Krisis with a K

Can anybody chain your ideas and thoughts? “(…) After a short while George left the waterfall cavity. The water was running down his shoulders. As he was a bit nervous, slipped on one of the steps of the stone stairway but he managed to hold on to one of the uprights of the fence. At a bend in the path, while he was going down he felt the hot south wind caressing his skin. A friendly gust of wind made a four-leaf clover land on his neck. How lucky! –You are coming back already! How was your premiere? –Maya’s mocking smile frustrated the delightful moment my friend was having. (Page 210)

Why our souls and sunflowers seek the sun? “(…)The child’s spirit was attracted by the flash, or maybe his neck was moved by a memento, anyhow his head turned left. Why our souls and sunflowers seek the sun? Then, his brain ordered his legs to stand up and at once they walked up to the front door, which was at the end of the brightly-lit corridor, in order to approach the beam drawn by the mysterious light settling on the dust suspended in the air like a blackboard made up of air. The precocity of playing and discovering, which is innate in children, made George’s fingers stretch out to reach the present that was floating in the air. He wanted to catch the beam that looked mouth-watering. Touch it! Grip it right away! (Page 10)

Thousand-year-old olive tree (Spain). “(…)–My name’s Ángeles. Hello! –She walked up to him and kissed him. George was pleased by that nice feminine voice, a breath of sweetness, sensual blonde woman. He responded with two kisses and an expression of affection: –It’s a pleasure! My name’s George. –I know all about it. I know it is your first nudist experience! –She smiled at him to calm him down. Maya was late because she was still waxing her eyebrows herself. She was less worried about the hair on her legs because it was under her clothes, but as she was practicing nudism she waxed them like never before. It was a short trip by car, one minute after they drove past the historical Collao on which Alcoyano CF performed glorious afternoons in First Division, they caught sight of a beautiful green spot in the countryside where the automobile wheels jumped from the asphalt to the soil. On the car radio Luis Miguel and Gloria Estefan were singing in duet. They parked their car by a thousand-year-old olive tree, like the one at Lucia and Jordi’s little cozy house in L’Alqueria d’Asnar. Beautiful sunrise! The trio walked along a path bordering the cliff that seemed to have been cut with a sharp knife. A red and clean cut on solid limestone rock resembling that of a long, vertical ham cut. George enjoyed the funny descend. (Page 206)

The two-thousand-year elm tree in Milleneta (Spain). “(…)A pleasant breeze loaded with memories was blowing while they were slowly walking up the slope. She was calling him to rest next to her. –It’s her! When Maya heard it, her snout-like nose flapped and she got upset by the possible competition of the other naked woman. And she poked around and due to insubstantial jealousy she was about to step out of line: –Is there another woman over here? I can’t see any? And you Ángeles, do you see any other woman? –I’m referring to the shadow that caressed me in a dream –explained George. –A shadow? It doesn’t matter if everything is a lie! –Maya gesticulated skeptically. –That’s the shadow of the tree that caressed my chest in a dream early this morning. –What are you telling me! –Her eyes were puzzled. –When I woke up I saw that tree and its shadow in my mind… –George told them his dream– a premonition which reminds me of the two-thousand-year elm tree in Milleneta. Saturday on mount Mariola. Silence. It smelt of thyme and wild deep blue lavender. (Page 208)

Orange blossom water. “(…)George got dressed and put on his shoes. Maya put on her black garments again. After a while she showed up with a sour look on her face. –Take it easy! –George asked her to be calm–. And the snipe hunts? –Let’s go back to my home! (Another blunder: she unconsciously mentioned the possessive “my home” –within the alleged detachment-from-the-material class). –Maya looked at him with a cobra’s eyes–: Not a word about this! –as she was mad she wanted to tie up the loose ends of her hypocrite morality. –Maya, do as you please! If you want to stay! I’ll wait for you outside. That drunk ego would not have been calmed down with orange blossom water. Maya knew nothing about balance. –Shut up! –As she was walking down the hallway she anxiously ordered him to change his subject of conversation. A bald old crook with a moustache, with a black disgusting flap between his two skeletal thighs –a specimen to be studied by Paleontology– sniffed her from head to toe like a dog to a female dog in heat. Nobody who considers himself a human being would repeat such a ruse after tasting the degrading pandemonium at that seedy bar. Of course, Maya did. Why? Our friend seriously realized that derangement prevailed in a place with no decency, respect or ethics. (Page 290)

Roses and thorns. “(…) George suffered in silence. Such as a captain he yielded the rudder of the ship and of his life to the generosity of the swell and told his wife what was really happening to his heart. But in being sincere he forgot that the rose tree has thorns to protect the beauty of its petals. When she heard her husband’s confession Batu Lady Di feeling hopeless as George was falling in love with another woman she neither weathered the storm nor she took the time to understand so much sincerity or the nightmare her husband’s heart was troubled with. She reacted like a wave sweeping away everything. –Choose between her and me! What was going on between Batu and George? Where did the conflict stem from? (Page 116)

Oleanders and mangos for the heart. “(…)–I’m gonna sleep, George! Tomorrow if they call me from work… –She stood up from the coach and on leaving the sitting-room she ordered him like the master to his servant– … tell them I’m sick in bed. A night is not enough to tell everything. After a minute of receiving Maya’s snub as an answer George went to sleep too. But during the chat of the following day at last Maya’s matrimonial memories woke up. She used to take an oleander tea every three days since she last returned from Cuba because she could not find mangos and tropical kisses in Alcoy to increase her delicate heartbeat. (Page 277)

