TIMOTÉ

In the midst of all these impressions, I could feel something near me, sniffing around my head. I sat up and saw a beautiful lapa (a small rodent, similar to a guinea pig) blending into the thicket. It began making its way towards the tree where Cuatiendioy was sleeping. It sniffed at its roots a few seconds and instantly moved on. Trying to keep track of its progress, I raised myself a bit more, leaning on my elbows, and began to draw up my legs to a sitting position. Right when I was in the process of beginning to do this, I felt a sharp movement amongst the leaves that were covering my feet. I stopped short, paralyzed by the sight of an enormous Mapaná snake taking up its position of attack. In a matter of seconds, it coiled back, raised its head and opened its jaws, exposing its sharp fangs and flicking its tongue. Its eyes were fixed on mine, clearly seeing me as its deadliest enemy. My breathing stopped. I was static, paralyzed and hypnotized by the snake’s gaze, all in one second. A scream of sheer terror sprung out from the pit of my stomach. “Cuatiendioy! Please help me!” Cuatiendioy slept on the luxuriant tree I had seen him climb the previous evening. He had lain down between two huge trunks that resembled the shape of a hammock. I knew he was there, but I didn’t dare look in his direction because it meant taking my gaze away from the snake, which was awaiting the slightest movement to dart at me and inject me with its venom, as deadly as a rattlesnake’s or a cobra’s. In response to my cry for help, the snake made a brief backward movement with its head, as if taking impulse to attack. Cuatiendioy’s reply seemed to take an eternity in coming. “Don’t worry, Timoté! Everything’s all right!” he replied calmly. “It’s a Mapaná... it’s on my feet,” I whispered. “Don’t move and let go of the fear. There’s nothing to worry about.” “Cuatiendioy! Please help me!” I repeated. “Don’t worry. Everything’s all right.” “What if it bites me?” “If it bites you, you will simply die. You’re scared and I know you want to turn to civilization for help. But do you know what this is? This is the Amazon. We are twenty days’ journey away from the nearest town. And as you well know, the poison will act. In half an hour. you will no longer be on your feet. Become one with yourself ! I’ve told you over and over again!” “I don’t even understand what you mean by that. But help me now and explain it to me later!” I retorted angrily. With every word that I struggled to pull out from my stomach and with the growing weakness in my muscles, I had the feeling the snake had drawn nearer. But it was actually static, as if casting a hypnotic spell on me, draining my strength, first from my legs, which I could no longer feel, and now from my voice, which drifted uselessly begging for help from a friend who was not making the slightest effort to help me. “Well...” Cuatiendioy continued, “a civilized man will always run in one way or another, when he is faced with any danger or difficulty. His support is outside: in friends, in money, in liquor, or in so many other things that give him his false sense of security. The truth is that he rarely becomes a spectator of himself and of the circumstances around him. Look at you! You’re about to shit your pants! I’m not asking you to use your power because the snake already has it. That is, it already has you. It knows it has you! It has absorbed all of your energy. Now the snake is the strong one and you’re the weak one. Observe your surroundings. Realize what’s going on!”