THE EXCON (Runaways, Escapees & Refugees)

 So, after leaving the tavern, I walked all afternoon in the fields without spotting a soul, until that, much later, when I was stopped at some crossroad, thinking, in a groove, surrounded by eucalyptus, came a guy riding a bicycle, and as he came by my side he stopped and pointed me the way. I took his suggestion and together we went, in silence, until that when the path started to descend, he invited me to jump on his bicycle, which I accepted... decided not to ask him questions... but he starts, asking me what am I thinking about now. And so, “Home” I reply, and almost everything was said. And then, just to make conversation, I ask him from where he was coming. And promptly he tells me that “I have been to the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle and the Hashishin…” and then he even shows me the tattoos on his arms and chest. A few piranhas, swords, and kind of flaccid monsters with multiple eyes. “I have been in jail, but I escaped, he says”; “and all these tattoos were made by my mates there, in the carcere…” he explains. And we get to know, the piranhas were made by this or that killer, the swords were made by this or that rapist, the anchor was made by some kind of drug dealer, and finally, the flaccid monsters were made by some preacher man, “unjustly condemned” he says. Then this new friend wants to know about my travels, and which adventures had I been into. And so, I tell him that I have been in many places, “I have done the silk route, I have done the cedar route, I have done the route of the coal etc etc, but now, I don't know why, I remembered about Heliopolis, that some call, the city of the dead, a cemetery with slums inside, the biggest slums in the world... and so, the original profession of the city was to be the guardian of tombs, there was rituals to accomplish.. and then, as the time passed, their families, this is, the families of the guardians of tombs, also came from the countryside to establish there, inside the cemeteries, and the families of their families also, and also foreigners fleeing from wars came to take refuge there. Orphans of various genres transformed themselves into persecutors of scorpion ...” and then he started to tell me about his life in Barbados, the happening that led him to be jailed and his life while imprisoned. So, to open it, he tells me that “this life is a game and we are the gamblers” and then he keeps “I played too deep on the stocks,  and then I had to move out…” he tells me “After being imprisoned I had been forced to do forced labor for months. About the addictions it's better not talk about…” And so, afterwards he talks a bit about his family that didn’t care about him, and when they came to know what was happening he was already arrested or something, “they didn’t even consider that a bail could have been paid and I wouldn't have spent so much time inside that inferno..”. Although, inside he had learned all sorts of tricky techniques in regards to traffic, robberies, looting and whitening... and he even got some secret information on how to escape from state control. “And down to earth, I'm also a professional locker opener, whether they are built-in, tubular, magnetic, or telescopic… there is the possibility of using remote control switches capable of miracles…” and I listen to him carefully. But this was not the first ex-convict I have met, of course! (I myself had also been arrested more than one time, though never more than two or three days) And so, while he’s still talking about lockers and money, I came back to the Heliopolis matter. “In Heliopolis it was the orphans that took care of the dead, of their graves, and the orphans would also speak with the spirits, their lords, and they would communicate their messages to the guardians of the lost ark, which were in abundance by then, and also there was the greasers of pots with smokes inside, copper craftsmen , women who did business with flowers and embroidery, sculptors of mausoleums, storytellers that would dress as clowns, sellers of plants with spiritual healing properties, Goat herders that also would do the job as sharpeners, and dark dark bread bakers, that also would come to be astrologers, and I, I was just the messenger between them and the city...", “Very well!” the Excon tells me, and then he confides about his future project “To rob a bank!” yes “I know how to do it in a totally clean way” yes, “and you, where are you going, come back to reality, you can get very good profits, if you help me in this job!!” he says as he began to explain me how could we do it, everything in detail. And then we started to talk about what we would do with the money. To what he is the first to say “I just want to buy a fucking boat and travel the world in it… that’s it” and me, still thinking, I say “I’m really not sure what I would do with the money but…”; “but but but shit… if you don't like money don't touch it, you can use only cryptocurrencies…”