Woman or castaway at the mirage of her Havanan sesame and kisses. “(…) In this society of disappointments Maya was pleased at the beat of salsa, like an adolescent girl with her fist furtive kiss. She was the spitting image of a mature woman who had missed her adolescence, maybe because she had been brought up in a village by a mother who was very conservative and religious. Ultimately, her and her circumstances shaped her current life as Ortega y Gasset philosophically stated. Maya had rushed into a lad much younger than her because she wanted to be filled with pleasure. Does happiness mean to go from a great deal of euphoria to crying your eyes out? Together under the blanket Maya rested her head against George’s shoulder and suddenly she burst into bitter tears. She did not have enough air in the humid atmosphere: She was getting drowned in her own ocean of sadness! Are laughter and tears drugs that help us in the unconscious living? If Maya had been sensible enough she would never have ended like an orphan or castaway at the mirage of her Havanan sesame in the fall of her life in Alcoy: –Nobody else has made me happier… but the most handsome! George left the sitting-room for two minutes and returned with a glass of cold water. Before drinking it he offered it to his mate. She declined his offer. –Happiness… yet at the expense of veracity, Maya? –He always gives me pleasure! –As she began to defend herself as if her conscience were testing her she had sudden hiccups caused by her nervousness. –Although everything is a lie! Drink, drink some water… and your hiccups will disappear. –I’m not thirsty! I want him here with me. I feel his blood running through my veins. You understand what I feel! –the Andalusian melancholic song begged her Cuban placebo’s approval. George stood up and left the sitting-room. It was three o’clock in the morning. He was a bit hungry in the kitchen. He sliced a loaf of bread and made a couple of potato omelet snacks. He heated them up for half a minute in the microwave oven. When he entered the sitting-room George noticed that the television set was still off and blind. He had his hands busy with the plates but he managed to give one to his apartment mate. –I guess what your skin feels. But do you mind what he feels for you? The fork stabbed on Maya’s omelet threw a threatening look at George. –I really mind my own stuff! –At last she pulled off the blanket that was covering her lies. And she suddenly started shivering. For the following hour with George on the couch Maya tried to convince him by giving him nonsense and irrational arguments and excuses to hide her selfish attitude. Maya was packing with optimism her suitcases overseas and back in Alcoy she took refuge in the momentary emotions of the maracas. In this way, she poorly tried to sweeten her return to face the reality of her adolescent frustrations. Despite the euphoria she felt whenever she read her Cuban lover’s letters she instantly sank into the distress of her empty Alcoyan Malecon. Only George’s company eased her suffering. That night she revealed George that she did not mind whether her future husband felt really happy or loved her. She only wanted to have her “drug” nearby. Is strychnine a heart disorder remedy? Without needing anyone, she told herself she did not even notice she was getting addicted to the Havanan doses without considering the side-effects of such an stimulant. She lived from hand to mouth within her carpe diem madness (adagio by poet Horatio): (Page 273).

The Levantine palm in "Elche’s Big bang" (Elche-Spain). Within the willowy palm groves my friend felt comfortable in a Tuareg-like oasis. Both the Levantine palm tree overlooking the seascape and the poetry by the amazing poet from Orihuela had hypnotized young George’s soul. “I feel taller looking up the palm tree (…)”–wrote Miguel Hernandez in his poetry notebook while his goats were grazing in the nearby sheer fields, letting his vivid imagination free at the palm grove of San Anton. In this life, our companion George wants to climb as high as the poet did, up to the top of the Veracity palm tree. Did you know that palm farmers give different names to their palm trees? When George was a child and crossed the jungle of the Levantine fertile crop fields on his father’s bike he greeted all the palm trees, and by holding his father’s hand he learnt to ride, to pull forward and keep the balance. –If I climb up to the top of a palm tree… I can touch the sun –one day he proposed Pedro. –How would you do it, son? Do you believe I can do it? –Look! From the top of that palm tree I can jump onto that higher one… and from there I can jump onto that white cloud over there. –George drew his jumps up and down in the air with his right index finger. –You would be jumping onto a gas cloud! How would you hold on it, son? –From cloud to cloud I climb up to the sun! –Standing up, he stated. –As you did on the stairs of the dining room. –Yes, from step to step, daddy. Just as simple as that! –He moved his knees. In his adolescence he learnt in the Arabian forest of Elche, amongst palm trees. He ran around the orchards with his smiling cousin Agatangelo. He played soccer for the Safo FC. and scored goals on the Salesian School playground. Cañete, El Lute and El Peru applauded. Dates witness to his aim. –Pass, pass the ball! –He ran along the touchline of the pitch towards the goal. –Come on, it’s yours. Score! –His cousin kicked the ball and passed it to him. –Goal! (Page 81)

Enjoy the different original and awesome metaphors, inspired by plants, flowers and animals that enrich the plot of the novel. Seven petals from monday to sunday. Jericho flowers and petals along the streets of Bilbao. Cherry trees in the Valley of Jerte. The Oasis and Iberdrola´s Lighthouse, and much more. (See the Plants section at the end of the novel/Second Part)