys, have you anything to spare for a poor, hungry man?" There, sitting by the side of the road, was Ronaldus, the blind man. He evidently had been there the whole time, though they had not noticed him. A hood was pulled down over his face to shield his eyes, and a cane lay by his side. The boys were not surprised to Ronaldus, for the blind man had been making his rounds at the village for as long as they could remember. But they had never, ever remembered hearing him speak.

The boys stood motionless. Andres rubbed the side of his head, unsure of what else to do. Ronaldus asked again, "Boys, have you anything to spare?" Cable looked at Andres. Andres looked at his hand. Sure enough, the sweetcake was still there.

At that moment, Andres realized that he'd never felt hungrier in his entire life. His first instinct was to shove the cake into his mouth before he had a chance to think. His hand started to shake. He mumbled, "Aw Cable, didn't Mama say to not share food with strangers?"

"She said to be careful about talking to strangers. I don't think she said anything about food," was Cable's reply. Andres was disappointed.

After what seemed like hours, but was in reality less than a minute, Andres tossed the cake at the blind man. It struck his cloak and fell to the ground. "Here you go, Ronaldus," he declared. "I didn't want it anyway. Sweetcake is gross when it gets a little dirt on it."

The boys turned to resume their walk back home. Cable turned to Andres and said in a low voice, "That was dumb. He's blind--he couldn't even see you toss it at him." Andres felt chastised; he hadn't thought of that. But he didn't feel too bad. After all, he'd just made quite a sacrifice.

But before the boys had walked too far, they heard the blind man's voice again. "Boys, can you come here a moment?" uttered Ronaldus. His voice seemed somehow younger and less hoarse.

The boys turned around, figuring that at this rate they'd never get home. They slowly walked back. When they got close, Ronaldus reached up and gently grabbed Andres by the arm. Andres tried to withdraw, but the blind man's grip held firm. He said, "Son, can you do something for me? I have an important message for you to deliver."

Andres replied, "Yeah, you'd better give it to me. Cable forgets everything." Cable turned and tried to give Andres a dirty look. But it didn't do any good. Andres was staring at Ronaldus. And as he stared, he noticed a great scar on the left side of his face--a scar he'd never seen before, since it was usually shielded by the hood.

Ronaldus reached down into his cloak and retrieved a folded-up piece of paper. He felt for Andres' hand and placed the paper in it. Then he closed his hand over the paper. "You must deliver this to your parents right away. Hurry home now. The stranger will not bother you, so run, run, run."

"Okay, sir," replied Andres. "Now can you let go of me so I can run?"

"One more thing," uttered Ronaldus. "You must not--I repeat, you must not--look at this note. It is only for your parents to see. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Now go. Go, deliver the note, and get some sleep. You will need it."

The boys didn't need any more instruction. Once the blind man released Andres' arm, they started running. Of course, it soon turned into a race. Cable got in front, and Andres grabbed at his shirt in an attempt to pull him back. But Cable pushed away his hand and ran ahead. About 100 yards down the road, however, Cable figured he'd better stop. He did, and sure enough, he saw the Andres was no longer following him. Instead, he found that Andres had stopped and was holding the note up to the setting sun.

"What are you doing, Andres?" Cable yelled.

"Uh...I'm just making sure that no dirt got on the note," replied Andres.

But Cable was not fooled by the feeble excuse. "You're trying to read it!" he bellowed. "You remember the instructions! Let's go!"

This time, Cable waited for Andres to catch up and pass him. They ran the rest of the way to their house, with Cable keeping a watchful eye on his impulsive brother.

They entered their house and immediately started yelling for their mother. Of course, if they'd paused to think before yelling, they'd have realized that she was standing right in front of them as they opened the door. After receiving a mild reminder to keep their voices down, Andres thrust the note to his mother. "Here Mama, the blind man told us to give this to you."

The boys' mother, whose name was Hannah, got strangely silent. A very sober look came over her face. "Ronaldus gave this to you?" she asked in a quiet voice that alarmed the slightly more perceptive Cable. "He actually spoke to you?"

"Yes Mama, now can you read it?" replied Andres.

Hannah slowly opened the note. She stared intently at it. She then put it down on the table that lay in the middle of the room. She then walked over to the boys and put her arms around them. "It's getting late, boys," she said. "I think it's time for you to go to bed."

"But the sun hasn't even gone down yet!" argued Cable. Andres, however, didn't say a word. He couldn't get his eyes off the note.

"I know, son, but it's been a busy day and you boys need your rest. Now off to bed." And Hannah walked her sons to the bedroom. She kissed them, left the room, and closed the door.

The boys knew it was no use arguing. They usually liked a little more time to wind down, but their mother had been clear: they needed to be in bed. They crawled in. Cable was convinced he wouldn't get to sleep for hours. But the hours of bamboo dueling soon caught up with him, and he drifted off.

Andres, on the other hand, was wide awake and stayed that way. Once he was convinced that Cable had fallen asleep, he crept toward the door. He slowly opened it and looked around. There was no sign of his mother. She had evidently gone outside to look for their dad. He walked over to the table; the note was still there, lying upside down. He turned it over and read it.

It simply said:
"It is time. Midnight. Tonight."

Andres read it through three or four times to memorize it. He then laid it back down on the table, making sure that it was face down. He walked back into his room, shut the door, and crawled into bed.

But he couldn't sleep. He lay there wide awake. The whole time he told himself, "I never should have read that dumb thing."