Halloween Tale

Every November 1^st, All Saints’ Day, my sister cleans my grandparents’ tomb, and sets some beautiful flowers on it. As this year she was going to be abroad, she asked me to do it for her. Of course I agreed, as I knew how important it was for her.

But… when the day came… I forgot to do it. It wasn’t a malicious deed; there was no wickedness on my part, not at all! I just forgot it and I couldn’t imagine the consequences of that oversight.

The first time I heard the moan, it was like a storm rising from my conscience. “Remember, remember…”

I thought it was something born from my imagination, nothing else was possible, even though it had seemed so loud and clear…

This happened one week ago and since then, every night, when I have finished my dinner and have cleaned my kitchen, when I try to relax on my sofa reading a nice book, every night at 22:30 those words resounds with a loud crash: “Remember, remember…”

The second night I knew it wasn’t my imagination; the third one I began to feel nervous and from the fourth on I realized it was something that would come every night to make me feel aware about my oversight, maybe it was the Ghost Of Obscurity.

This morning, with this guilty feeling that I knew that would walk with me for the rest of my life, I went down to the bar to have a refreshing cup of coffee. I said hello to my neighbor who was happily chatting with her friend, and sat down next to them.

I was lost in my thoughts, so I can’t remember when I began to listen to their conversation:

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- Oh, it's funny. As you know I’m a crazy fan of “V for Vendetta”. Oh, I love that film! I’m trying to learn that part of the film where Hugo Weaving, with his deep and wonderful voice, recites:

Remember, remember,

the Fifth of November,

the gunpowder treason and plot…

I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot…

- Every night, about 22:30, when I’ve finished my daily tasks, I turn on my old TV and video, and try to listen to that part of the film. My video is programmed to start at that exact minute when he began to recite.

Uhmm, I love that part. But I don’t know what’s wrong with my old machines. I’m not sure if it’s the tv or the video, but the truth is that the sound is extremely loud!!!

I turn it down immediately, but I’m sure that the first part, the “Remember, remember” part can be heard all over the building!!!

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